What is Your Religion?

SLAM: debunk creationism, pseudoscience, and superstitions. Discuss logic and morality.

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What is your religion?

Christian (any demonination)
16
15%
Pagan
4
4%
Buddhist
0
No votes
Muslim
1
1%
Atheist
58
55%
It's kind of hard to explain...
12
11%
You skipped mine! (I.e., a major sect that my sleepy mind forgot about)
8
8%
I'm still trying to figure that out, woman! (Agnostic)
6
6%
 
Total votes: 105

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Durandal
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Post by Durandal »

innerbrat wrote:Oh for crying out loud, if you believ that Atheism is not a religion, and you're not an Atheist.

Atheism is not "the lack of belief in God" as people keep defining it - that's agnosticism.
Wrong. "Theism" is a belief in god. The prefix "a" means "without." Put two and two together. This is simple English.

Agnostics are basically atheists. Both will admit that there is no way of absolutely proving or disproving god's existence, but agnostics are simply people who fail to recognize that non-disprovability is a sure-fire indicator of bullshit.
Atheism is the belief that there are no gods. It's a postive belief in a negative statement. And whether the anit-religion crowd like it or not, it's a belief.
Of course it's a belief. But it's not a religion. It's a logical conclusion.
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Post by Kitsune »

I am a Pagan and I am not a Teeny Bopper :D
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Post by Illuminatus Primus »

Durandal wrote:Atheism is not a religion. Atheists by definition have no religion.
A friend of mine argued endlessly that Bush's new "no god no job" thing with the faith-based initiative was ok, because all religions could apply for the faith-based iniative, and thus no one was descriminated, and according to him organizated atheism could also apply, because he decided they were a religion too.

Naturally he thinks he knows words better than the dictionary, but I digress.
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Post by Iceberg »

Lapsed (Roman) Catholic. Quasi-deist. Occasional flirtations with paganism.

In other words, a weirdo. ;)
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Post by thecreech »

Christian nondenominational
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Post by Einhander Sn0m4n »

I believe in the Universe as a living, sentient being. Science is the language it speaks, and to advance science is to worship the Universe..
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Post by Rye »

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:I believe in the Universe as a living, sentient being. Science is the language it speaks, and to advance science is to worship the Universe..
pantheism.^
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Post by Illuminatus Primus »

innerbrat wrote:Oh for crying out loud, if you believ that Atheism is not a religion, and you're not an Atheist.

Atheism is not "the lack of belief in God" as people keep defining it - that's agnosticism.

Atheism is the belief that there are no gods. It's a postive belief in a negative statement. And whether the anit-religion crowd like it or not, it's a belief.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition wrote:a·the·ism ( P ) Pronunciation Key (th-zm)
n.

Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods.
Atheism is the belief that there is no God. This is also the logical result of applying the priniciple of parsimony to the concept of the existance of God(s).
WordNet ® 1.6 wrote:agnosticism

n 1: a religious orientation of doubt; a denial of ultimate knowledge of the existence of God; "agnosticism holds that you can neither prove nor disprove God's existence"


Agnosticism is the denial that it is possible to conclude there is or is not a God.

One wonders if these people realize that something is assumed non-existant until established it exists. "Disproof" is logically unnecessary.
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Post by Durandal »

Illuminatus Primus wrote:A friend of mine argued endlessly that Bush's new "no god no job" thing with the faith-based initiative was ok, because all religions could apply for the faith-based iniative, and thus no one was descriminated, and according to him organizated atheism could also apply, because he decided they were a religion too.

Naturally he thinks he knows words better than the dictionary, but I digress.
That's basically the knee-jerk response of most theists when they're arguing. Since atheists attack religion, theists try and bring atheism down to the level of just another religion so they divert attention away from logic and objectivity to subjective feelings (i.e. "It's impossible for atheists to be happy").

The pattern follows with creationists, who constantly harp about how believing in evolution requires faith so that they can move the focus from such trivialities like evidence, deductive reasoning and observation over to implications (i.e. "Evolution means that life is meaningless! Creationism must be correct!").

This is basically the debate equivalent of, "NUH UH!! THAT'S YOU!!"
One wonders if these people realize that something is assumed non-existant until established it exists. "Disproof" is logically unnecessary.
God is always given special exemptions from any kind of rational thought processes, supposedly because he's "above" logic because our feeble human minds are incapable of comprehending his glory or other such nonsense. Essentially, many argue that God must be above critical analysis because critical analysis invariably shows that the concept of a God is a popular fairy tale with no more merit than children's beliefs in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Of course, this is circular logic, but God is above such human concepts as critical reasoning, remember?
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Post by Darth Wong »

innerbrat wrote:Atheism is the belief that there are no gods. It's a postive belief in a negative statement. And whether the anit-religion crowd like it or not, it's a belief.
Do you not believe in Thor, the Viking Thunder God? If not, then do you consider your state of disbelief in Thor to be a religion? Are you an AThorist?
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Post by Raoul Duke, Jr. »

Darth Wong wrote:
innerbrat wrote:Atheism is the belief that there are no gods. It's a postive belief in a negative statement. And whether the anit-religion crowd like it or not, it's a belief.
Do you not believe in Thor, the Viking Thunder God? If not, then do you consider your state of disbelief in Thor to be a religion? Are you an AThorist?
LMAO

If that's the case, I'd advise people here not to read Joseph Campbell, as they'd never be able to keep track of all the a<insert name of demi/god/ess>ists they are.

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Post by Rye »

Oh for crying out loud, if you believ that Atheism is not a religion, and you're not an Atheist.
Atheism isn't a religion. Theism isn't a religion. Specific theism with systems are religions. Just a lack of god(s) is not a religion.
Atheism is not "the lack of belief in God" as people keep defining it - that's agnosticism.
No, agnosticism just means you don't know enough to make a judgment yet, and usually you just don't care about unknowable metaphysical creatures.
Atheism is the belief that there are no gods. It's a postive belief in a negative statement. And whether the anit-religion crowd like it or not, it's a belief.
Atheism = without gods. It's worth remembering there's a difference between faith and belief you know. Belief can be entirely rational and based in the observed evidence and logic. It can also be without any logical proof whatsoever, that is faith.

Being without gods means you are atheist. If you don't know if there are gods and have none, and are waiting for information to prove any gods then specific gods, you are atheist and agnostic imo.

p.s, scientific pantheism rye style is the best religion.
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Post by Grand Admiral Thrawn »

I don't know what to vote because I AM GOD.
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Post by generator_g1 »

Roman Catholic.
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Post by Xenophobe3691 »

Grand Admiral Thrawn wrote:I don't know what to vote because I AM GOD.
Vote "It's kind of hard to explain" Yourself is definitely gonna take a while to explain
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Post by Falkenhayn »

Catholic. And if the Mormons keep poking around my house trying to proselytize, I am personally going to petition JP2 to get the Inqusition back into practice on them.
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Post by Rathark »

From the point of view of Infinity, we are all zeroes ... but very UNIQUE and DETAILED zeroes.

Does that make sense?
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Post by The Duchess of Zeon »

Darth Wong wrote: Do you not believe in Thor, the Viking Thunder God? If not, then do you consider your state of disbelief in Thor to be a religion? Are you an AThorist?
Oh dear.. I want to thank you for that; it was the most amusing thing I've heard all week, I believe. Might even have sig potential, which is relatively rare for me.. AThorists!
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Post by Raoul Duke, Jr. »

Rathark wrote:From the point of view of Infinity, we are all zeroes ... but very UNIQUE and DETAILED zeroes.

Does that make sense?
No.
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Post by Howedar »

I concur. It was random and meaningless.
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Post by Coyote »

Jewish, and actually happy to be there and lived in Israel for 4 years, studied in an Orthodox religious school for one of those years.

That said, I am not Orthodox and believe the Bible to be a collection of metaphorical stories best taken with a bucketload of salt and not literally. I believe in God but I also believe that God made the laws of physics and gave us brains ot figure them out and hands to manipulate them; after that he sits back to watch.
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Post by Robert Treder »

Rathark wrote:From the point of view of Infinity, we are all zeroes ... but very UNIQUE and DETAILED zeroes.

Does that make sense?
It is impossible to be "very unique".
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Post by Einhander Sn0m4n »

Rye wrote:
Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:I believe in the Universe as a living, sentient being. Science is the language it speaks, and to advance science is to worship the Universe..
pantheism.^
Ah ok. :)
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Re: What is Your Religion?

Post by jegs2 »

CrimsonRaine wrote:Another one of my intriguing polls.

Let me know opinions, why's and how's! :D

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Post by Darth Gojira »

Darth Wong wrote:
innerbrat wrote:Atheism is the belief that there are no gods. It's a postive belief in a negative statement. And whether the anit-religion crowd like it or not, it's a belief.
Do you not believe in Thor, the Viking Thunder God? If not, then do you consider your state of disbelief in Thor to be a religion? Are you an AThorist?
Sig material!
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Post #666: 5-24-03, 8:26 am (Hey, why not?)
Do you not believe in Thor, the Viking Thunder God? If not, then do you consider your state of disbelief in Thor to be a religion? Are you an AThorist?-Darth Wong on Atheism as a religion
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