It's a big factor in peoples' lives because it's everything. If you believe that your behaviour in this life will determine whether you spend the afterlife either in eternal bliss or neverending agony, then what could be more important?

It influences people in positive ways because most religions espouse mostly positive messages. Be nice to your neighbours, help the less fortunate, don't steal stuff, don't kill people. Also, humans are a tribal species, and as such we enjoy feeling like part of a group, so it feels right and safe to belong to a community of people with the same fundamental beliefs as yourself.

That tribalism also contributes to how religion has negative impact. If all the people you love and trust belong to one tribe, it can be difficult to accept people who are different, and nothing strengthens a tribe's bond like a common enemy. "All the best and smartest people I know believe this stuff, but those people believe other stuff, so I don't trust them". Powerful people throughout history have been well aware of this tendency, and exploit it to their own ends. "Hey guys, those people over there don't believe in the same god as us. According to this piece of paper, that means they're evil. Let's go kill them all, I'm sure that's what God would want us to do".

And of course, people like to use it to justify their own prejudices, which isn't very cool. "No really, I don't hate gay people, but this book says they're abominations, so I'm sorry but that's just what I believe". So I'd say religion is like a knife: inherently it's neither good nor bad; it can be used for both, it just depends on who's wielding it.

I consider myself an extreme liberal Roman Catholic. I went to parochial school for 12 years, but the nuns who taught, where not the kind that preached you'd go to hell for not going to Church every sunday. I believe that as long as your living the life you think God wants you to live, as long as your not hurting anyone, you're good. It shouldn't matter otherwise.

I'm a traditional Roman Catholic. When I say that, people often respond, "but how can you possibly believe [insert controversial doctrine here]?"

To which I often respond, "It's complicated."

While I've never doubted the possibility of a deity existing, I've never really understood the point of being a part of a religion.

It's not that I'm against those that are, I actually applaud those who are able to remain is such great faith for so many years. I just never understood why people do it.

For me, I am completely content with a deity existing, I think it would be pretty sweet, but I'm not okay with worshiping one. I've got my own life to live, I'm not going to spend it tooting someone else's horn. NOTICE: Please know that I am not addressing any deity or religion in particular, but speaking entirely in general.

In a strange bit of irony to this, I happen to be highly fascinated with religion and I study it as often as I can. This includes ancient mythology as well, especially Greek, my favorite. Yay, Dionysus!

the F word... you mean Fundamentalism? That is the real problem with religion, it starts with ideas that get twisted and contorted into something that suits the powerful, and then oppresses others. With this in mind, why do religions still exist? Since we, the human race, are self-aware enough to know that it will get turned around like that until certain people preach nothing but hate. I wonder if (although i believe in ideas from some religions) organized religion is irrelevant today?

I'm agnostic. So I'm skeptical about all religions.

I am not a religious person in the least. However I'm not quite atheist either because I desperately hope there is some way to see my loved ones again after we all die. Whether it be a heaven with angels rocking out on harps or some weird scifi thing where the energy released from our bodies at the moment of death somehow retains our senses and memories and we all just swirl around the universe together just chillin the fuck out. Far fetched, I know. Either way I try to be good to people and look for the good in them regardless of what happens after I die.

But to answer the question posed by the OP, I do not have any religious beliefs. I think the most likely scenario for when you die is that you simply cease to be. I find comfort in the fact that no one knows for certain what happens after death and thereby entertain the hope that maybe, maaaayyybee, i will somehow be reunited with my loved ones after death.

My religion is Normal. What is Normal? It's where you believe whatever you want as long as a) your ways don't hurt or discriminate anyone for being different, b) you don't try to get someone to believe what you believe if they make it clear that they don't want to, and c) accept what your fellow Normal brothers and sisters believe in, even if you don't; if someone believes that Jesus died for our sins, accept it; if someone believes that Jesus wasn't really the son of god, accept it. If someone believes that Jesus and Allah play poker on Sunday, accept it. Being Normal is not about what you choose to believe in, it's about treating others equally and respecting what they believe in, even if you don't.

The F-word in regards to foul language? That's not a sin, though. Not unless you direct the word at a person at least, but even then it's context-sensitive. That said, the Bible does comment the obscenity, but you have to take audience into consideration to declare something obscene.
EDIT: BTW, I'm speaking from a Christian perspective. I have no idea what Islamic individuals believe.
EDIT #2: and incorporating God or any of God's titles into abusive language is a definite sin. The phrase, "g** damn" is not permitted in any modern monotheistic faith as far as i know.

100% Agnostic.

HOWEVER if there is some wee pensioner widow out there who lives by herself, and the only thing that gets her through her day is believing that one day she will be reunited with her Husband, then why on Earth would I want to take that away from her?

Basically I think religion is a lie but to some people its a comforting lie to some people. Its not inherently evil, Yes true few conquests have spilled more blood than that of Christ but disproving God will not undo that.

By the time I was 12 or 13, I received the first 4 (out of 7) holy sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church. However, as I was growing up and my own views on life were growing stronger, over the time I've become an atheist.

One thing that has always bothered me when it came to the history of Christianity is the fact that the religion's deity is refered to as God.

A word that has had a very broad generalization - and originally had nothing to do with supreme beings - was taken into account as if this particular deity is the one.

Of course, I'm sure, in that case, that would be the purpose of the deity being refer to as God, but the seeming pretentiousness of it still bothers me. In Judaism, there are several names used to indetify the deity, the most well known being Yahweh, or Jehovah. Why hasn't this stuck? Considering the Old Testament states, in Exodus 20:7, that one should not take the Lord's name in vain, you'd think the deity would have several monikers, as such in Judaism, so the followers wouldn't make the mistake of using the deity's name in vain.

How the deity's name became God within Christianity has yet to reach my head, but maybe the use of the word 'God' as the deity's name may very well be to avoid taking the deity's actual name in vain.


NOTICE: I implore that no one takes offense to this post. In no way was I attempting to slander the deity or the religion.

I, as contradictory to this site as it may seem, am a old-hard Christian boy. That being said, I have respects for all other eligions (with the exception of extremists [of any religion, not just Islamic], as they believe suicide is the way to go. If I offend anybody in saying that, I am deeply sorry.) But I truly feel a human has their rights to their beliefs as a human. What happens later for me is all I worr about, and others can try to do whatever they may want to to try to live a good afterlife, or whatever their religion may bestow upong them.

Well, the answer sorta ties in to a lot of different things, but the generic reason is because of social models established by Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus called God "Father," so Christians call God "Father." The disciples treated Jesus with brotherly qualities, so Christian's address Jesus much like a brother when in prayer.

But that's only part of the picture. A lot of it also has to do with Ancient Middle East vs. post-Christian Middle East. It was a different culture, and therefore necessitated a different kind of relationship with God. God's strictness is (usually) proportionate to two things. The first one being the corruption of social institutions of the time; we'll ignore the 2nd for brevity's sake.

To give everyone an idea, David often writes on and on about Justice in the Psalms. A modern audience reads that and thinks God valued Justice over mercy or humility, but that's not how the ancients saw it. In that age, if someone of low status was seriously wronged, it was incredibly difficult for that person's case to go to court, and the little people were trampled quite often because of that. An ancient Jewish widow would take a lot of comfort from those words, but it seems barbaric and cold to us today.

But specifically regarding Old Testaments names, Jehovah isn't so much a name as it is a vocalization of the Tetragrammaton. They defaulted to that title because they weren't allowed to say Yahweh. They weren't allowed to write it either: it was written out as YHWH, which is called the Tetragrammaton (cue Transformers theme).

I know I get verbose on these topics, and I try... oh mai gah, do I try to keep my posts short. It's such a complex topic, though.
EDIT: As for when "God" became a proper noun for Christians, I have no idea. However, I think in the Latin language, they do have separate words for the monotheistic god and the Greek/Roman deities. I think.

I'm an Atheist. I was actually never really exposed to religion much as a kid, my parents are very "meh" about the whole issue. I guess I'd call them agnostic. I mean, my grandparents are pretty Christian, so sometimes we'd go to church for Christmas or Easter, but other than that, it just wasn't part of my life. Those holidays were more about the Easter Bunny/chocolate and Santa/presents than Jesus.

So...I guess it feels a little primitive to me to believe in the supernatural or superstitious (although I love mythology from a "this fiction is entertaining" standpoint, I'm as fascinated by the lore behind angels and demons as I am by Zeus and Thor and comic book continuity), but I don't really begrudge anyone else their beliefs, I know lots of Atheists who have a bitter, angry "I'm being persecuted by Christians so I'm going to persecute right back" attitude, but I've never felt that way.

I understand the value of faith and how it can be a comfort to people. It just doesn't do anything for me, is all. I need scientific evidence to believe in something.

I just wish people could let go of dogma and "organized" religion and admit at a certain point that even if you believe in a higher power, the books weren't written by him, they were written by men, and some men just want to control other men, or hey, the books were written thousands of years ago when people were way more unruly and needed more structure in their society, but a lot of these rules are way outdated. (Even stuff in Revelations, which is supposed to be a prediction of the future end of the world, references locations and governments that existed a long time ago back when it was written, but no longer do, rendering it obsolete...)

I feel like society has evolved enough that we can be moral without the threat of spanking from an inescapable super-dad having to be hung over our heads. But if dying scares you and you need to believe when you close your eyes for the last time, that won't be it, you'll wake up in a paradise surrounded by friends and family, go for it, that part I get.

Letting go of dogma and organized religion defeats the point of worship of God.

im posting this here since i dont want to make another thread



No winner in first vote to elect new pope

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/12/world/europe/vatican-pope-selection/index.html

Er... I don't think if this thread should double in function as a Pope election thread. It's working really well as a entry log for what MKO users believe, and I don't want to see that frequency interrupted.

No it doesn't. The point of worship is to please and pay tribute to your creator, right?

Well what if you've been worshipping him wrong because the people who wrote the Bible put some stuff in there he didn't tell them to? How would you know?

Hell, that's the reason so many different denominations devoted to the SAME God exist. The Jewish and Muslims and Catholics and Protestants and Mormons exist separate from one another precisely because they can't agree on which writings are right and which are wrong.

I am a Christian but I don't claim any sect of the religion. I just believe if you follow the words of Jesus you can't go wrong. Christianity has many issues dealing from everything from war, homosexuality, to aliens and ghosts. But bad men have used the bible to conquer other men. And it's sad because if you read the teachings of Jesus and abide by it war would not happen, you wouldn't give two shits about aliens and ghosts, and homosexuality wouldn't be such a big deal. Jesus taught love, tolerance, peace and forgiveness.

Also on a political scale the world would be completely free. So if we were really a country that abided by Christian beliefs everything would be legal. Drugs, prostitution, same sex marriage all should be legal under Christian beliefs. Free will is both a gift and a curse. A true Christian is tested under this way of life but overcomes temptation. Jesus himself was seen around people of crime and misdeeds but didn't give in to temptation. Now don't try and misquote me on homosexuality. I don't agree with it and on some small level it does disgust me but I don't think it's a sin. It doesn't hurt anyone or even yourself. It's not even disrespectful. It just is what it is.

Anyway that's my belief.

There's really only one section of the New Testament that makes any political commentary. "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." That verse has important implications, but it doesn't bring us closer to knowing what political system conforms best with Christianity. Historically, most Christians believe the government should to some extent compensate for the human condition. When you get down to it, I think most people believe that. Personally, I feel G.K. Chesterton had it right with Distributism, but that's another topic.

True. Jesus said exactly that when asked about taxes and the emperors role in religion. But I don't believe there is such thing as a Christian government. Too many different religions, thoughts, and beliefs. Now if this country was made up of entirely Christian people distributionism might work out fine, but Jesus himself knows that will never happen. Since Eve took a bite from the apple it would never come to fruition. I think the way God would want us to have it today is anarchy. But in order to have a sense of protection we as a people need a form of government that stays out of our personal lives but helps us makes sure our rights aren't infringed upon.

I don't like religion for different reasons, but I don't have any problem with religious people, just fanatics.

Something that I find funny though, is that a lot of those who call themselves Christians worship idols, contradicting their own belief in the process.