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I noticed there is an extensive christian community here at Ashworth, but what about other faiths or nonfaiths?
Any other atheists (like myself) ? Any agnostics, pagans? (I was raised pagan!) Just wanting to see what kind of diversity we have here and get to know some like minds while we learn.
Buddy -- image taken by C.Hoffman Copyright 2011
I'm an Atheist as well. I was actually raised by a Catholic (my mom) and a Baptist (my dad). None of my siblings believe in god either. My oldest sister and brother are both Atheists and my other sister is an Agnostic.
I was raised in a mixed household; one side of the fam was pagan/agnostic and the other side of the family were rabid bible thumpers LOL. Seriously. My grandparents were the type who thought dancing was a sin. So I lived around two very contrasting cultures.
I think it's what led to me becoming an atheist. That, and my IQ is far too high to believe in deities and hocus pocus. Science answers most questions people have if they're just willing (or able) to listen and comprehend.
Wow that is a strange combo lol. Neither of my parents go to church or such, but they do believe. Outside of my intermediate family is insane. I just don't tell them I don't believe or they would go insane.
I feel as though science can answer all those questions as well.
While I respect your Athesistism not everyone who believes in a religion has a low IQ. There are some things science can't explain. What we call science the people in the old days called magic.
im a faithful , bible believing , head strong Baptist
Well I'm a Muslim. So that should spice up the mix lol.
I believe in God...but I don't consider myself to be part of a religion and I do not go to church. I respect everyone else's opinions and beliefs (or disbeliefs) and stay quiet about this subject usually. I simply do my best to show love and compassion to everyone..
Makes sense.
I think this could be the reason why the majority is Christian. Though atheism is growing every time faster...
| Four largest religions | Adherents | % of world population |
| World population | 6.96 billion | |
| Christianity | 2.1 billion – 2.2 billion | 33% – 34% |
| Islam | 1.5 billion – 1.6 billion | 22% – 23% |
| Buddhism | 500 million – 1.9 billion | 7% – 29% |
| Hinduism | 1.0 billion – 1.1 billion | 15.2% – 16.2% |
| Total | 5.1 billion – 6.8 billion | 77% – 99% |
source: wikipedia
Thanks for sharing
Good share, Erik
THNX! You are totally welcome.
Pagan here!
Well, merry meet and heisla to you
(ps -- eclectic pagan my entire life.. evolved into an atheist in my late teens/early 20s)
merry meet to you as well. not familiar with heisla, but will look it up. blessed be.
I'm a weird hybrid of Christian and Pagan. Woot for the pagans.
I'm LDS (Mormon).
I am LDS too! I love being LDS. Knowing the meaning of life and what happens after death makes my life so much easier and happier.
I've got the polytheism covered here. Raised Catholic Good friends with athiests, pagans, off the wall jews, muslims and so on. I, however, follow the old ones. Ra, Horus, Bastet, Anubis, Ma'at...
It is what I have chosen as my way. And for this, brought on by wearing the Eye of Horus, as people do a cross around their neck, I was laughed at recently by an elderly Indian (dot not feather) couple.
That's a new one. You don't hear about people worshipping Egyptian gods much these days.
Yeah. I don't exactly fit in to any chuch groups. Although I do find most of them fascinating. ![]()
Cool. I know more about the Greek Gods/goddesses then Egyptian but I know a little about them to.
just ducking in lol
By all means. I need some entertainment. 99% of the messages are just joined the communit or please send next course >.>.
ugh. boring.
This one seems lively enough. I can't find the book club thread. Think it died in my absense.
Last post on book club thread was five days ago. Go to Alumni group.
meh. I'll go find it later. probably died for a reason LOL
true
I know a little about Greek deities beyond Disney Movies and Xena episodes, but not a lot.
Ahh but the Greek mythology and culture is what paved the way for western civilization!
Western Civization? What is this civilization that you speakth of?
Ghandi was asked what do you think of western civilization.
He said I think it would be a wonderful idea.
That's silly
I thought that was the Ormerod Family. lol
Xena warrior princess XD
I watched Xena for the sole purpose of seeing Kevin Smith (NOT silent bob) dressed in tight leather pants.
Kevin Smith? Who did that person play and Xena wore a skirt thingie?
Ares, the god of war.
Ah right. I really liked that guy. Whatever happened to him O.o
Soon after the show ended, he was on a film set and fell from some scafolding, cracking his skull. :-(
O.O oh no...i liked him. T_T That sucks.
oh crap that was kevin smith?
heh.
They killed ARES GOD OF WAR!
Those (fill in the blank) its a south park reference
I am an atheist. I do not believe in the bible and I do not believe that there is any kind of higher power. I also believe that when we die, we are put under the ground or burned (cremated) and that is all.
Okay, I made too vague, oops. Lemme try again.
MOST Americans automatically see the god on our money and such as god and jesus and all that rubbish.
America is a bible thumping nation whether everyone is monotheistic or not.
What I was saying with people walking around and handing out pamphlets:
My friend and I have been walking around town on more than one occasion and had brouchures, pamphelts, pictures etc. passed to us and had the term "God Bless" as it's given to us.
On several of these occasions I have kindly tried to pass them back, say no thank you and continue walking but then I recieve the cliche "you need the lord in your heart".
I got sick of it eventually, went home, typed up a brouchure all about atheism, the misconceptions, the lies and misunderstandings and the fact that not all atheists are uneducated, bandwagon jumping fools.
I then handed them out and got even worse of a response than the person handing out the ones about god.
One man actually stopped and told me that I was a disgrace to America and he 'blessed' me on the coming 'end of times'. (which is a conspiracy and a whole other matter)
We then got into a disagreement, he was shouting I was calm, and he ended up stomping off in a blinded rage because no one was helping him argue with me.
Moral of the story, before I make it a novel, if a person is standing around handing out pamphlets about christianity and such why is it not okay for me to express my beliefs against religion?
People tend to revoke or ignore the opinions of those they don't agree with.
Especially of the younger generation because they think we're uneducated and just following the trends.
It's a double standard.
I don't dispise other religions. I find them fascinating. Trying to argue that you are right and I'm crazy because I don't believe/disbelieve what you do? Not standing for that.
heh. When I was 17, I took my little cousins trick-or-treating on Halloween, and some house was handing out religious pamphlets telling kids they were going to burn in hell for celebrating halloween.
That made me SO angry... I mean.. really? You gotta freak kids out when they're just out getting their treats being kids? Sickening.
I'm not a pamphlet fan. But trust me. I'd hand out atheist pamphlets across the street from a christian pamphlet tosser any day.. Someone has to remedy the lies.
O.O Peeps need to stop messing with my favorite holiday and scaring kids...
my fave too
yay for halloween
Pamphlet pushers telling me what i should believe get hissed at by me.
Bite them XD
praise jesus christ
Marc, you mean Yeshua Messiah. Unless you're Greek. And if that's the case, have at it. ![]()
jesus like i said lol
amen such empty lifes so sad to see this life is the end no hope for future .they belive something came from nothing in the begining a bid ball of gas came from nothing created this universe .call them self smart .we belive God created seems smarter newton was a beliver albert not only belived e=mc squred but in god but of course must be dumb .i here offen this line but they only talk the talk don,t think did we come from nothing as they believe there has to really be begining some thing before ball of gas .
I am that of the Pagan faith. I actually belong to Paganspace.net. it is not just for Pagans but it is a great place to communicate and find friends of the same religious background.
Woot the paganess
I think picking one specific religion is a tie down Im more of a openmined type... There may be god(s)/goddess(es) or there might not be who knows? But I also don't hate on those who do belive in god(s)/goddess(es).
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Atheist.
Mind if I bring this thread back from the depths of... last month? ![]()
I'm Muslim.
=P Ah just last week I read that Muslims consider the sand cat sacred. Look up a pic on google. ADOREABLE.
I've never heard of that, but ohmygosh they're so cute!
It said they are considered sacred cause Mohhammand (spelling?) used them as messengers or something like that.
I haven't found a hadith about that, but I'll keep looking...
Hey Im Jehovah Witness.Anyone else out there a JW?
I am also an Atheist. I have a hard time believing that anyone has a "higher power" than myself over my own life.
To any athesists, this has to be the most frustrating community in the entire world. People act like their set of beliefs is the only correct one here. They, with a few exceptions, have no value for diversity. Welcome athesists and anyone from a "minor" religion.
Anti-fundamentalist Pseudo-agnostic.
I was a former Pentecostal minister. My father and grandfather were Pentecostal ministers.
(Watch the movie "Apostle". That's as close as it gets. In fact i know a coupleof the preachers in the movie. Yep, they were the real deal. Pentecost is a fascinating faith, but very stifling and biased.)
I totally agree with you! Religion is just that - organized, without the fundamentals of who a person truly is and does not embrace, many times, where they have been or where they are going. Growing up LDS, it was all that I knew until I found that there peace to be received outside of four walls and a steeple, along with the "pass the plate" mentality.
One has to find balance to achieve their greatness. How an individual seeks balance is a "one man" journey. There are many solutions to to the problem, but what counts? It is in finding what they seek and how people will remember them....not for their actions, but of their achievement to the common goal - finding redemption and grace.
atheist (Taoist) as in I believe there is a spirituality among living things but one that isn't necessarily strong enough to survive the death of a body...I definitely have doubts as to there being anything with a conscious judging us.
In a way I believe in 'what goes around, comes around' just b/c if a person is mean, judgmental person, there's a good chance they'll receive the same treatment later but then people like Hitler never get their 'just reward'. It sucks to think about but life isn't always fair.
I have a soft spot for pagans, though, b/c they're usually not pushy and I can relate to nature based religions.
'Some people hear voices, some people see things and some people have no imagination whatsoever'-unknown
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There are more things in Heaven and Earth then are dreamed off in your imagination-William Shakespear I believe. (Otherwise known as the little emo that could LOL)
I'm a flexible Christian. I'm open to the possiblity of things like reincarnation. I believe in the Ten Commandments, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary. I'll believe in Heaven and Hell (but unlike so many people I don't spend every single day in fear that any little thing I or others do wrong gets them sent there.).
I have no real proof that my religion is right or other peoples are wrong. There are probably a hundred little thing if I read the Bible I would go THAT IS SOME CRAZY...stuff. The same could be said of any religion.
In general (not always), I find Atheists know the Bible BETTER then religious people. There was a poll conducted and Athesists got 7 to 8 out of 10 religious questions based on the major world religions correct. The standard religious people averaged 3 to 5 depending on the religion. I don't like how Atheists get bullied so much. But in general, they tend to have much better arguements then the religious people. Now, some religious people have very good arguements.
As for Pagans...I tend to agree. They are the wallflower of this community. They come out and play only when they think they wouldn't get harrassed. They also know the Bible fairly well. Probably because they know someone is going to throw quotes at them.
You can read the Bible without taking the message into your heart. The Bible has dozens of versions and has been retranslated many times. It's hard to say it's even the same book. Did you know that this version of the Bible, is INCOMPLETE. They took out SEVERAL books. The Bible has been edited again and again. Of course the overall message is GOOD. But having the girl marry her rapist if the father gets paid 50 shekelals I think the other poster said, is messed up.
Hi Silverrose...most atheists I've come across (via PC) were raised by some Christian denomination...myself Protestant, a lot say reading the Bible is what changed them...that was my tipping point but I already was unsatisfied with the 'answers' I was given to many questions
For me, I was more bothered that the God of the OT was much more judgmental & vengeful than the JC character I was raised believing in.
I was surprised to learn that the Catholic version has more books in it than the Protestant version...and that the Ethiopian (?) version has different books than either of those two. I saw a site once that listed all the many versions and another that compared different translations.
I started reading a book by Bart Ehrman (agnostic scholar) called 'Misquoting Jesus' and in the foreword he lists the ton of schooling he had and that he learned Hebrew, Aramaic AND Greek in order to read the originals for himself (the very first ones don't exist but the books/gospels there are are pretty close and not signed so Matthew, Mark, Luke, John...those are guesstimates as to who actually wrote them) He said something about the meaning just could not be properly translated into English. Interesting book.
I wouldn't doubt it. English is a fairly new language that just took random words from a bunch of languages to make a new one. We are the hardest language to learn as well.
For myself and my husband we are Agnostic.
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