Time for a controversial post.. woohoo!

[eventidal]

I had an interesting thought earlier today and I thought I'd expand on it a bit. It involves religion, so it might be a little touchy for some people. Fortunately, most of the people that read my journal are intelligent enough to actually stop and think about what's being said and not merely tune it out and go on a religious rampage about how

Comments

[anonymous]

and this is exactly why i believe in the concept of spirituality over religion. i like learning about religions. i think they're interesting, but the practice of them is too heavily routed in politics. they all come back to the same basic idea that there is a higher power, and that you should be a good person. why does that higher power have to be identified in order to believe in them? i have faith in a god, i'm not concerned with whether it's a christian god, a hindu god, i think it's all insignificant. i don't let doctrines of religion tell me what's right or wrong. i believe that i'm a generally good person, and that my morals dictate to me well enough what i should and shouldn't do without referring to some ancient book of teachings that's been translated and altered throughout the centuries. i think believing in something is important, but strict interpretation of any religion tends to breed hate and closed-mindedness, despite the fact that most religions' most teaching is to love everyone and treat them with respect or whatnot

[anonymous]

I am a memeber of the Order Of The Eastern Stars. (To expand and define that, I am a memeber of the female side of the Masonry. Still vague? Please watch and review the national treasure.) Because of such, I have a generalized, complete faith in God, without all the specifics. I believe in God, and that's all I need to have a complete connection with other people. A belief in God, a FAITH in God is all I need, and that is all I believe others should have to have. I don't need the specifics of what they believe to know that they are my brothers and my sisters (persay).

JohnT

[kingmetalx]

Good post.

My problem with religion for myself is that most people follow the religion of their parents or the people closest to them; in turn, they never really choose to defy, speak out against, or even challenge that religion's beliefs.

Now, of course, many people have challenged it - just look at how many religions and variations of religions there are. That just makes it even harder to believe which one is the "correct" religion.

I am an Agnostic, and my belief is that humans will never know if there is or isn't a God or gods. I also firmly believe that IF there is a God or gods, and if it/they are just, the true way to live is to be a great person - not to actively convert, worship, or other faith-based things. I think it's irresponsible for a group of people to believe that THEIR ceremonies and beliefs are the only true way to get "heaven." This only leads to wars and segregation.

On a side note, I have official crapped my knickers.

[hp_speculation]

My mom is a Christian. My dad is a Hindu. My mother is very open to Hinduism. My dad... is not so open to other religions. The odd part to my dad is that he takes me to see religious speakers from Hinduism, and the more contemporary of them always stress the acceptance of other religions and ideas into Hinduism. They say that it's flexible and open and all of that. Those speakers have always said things that were somewhat appealing to me, but nothing entirely ground-breaking (though, I did get a giggle out of one saying "You can pray while you're on the toilet, and that's just fine

[anonymous]

Hey, yeah good post man, but what a toughy