so why don't you have religion?

[miss fortune]

the man was invited to go to church by a friend this morning and actually went (much to my shock and awe! ) as a favor to that friend... it actually started an interesting conversation upon his return... on the topic of why neither of us is particularly religious and our thoughts on going to church

He thought that the "happy friendly people" were all quite fun to be around and insists that he just hasn't found a religion because nothing has made enough sense to him so far- he accused me of being overly cynical about religion and religious people for my attitudes

I'm the evil bastard of the situation for insisting that if there is a god, I think that he's a total asshole and that so much evil shit has happened in the name of religion that it's done more harm than good in the world Of course I'm the one who was suspicious that the "happy friendly people" were all just an act as well...

I thought that such differing opinions coming from two self proclaimed agnostics were rather amusing and I know that there's plenty of other reasons as well... what's yours?

 

[Riva]

Everyone has a religion!

One has religion or not, adheres to his or her own ethical standards or principles.

These standards could be extremely complicated or quite simple.

Either way these ethical standards are your religion.

--

Religion tells you what is wrong and right.

Your ethical standards tells you the same.

Your principles are your religion.

Conclusion -

Everyone has a religion.

 

[Riva]

So [MENTION=1180]whatever[/MENTION] what is your religion?

Translate, what are your principles?

 

[Coriolis]

I have spirituality much more than I have religion.

 

[Riva]

I have spirituality much more than I have religion.

And that spirituality is your religion.

It's a tricky religion though.

Spirituality is based on moment to moment feelings.

Of course maybe we could be discussing different forms of spirituality .

That means my point of view on your spirituality being your religion could be wrong.

 

[miss fortune]

I'm using the definition of organized religion = religion for this thread

and what do I believe in? protect others, be there for those who are important to me, live

 

[ceecee]

It would serve no purpose in my life.

 

[KDude]

I have religion.. It's just probably heretical. So I'm the only follower of it, at the moment.

 

[sleepy]

Conclusion -
Everyone has a religion.

The word religion is sometimes used interchangeably with faith or belief system, but religion differs from private belief in that it has a public aspect

This is an important difference. A private belief system makes you an individual. A public person will be an individual more in the form of the name and number.

I'm open to belief in public belief systems. But the common ones are typically constructed at a time where they thought the earth was flat. So to believe in one of these religions would be similar to a flat earther. I just can't find it in me to do either. Or why I should, what this could give me. My time is limited enough so I would like to spend it trying to figure out a life for myself. Not just read a book, and follow the recipe. It's boring.

 

[Quinlan]

I don't have a religion because I don't believe, I could try and make myself believe because it might make me feel better but I don't think that's a good enough reason to believe in something.

 

[KDude]

I'm open to belief in public belief systems. But the common ones are typically constructed at a time where they thought the earth was flat. So to believe in one of these religions would be similar to a flat earther. I just can't find it in me to do either. Or why I should, what this could give me. My time is limited enough so I would like to spend it trying to figure out a life for myself. Not just read a book, and follow the recipe. It's boring.

That's true, but I think the cosmology of these religions were an ongoing process to begin with. As were the religions in general. The Biblical world, for example, was borrowing Mesopotamian stories, which were simply taken for granted and unconsciously formed their worldview. You can't expect them to do much more than that. Or can you?

At the same time, they picked and chose what they wanted to from those stories. They themselves tried to redefine some things and evolve, little by little. Same goes even for their conception of God. Or even the afterlife (or lack thereof.. Judaism originally didn't have an afterlife.. it had the "grave" - Sheol). As for God, there wasn't really a tradition of "Yahweh" at first. It was just Elohim (God or Gods, in the generic sense.. as we use today). From Elohim, it evolved into a patriarchal kind of thing, where they started referencing this God as the "God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob". Then the Levitic/Moses period started using a proper name. And even after that, the David period started centering the religion on the city and temple of Jerusalem specifically. And so on and so forth. Christianity is another extension and evolution of the region's history. Nothing is ever written in stone (of course, very few would agree with that now.. people are fixated on the "unalterable Word of God".. but religion itself has shown to be a living tradition. Not a written one).

edit: I don't mean to limit my example to just that religion. Buddhism could be used as an example that changes over time and according to region.

 

[Lark]

I got religion. To put it mildly.

Yup. Organised. Institutionalised. Orthodox. Old. Traditional. Every by word for plain wrong in the dictionary of this age which calls darkness light.

 

[Coriolis]

And that spirituality is your religion.

It's a tricky religion though.

Spirituality is based on moment to moment feelings.

Of course maybe we could be discussing different forms of spirituality .

That means my point of view on your spirituality being your religion could be wrong.

My spirituality is based on far more than moment-to-moment anything, and far more than feelings. We may be discussing not only different forms of spirituality, but different definitions of the word itself. Similarly, I suspect we have different definitions of religion. Mine (and most standard dictionaries') includes belief in some supreme being. An atheist or even an agnostic would not then be said to have religion, though they can certainly have a moral code or even some form of spirituality.

I also see religion as an established set of beliefs, usually with some form of ritual or practice attending to it. It exists separate from me, whether I choose to be a follower or not. My own spirituality, however, is much more personal. While influenced by others, it is intimately tied to me.

Yup. Organised. Institutionalised. Orthodox. Old. Traditional. Every by word for plain wrong in the dictionary of this age which calls darkness light.

The highlighted escapes me. I just know that darkness is as much a part of the creation as light, and just as essential for balance in the world.

 

[funkadelik]

I don't have religion because I thought about it too much and it just didn't make sense to me.

So I guess I could say the only thing I have faith in is my ability to pick out what things seem to be TRUTHS and what things seem to be BULLSHITS. Because, who knows...I could be totally off-base with all of my "logical conclusions."

 

[Haight]

Because I don't need it.

 

[Qlip]

I don't have religion because I hate having to sit quietly and receptively in a building with people at strongly socially recommended, regular times. Even when I when I was trying out Buddhism, this is why I couldn't hang with the Zen group.

 

[citizen cane]

I attend a Lutheran church on a regular basis, but almost completely for the social aspect. I don't believe in what Protestant Christianity stands for, for the most part.

 

[Beargryllz]

Humanism is more than enough for me.

 

[citizen cane]

I sometimes think it'd be nice to be religious just so I could have a set place where people with similar values congregate on a regular basis. That, and religious folks apparently live longer, happier lives. But I don't really have 'faith' in anything, let alone a 'God'.

 

[Mole]

Mass Religion and eTribal Spirituality

The word 'religion' comes from the Latin word 'religio' meaning to rebind or bind together. Take one stick and it is easily broken, but bind a bundle of sticks together into a Latin fasci, and they can't be broken. That is why the fasci, or the bound bundle of sticks, is the symbol of Fascism.

But under the influence of the electronic media, mass movements are over. Mass political Parties are over, mass broadcasting is over, and mass religions are over. And so even catholics don't go to Mass anymore.

Yes, the electronc global village consists of a multitude of electronic tribes, such as the one we belong to on Central.

Yes, mass religion has been replaced by the spirituality of discrete electronic tribes.

So religion has been replaced by spirituality.