Death not being an option, if you were held to an ultimatum to choose a religion, or to have one chosen for you randomly, would you choose one, or would you take one randomly? If you chose one, then which one would you choose? If you are already of a religion, you may not choose that religion. If you have had any previous religions, those are not options.
Note: The random ones tend to be on your shitlist.
Taoism. Tao te Ching contains no creation myth, no deities, no righteous condemnation, and is the only religious book I've ever read that begins to make sense.
Unfortunately, the religion that grew out of that book can get just as silly as any others.
Frank Hipper wrote:Taoism. Tao te Ching contains no creation myth, no deities, no righteous condemnation, and is the only religious book I've ever read that begins to make sense.
Unfortunately, the religion that grew out of that book can get just as silly as any others.
Exactly. It is the religion you are supposed to be following, not the books/scriptures/writings/etc.
I would go for Zoroastrianism. They tend not to have too many weird practices while living (just wearing a rope belt for life), and I like their eschatology (did a 6-page analysis of it last semester...basically, everyone ends up in Paradise eventually). A lot of modern moderate Christian ideals seems to have been borrowed from the Zoroastrians. And for those who like classical rock, Freddie Mercury of Queen was raised as a Zoroastrian.
Stanley Hauerwas wrote:[W]hy is it that no one is angry at the inequality of income in this country? I mean, the inequality of income is unbelievable. Unbelievable. Why isn’t that ever an issue of politics? Because you don’t live in a democracy. You live in a plutocracy. Money rules.
As for myself, I can't choose Catholicism or paganism, so I guess I would go with my roots and go for an American Indian religion (Hopi, namely). Dunno much about any other religions.
Frank Hipper wrote:Taoism. Tao te Ching contains no creation myth, no deities, no righteous condemnation, and is the only religious book I've ever read that begins to make sense.
Unfortunately, the religion that grew out of that book can get just as silly as any others.
Exactly. It is the religion you are supposed to be following, not the books/scriptures/writings/etc.
Even so, it offends my sensibilities less than others. There are several different sects, as well. Here's a link.
verilon wrote:Death not being an option, if you were held to an ultimatum to choose a religion, or to have one chosen for you randomly, would you choose one, or would you take one randomly? If you chose one, then which one would you choose? If you are already of a religion, you may not choose that religion. If you have had any previous religions, those are not options.
Note: The random ones tend to be on your shitlist.
My personal religion of ass-worship
"It's not evil for God to do it. Or for someone to do it at God's command."- Jonathan Boyd on baby-killing
"you guys are fascinated with the use of those "rules of logic" to the extent that you don't really want to discussus anything."- GC
"I do not believe Russian Roulette is a stupid act" - Embracer of Darkness
"Viagra commercials appear to save lives" - tharkûn on US health care.
Something along the lines of old school odinisim.....
Drinking, fighting and some annual sacrafices thrown in.....if death is not an option for me, I suppose it can be for those around me
"Prodesse Non Nocere." "It's all about popularity really, if your invisible friend that tells you to invade places is called Napoleon, you're a loony, if he's called Jesus then you're the president." "I'd drive more people insane, but I'd have to double back and pick them up first..." "All it takes for bullshit to thrive is for rational men to do nothing." - Kevin Farrell, B.A. Journalism. BOTM - EBC - Horseman - G&C - Vampire
Liberal Catholicism. I have no love for the religion, but my family's Catholic and I still subscribe partially to the Catholic worldview (people are born rotten and they get worse every year).
BoTM / JL / MM / HAB / VRWC / Horseman
I'm studying for the CPA exam. Have a nice summer, and if you're down just sit back and realize that Joe is off somewhere, doing much worse than you are.
I'd definitely choose self-worship. I'm able to choose it, because I don't already practice it, though I've been meaning to start.
And you may ask yourself, 'Where does that highway go to?'
Brotherhood of the Monkey - First Monkey|Justice League - Daredevil|Late Knights of Conan O'Brien - Eisenhower Mug Knight (13 Conan Pts.)|SD.Net Chroniclers|HAB
I remember over a year ago (hell, or maybe it was soon after reading [Ethan Frome[/i], almost 3 years ago) telling myself essentially that if I ever was totally convinced or admitted defeat that it was pointless or useless to formulate my own opinions or go against the mainstream (politically, socially, religiously, etc, etc), I would become a nihilist. Your typical, angry, 'nothing exists and death is our only act of free-will in the lie that is existance' nihilist. Better than totally accepting submission, I guess.
So basically, if I'm going to have to devote myself to one pre-established belief system, why not the one that wants to burn all of them to the ground? Even if I was an easy candidate for being converted to a religion, who'd want me?
I wouldn't really care. Christians have told me I must believe in God deep down inside. I'm sure any religion believes they're right and I'm subject to their laws. Frankly, they can tell me I'm officially a muslim and I wouldn't give a damn, since I would neither believe in nor participate in the tenets of the faith.
In short, whatever they picked, I'd be a very lousy practitioner of it.
Note: I'm semi-retired from the board, so if you need something, please be patient.
...though I could become a religious follower of Led Zeppelin pretty easilly... Wouldn't be too bad for me if I had a gospel that inclueded The Immigrant Song.
Last edited by Utsanomiko on 2003-01-28 02:18pm, edited 1 time in total.