Religious Debate
 

^Said by FreezeWarp when talking about moderating or banning religious debate threads
Well, I have the guts!
I want people here to state their religion and just say why they believe it.

I am a Southern Baptist Christian, and I believe it because A) I was raised that way and B) it makes more sense than other religions, IMO

Now, remember, keep this discussion intelligent and support your beliefs well, don't just say "I BELIEVEZ MY RELIJON BEKUZ <insert religious leader's name here> IZ AWESOME AND IF YOOU DON'T BELIEVE THAT U R DUM"

This topic is one which traditionally requires very little to collapse into a conflagration. I will lock it if I smell any smoke.

And more precisely, this...

... is why these kinds of threads tend to fail. Without any concrete evidence, you're just needlessly stating opinions, and tend to offend people easily. And in religious debates, there tends to be little concrete evidence. :/

Oh boy oh boy, you got guts for makin this thread. .-.

Anywho, I don't believe in any specific religion but I do believe in a higher power. Lifeforms, even from the beginning of the evolution chain were made with incredibly complex systems to give them life. Circulatory system, bone structure, nerves, the brain. It couldn't have all happened by coincidence. Scientist have proven that humans share incredibly similar genes with the previous life forms on the evolutionary scale, but that does not set in stone that we were from them. A similarity in the gene pool is not enough to convince me. It can still be true, but until it is the only viable option, and they have definite proof im sticking with believing in a higher power. Religion and science co-exist imo. Meaning both can be right. One does not disprove the other completely meaning they may both be correct.


Also, im not so sure this belongs in the debate section if the purpose is to state your religion, but not debate about it. How the universe was made, and what happens after your die... This is an incredibility sensitive subject, that can set someone off quite easily. Please everyone who post here be sensitive to other posters. Also, like green said, don't just state opinionated things without reasoning. Facts should be provided to support what you believe in.

I know I will be hated throughout my life in this forums after saying my religion, bit I will have the courage needed to post.


From the first image, I am considered to be a Muslim, but from the other side, I have totally different religion. I am not sure if all of you here are aware of Sunni and Shiite, thus if you don't know them, click the links provided.

Although these two sects are considered to be part of Islam, yet they are 80% different, and I personally choose them as totally different religions. Just to clarify, I am a Shiite, and to be more precise, I am a Twelver (click the link before to see what I mean). I am really hated by those who are called Sunni, and some of them say that killing me (Shiite) is a must.

I think those are what I can say for now, but I don't mind if anyone has a question for me and wants to ask me.

I'm agnostic. I believe that there IS some sort of "God", but it doesn't do much, if anything. Considering the masses of information figured out by science, I think that this is the most likely.

There is no god only Arceus.

But really the whole Adem and Eve thing never made a lot of sence to me there kids went west of the garden of eden and found a woman but were did she come from?

I agree. Also, if they were the first two humans, how would they be civilised enough to name each other?

I think earth WAS suppose to be heaven, but because they screwed up and couldn't be trusted on there own, life is like a test, and earth is the inbetween of heaven and hell. It doesn't really say that in any religious books or nothing its just a theory to make religion a lil more since of how Adam and Eve were civil. Like a higher power is judging us on are actions in this life or something. =w=

I'm agnostic, a lazy man's atheist as some would call it. I really try not to think about religion too much, since in past experiences if you try to discuss religion with someone who has varied beliefs than you, it usually does not go too well.

I actually find it a tad shocking that less than 10% of American's are agnostic, but I suppose it makes sense.

It doesn't for me it should be a lot more then that, I know a lot of people that don't go to church.

Agnostic and atheist are two different things. Plus many people claim to be religious but just don't go to church until Christmas comes around.

My sisters agnostic~! =p
And there are a TON of people that have a religion but don't go to church. Me for one. Although I don't believe in any particular religion just a higher power.

Well even though I don't beileve in god I still celebrate Christmas, Easter and also Hannakah because my mom would celebrate it.

Also why use the word athiest it means you warship the devil to most people?

I'm a Lutheran Christian. I was raised that way, and it makes sense to me more than other religions. BUT! I honestly think that whatever religion you believe in will be the one you believe that is true, and no others. So basically, I as a Lutheran Christian think that that religion makes the most sense to me, but a Buddhist might think that Buddhism makes sense more than Christianity, etc.

I went to a Lutheran school until 8th grade and I go to a public high school now, I also go to church every Sunday. I believe that God created the world in 6 days and that evolution is false, and all that stuff. I guess you never know if you picked the right religion until you die, eh? :P

Jesus pwnz! :3

Because I'm using it properly...? As in someone that believes that there is no higher deity?

I thought athiest just means you don't believe in any religion or higher power. o3o

It does. However, some people (mostly those who are mega-religious) consider it the same as being a satanist. A tad ignorant, to say the very least.

I'm mostly atheist, with a subset of beliefs that change every few months. Right now I believe that:

1. When you die you are either reborn, become an angel, or go onto the afterlife depending on certain criteria.
2. God is not a specific being, but rather the combination of all life and energy: he is the big bang, he is evolution, he is science.
3. Orange is not a color. Orange is red.

I am raised on Christian morals, but have never gone to church (nor have my parents for 15 or so years), and no one in my family follows creationism. I largely quit on Christianity when the ideas of Hell, an all loving God, and my older brother dead at day 5 all merged into one.

Now, for the debate!

@Alakazam - Church has nothing to do with being religious. Nothing. I very fundamentally believe that people who don't go to church may be much more religious than others, and people who believe church is needed for heaven are looking for a free pass. A church just tells you what to believe, none of it coming from God. You have to read and interpret the Bible of your own mind to hear God. Otherwise you are just hearing a man in a robe.

Yeah, atheist is just that you beileve there is no god.. You'd be a satanist if you believed in that dewd.

@FW: Church for me is a chance to have fellowship with my fellow Lutherans, but it is not exactly needed. I slightly agree on your point.

I... just don't see a point in religion altogether. It's just as likely for real Pokémon to be created in a lab accident as it's likely for there to be an omnipotent power.

inb4 flame war

I wonder if anybody's religion is Pokemonism.. :u

Here is the defintion
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/atheist

Mainly it's a person that deneys existance of a supreme being.

I celebrate Christmas and Easter myself because to me those holidays means my family gets together, we all have a common cause, and we all love each other. I don't follow them, but I would gladly follow other religious holidays like Hanukkah as well.

I personally find that evolution is really completely obvious. Although I can see why some people might believe otherwise, the evidence is right there. Humans are still evolving today.

Likewise, I believe that God (as I described him above) did create the universe with the Big Bang, not our world, which was created from the aftermath billions of years later.

I actually do believe that Jesus Christ was a real person, but maybe not the extent as portrayed in the Bible.

To be exact, it means you believe in no greater forces of any kind: everything that is is because it just is. Because of this, I am not fully Atheist, as I do believe in a higher power.

Ya don't say?

This. I dislike it when people go to religion out of fear of the afterlife. it should be your own beliefs, not beliefs that are fed to you by others. This is why im half n half, and theorize that science and religion co-exist with each other, one does not completely disprove the other.


Basically this except the "it is what it is" thing. I look for a reason everything was made, with logic of course. I forgot what my sis called it, but its basically the belief that everything must be proven first before I can believe it. Thats why I just believe in a higher power, and not anything particular. Although I lean towards Christianity.

Of course, its a great way to see people. However, it shouldn't be your sole source of information for religion (that's blind faith to me).

I'd like to create some real Pokémon some time - think of the fun.

"Pikachu: Go zap that girl's bike! We'll fall happily in love <3"

I could see myself following that. It makes enough sense in a world with Pokémon.

As my pastor says, the Big Bang has has the same chance of happening as if a tornado picked up a bowl of parts of a radio, assembled them together in itself, and played your favorite station when it fell down next to you. At least that is my belief. (Hopefully that made sense)

And if evolution is still going on, why are there still monkeys?

Its true that a big bang has an incredibly small chance of happening however, if theres a chance, it will eventually happen as long as time goes on and before everything was created there was probably ALOT of time wear it was just a bunch o nothing floating around.

Ah, finally the debating begins!

My error, I was not being clear when making my point earlier. I was talking to Mag about how few people are agnostic. There are the two extreme points; atheism and being extremely religious (sometimes naively so, but that is not the point I am making now.) There are also the two somewhat softer beliefs near these extremes, which are being agnostic and somewhat religious, and less people fall into the agnostic category.

When referencing the people who only go to church on Christmas, it was just a way to describe the people who really are not that into the religion that they claim to be a part of. I could have said it better earlier but, alas, I did not.

^ Hypocrites

I think that makes sense... I think.

Things usually evolve in branches: a specific subset of a species will mutate and evolve in one part of the world while the other will remain untouched. About 1,500,000 years ago three seperate specifies of Homo existed - Habilis, Erectus, and Ergaster. Only about 100,000 years ago did Homo Sapiens come into existence, and only about 5,000 years ago did Homo Neanderthal die out (numbers not quite exact).

The big bang as a theory has a 1/1 chance of happening - while its hard to say for sure that's how all things did in fact get set in motion, what has happened because of it has happened entirely at random, not because of luck, and could easily happen again.

Too bad for me.. I believe that the earth has only existed for 10,000 years. God created a mature earth in which things were already 'evolved'

Big bang destroyed everything that isn't pure energy then due to cooling formed stars right? How'd the planets form after everything was destroyed? o3o And is it fact or just theory that it happened, like no chances of any other possibility or a possibility that it did not in that exact way?

There is enough cosmology and little enough dogmatism going on here that I am willing to join the discussion.

No accurate assessment of the Big Bang's probability can be made because little is known about extra-dimensional space short of that it is possible. Subscribers to M theory would claim that the Big Bang is extremely likely, since Big Bang-like events are occurring constantly due to membrane collisions. Those who believe in only the existence of only the four detectable dimensions could argue a number of things. From the point of view of a sapient organism, ignoring the possibility of something existing outside of the dimensions that we are familiar with, the Big Bang's probability of occurring could be any value: we would only be able to consider such a question if it did occur, so it could have been almost certain or unlikely. And there's always the pesky question of where the material of the Big Bang came from.

One could argue that the events following the Big Bang were random, deterministic, or deterministic and guided. The assertion that true 'randomness' exists is supported by the inherent randomness of quantum mechanics, wherein everything cannot be simultaneously known and only calculations of probability can be made. What this would mean is that no being can truly anticipate what will happen in the universe, even with as much information as is possible to have being provided to them (i.e. omniscience). Determinism holds that one can calculate the entire fate of the universe by possessing absolute knowledge of any given point in time; that is, what will happen is and has always been inevitable as a result of the universe's starting state, and that everything can be absolutely calculated. This is the category that I mostly fall into. The argument is that quantum mechanics is not truly chaotic, but governed by a seemingly random series of laws that we do not currently comprehend.

A deterministic and guided universe is one in which an omniscient being created a deterministic universe, selecting its starting state such that whatever outcome it desired would eventually come to be. This philosophy holds with schools of predestination such as Calvinism. Sometimes it is called the "watchmaker theory:" the idea is that an omnipotent and omniscient 'watchmaker' 'wound up' the universe at the beginning of time such that every event which the watchmaker wished to occur would in time happen. Proponents of the watchmaker theory would argue that a deity has no reason to interfere in today's world, since all events were predetermined. Each interpretation has some problems. The watchmaker theory devalues divine intervention and prayer, while the random model calls the concept of omniscience into doubt. Really, I think that it's to each his or her own.

Honestly luck or randomness is not understandable anyways. We can just guess the probability of something happening. The watch maker theory says that everything is scheduled in a way, right? In a away that sounds a little like religion. Most religions believe that everything happens for a reason, or is inevitable or planned. Also my theory that earth is the inbetween of heaven and hell and this life is a test too see wear you go in your next life somewhat connects with that. Think of the high power as a teacher and life on earth as a test. During a test you cannot ask for help, or cheat. The teacher is also not aloud to interfere.

Life is a test for the next life me thinks. Just theory but I like that watchmaker theory. Its like religion and science co-existing. =w= Humanity has a long way to go though until everything is proven. Far past my lifetime. Right now, everything remains a theory.

Also dang green your smart dood. O_o

Gravity. Planets are still being formed constantly today. Planets are constantly being destroyed today. The sun will explode in 6 billion years or so.

A good follow up to this post is the Infinite Monkey Theorem. I will assert that while evolution is more or less proven fact, it is not unreasonable to say there is a deterministic force, such as God, driving it.

I am a Southern Baptist. My father was a Pastor (until he died in 2008, but that's an entirely different story), and I was raised this way. I believe it, but I don't look down on others who don't. I believe in natural selection (when something develops traits to help it survive, and only the strongest survive), but I don't believe in evolution. It just doesn't make sense to me. I don't look down on those who don't believe what I do. My friends are a Christian, an Agnostic Atheist, and two Baha'i. I don't try to convert others, because I see it as their views, and who am I to change that? I don't believe you need to go to church. It's just a way to fellowship with others of you faith. I also believe that If you read all of that, you are awesome!

I'm Jewish, but I honestly don't care for religion. I believe in natural selection, evolution and all that.

And on the side I believe in Arceus.

piexing's opinion on religion: I don't care. Actually, I'm a Pastafarian. :wink:
Also, GL sure is one smart dood. Whatever he said, I agree. :3

I don't know the reason behind it, but I just find the evolution theory wrong or misplaced. If we were really monkeys before, then why did we evolve in the first place, and how did our mind develop? It isn't an easy thing to develop intelligent brains, right? Also, if evolution existed, then why aren't we evolving now? Seriously, we should have got wings by now or so. I am sure that humans in the past weren't as smart as we are today, but I am sure that even in the past, humans were the most intelligent creatures on Earth. However, I still believe in Big Bang, and in fact, my religion supports this theory. As SK mentioned before, I believe that God created the universe in 6 days. However, in my holy book, it is mentioned that one day for God is equal to 50,000 years for us. I guess this supports that the theory which says that the Big Bang took a lot of time. We also have in the book that the universe is still expanding and isn't stopping from growth, and FW mentioned that planets are still getting born and dead as well. The evolution theory is still a theory, and I don't think it will become a fact one day, especially with all the Abrahamic religions against it.

Well maybe we wanted to be more intelagent some mokeys are already smart enough to use sighn language.

Evolution also takes millions of years to happen, there's been no classification of a new species for thousands of years (unless a new land has been discovered but even fossil evidence disproves that) but then again it's that many years ago we were actually shorter.

Evolution has been seeing happening every day in some form or another. We have advanced fossil records as to the evolution of humans. However, the "Humans were Monkeys" theory is actually a little biased: its oversimplified. The process took between 4 and 8 million years for Gorillas and Chimpanzees to split off into even the earliest humans: and they weren't anything like us. Heck, even the Homo Neanderthal ain't a whole lot like modern Homo Sapiens. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution

Other science theories, like the Big Bang, really are anyone's guess: they make sense, but aren't so obvious.

I think this is scientifically proved or something. The universe is one huge mofo. :3

Yeah, incoming light from distant galaxies in all directions is redder than it should be, which interpreted through an understanding of the Doppler Effect to mean that all galaxies are moving away from us, suggesting that the universe is expanding. Evidence further shows that the rate of its expansion is constantly increasing. One theory related to this is that the trend of expansion will eventually reverse itself and the universe will collapse back into a singularity in an event known as the "Big Crunch." That might be consistent with the idea of an apocalypse to some, though I think the Sun engulfing us fits better, and that will happen much sooner anyway.

The sun engulfs us when it turns in to a red giant or whatever, right? :P Apocalypse discussion is fun. :3

In theory space truly should be infinite and should keep expanding, but, well, infinite really only exists in theory. In all practicality, there has to be something more to that story.

I think the apocalypse would be something Majora-esque, only on a much larger scale. But that's just me.

I don't think the Big Crunch is going to happen, and if it does, it'll probably reverse back into another Bang.

Also, I had to study all of that quoted for my recent Astronomy unit in science class. I HATE ASTRONOMY SO MUCH NOW.

I know I'm double posting, but I actually just saw this now while looking at older posts. Posts to be merged later.

Natural selection is the theory that certain members or branches of species will develop further than others. This explains why humans branched off of monkeys, if you want to put it bluntly.

Personally, as a superhero geek, I really love playing with the natural selection theory. It's been used in the TV show Heroes and as an explanation for mutant development in X-Men comics. The thing behind natural selection, as Darwin states, is that certain members of species will develop the need to become "different" and adapt to certain situations, so eventually their bodies will develop accordingly. Homo sapien branches off from other primates, probably because the primate who eventually resulted in humans began to develop a more complex brain and had a better sense of logic and mechanics. Eventually, we evolved into us: Beings with one of the highest problem-solving capacity in the planet, with advanced motor skills and able to perform physical work using our special opposable thumbs.

Of course, the theory about people with "special abilities" or as Marvel calls them, Homo superior, is more of a long shot than anything else. But it's certainly plausible: Homo sapien only uses 10% of their brain's potential. Imagine what would happen if it increased to 100% capacity: Then we might have a truely god-like species.

The main reasons I don't believe in science:

I don't believe in the big bang because the big bang theory states nothing exploded into everything. How does nothing blow up, and since when did explosions create things?

I don't believe in the theory of evolution because I don't ee how there are still monkeys. Even with what Freeze said about only one group becoming humanss and the other being untouched, I don't see how humans are all opver the world and have been for thousands of years.

Another reason I don't believe in evolution is because it says we came from monkeys ages ago, but really humans are more similar, genetically wise, to rats.

You will study the Big Bang in Chemistry. It is the explosion of matter when it met with anti-matter. That is really proven. As Lite said, that matter was smaller than an atom.

Pakistan is more advanced scientifically than the United States. ****.

Edit: I mean the UAE. Seriously, where do you guys live?

It's not that we evolved from monkeys. There was one monkey-human creature. let's say it was a humonkey. The Humonkey population had kids with genetic defects. Half of those kids were less hairy, some were more hairy. This process kept occuring with the Humonkey population with half not so hairy and half very hairy. That is the evolution of the humonkey into the human and monkey.

Basically, be both came from one common ancestor.

Not to say I'm all science, but this is me: God created everything. Those creatures then evolved.

Here's something I would liek to share.

"Dude Lily's right, people do the most dumbest things in the name of God. I don't give a **** about religion, I just believe in God and that's it. Personally I think people are taking religion waaay too serious."

I don't feel like writing it all over again...so...:P *is lazy*
but seriously. People are taking the whole religion too seriously. Just do your daily things, and just live life how it is. And the song really describes a lot about God, or at least some things that you probably never thought about God. And people are dying in the name of God.:/

I'll toast to that. *clinks glass* *gets drunk*

Haha. Nice.

I'm all science too. I agree with that statement.:3

Okay here is what I think

I think god is some kind of force with no physical body that does what it wants through science BUT seeing as it is something all powerfull we can never truly get what it does or why.

Also it doesnt matter if people kill each other over god people are just prone to war god is just an easy excuse to use.

I didnt read all the the posts on this thread but I read most of it.

Just as a side note, I live in U.A.E, not Pakistan. You can check my location.

I am a Christian, Let me explain.

God is all powerful, all knowing, and almighty. He created the universe for an unknown reason, yet we believe that he did it and placed us here. Our purpose on earth is to tell others about God so that we can get them to believe and send them off to heaven.

As for sin, sin is anything that is acting against what God would want you to do. But, God is a forgiving God, so he will forgive all of your sin because Jesus already died for it. In fact, when Jesus died on the cross, he died for the sins of the living, for the sins of the past, and for the sins of the people who were yet to be born. All of them. They were placed on his back and he bore through the pain to save us from eternal death in hell.

What Lite and Ditto said, I agree with. As for the people before Jesus, like I said, Jesus died for their sins so that they could go to heaven as well. Instead of the modern world Christians believing that Jesus came and died for our sins as we do today, the Christians before Jesus believed in the fact that he would come and die to save them from their sin.. I think that's all I got for now.

I hope that works for you.

Sometimes I think we're all just sockpuppets, put here for simply the entertainment of a larger being in another universe.
Or, you know, in a video game. That's cooler.

I actually pretend I'm in a video game, repeated moving and everything.

If it is, it must be one of those annoying video games, wear they have like, no save points, and everytime you die you have to start from the very beginning again...in some religions atleast. =w=

@ Quad
It's because we were born sinners due to what Adam & Eve did.
And you don't have to pray every day, Christianity =/= Islam.

Nah. Sleeping is saving, everything is a minigame, and you can play other video games in my video game.
And crucial plot points include deciding between soda and apple juice, chatting on VRC, and buying more video games! Buy it in stores now!*☆
*Now does not indicate you can readily purchase it at a store at this very moment or this lifetime.
☆Only available for the Afterlife 140.

Man, you got guts for makin' this thread.
And I guess I have some left for posting here...Here goes nothing...
I'm Muslim(Bask in my glory! lolfail) And....I dunno why, my parents are, so, yeah.
That's why.

One of my problems with Christianity, and by extension all of the abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, various minor ones), is that this omnipotent, all-powerful, all-loving, intrinsically good god requires people to worship him. I mean, why? He's GOD! why does he need us to inflate his ego? Does he even have an ego to inflate? And not only that, but he condemns people to eternal suffering for not doing so...

Pff, he doesn't require anyone to worship him. We can do anything we want, and that's a gift from God called free will. ;P But, a true Christian would worship him out of love.

Does he not in the same way that the law requires us to not murder?

Do non-believers not burn in the fires of hell? Did god not command christians to kill all those who did not believe, and destroy their places of worship? Did god not command followers to deny hospitality to those who do not believe?

God did command all of these things in the bible, several times in some cases.

If you would like, I can provide references...

Star you are pulling out of context. There are times in the bible that certain people went overboard and deserved to be punished. But no, do you see Christians going around and killing non believers today? God wants us to convert them, not to kill them. And we surely do not destroy their places of worship.

I kinda fail to see how I failed to provide adequate context. I just referenced the specific passages numbers, if you go to look them up, you should probably read the whole chapter.

But I digress, there are a lot of things commanded in the bible that modern christians don't do. Many, many, many things. In fact, there are things that the bible commands christians not to do, which modern christians do anyway.

Are you suggesting that everything what god commanded in the past no longer applies? If not, then where do we draw the line? And what does "Going overboard" mean? Are there still people who go overboard today?
EDIT: Disregard that line. I decided I didn't like the tone, and replaced it with the paragraph below.

You say that some people went overboard, and god punished them, giving commands for that specific instance. But it seems like several of the passages I referenced don't apply to any specific instance, but are instead very broad statements. (2 John 1:9-10 for instance.) Do these also only apply to specific instances? If so then do all biblical orders only apply to their specific instances? If not, why not? where do we draw the line?

Well, there are actually some Old Testament laws called civil, ceremonial, and moral. The civil ones are the only ones that we still follow today. The ceremonial laws (killing animals as a sacrifice, etc.) and the moral laws of the Old Testament are not followed today, which is where you draw the line, I suppose.

For example, the Exodus 22:20 passage you referred to was a ceremonial law since it deals with sacrifice. The whole chapter of Exodus 22 is in the OT and deals with laws that do not apply in the present.

How do you tell the difference between the three?

Also, does this mean that things such as the Ten commandments no longer apply, because they were moral laws?

Edit: ARRRRRGH I just lost the game...

:lol: I lost as well.

I dunno exactly how to separate them, but I believe the Ten Commandments were both civil and moral. Ask my pastor. o.O

Oh. Oh well. Can't know everything I suppose. =P

I am a Muslim as well, but I consider my self ONLY a Muslim, not Shiite or Sunni, the reason why is that Muslim's are separating each other into these sect's and fighting for no apparent reason, I myself am a peaceful person. TSOT, it is absolutely not a MUST to kill Shiite, they aren't even suppose to be fighting, tell me, how do you fight your own brother's and sister's in the same religion, Makes no sense, right? This hatred will keep Islam separated if it doesn't stop. This fighting is absolutely unnecessary and unjust. So remember TSOT, it is not a MUST, look at the whole Muslim community, do you really think ALL of us really hate each other?

Yeah I've been aware of the difference between Sunni and Shiite for a while and I agree that its useless. Its like how the Catholics broke into Christians and Protestants. They're still having terrorism in Ireland over that.

I never really knew anything happened in Ireland....maybe I wasn't watching the news....

I have my own Religion. I believe in all gods because It's fun but I don't go to Church, like, at all. Well, I used to when I was four but My parents decided to have Mercy on my soul and we stopped going. I also believe that Satan isn't evil, he's just in charge of dealing with the late *******s of the world. I also believe in Heaven and such, but all of this I'm not sure about. I guess you could call me Agnostic.

Yeah its not international news very much since its very small compared to the stuff al-qaeda is doing.
That's pretty much what I think of him. He's only evil appearing because anyone would be bitter after putting up with all the crap he has to.

There is a civil war between Sunnis and Shiites, and I don't see it fading for the time being. An example to that is what you guys call Qaeda. These people completely believe that killing Shiites is a must, more like a sacrifice. A reason for them to be hated.

I am not sure about what you are saying, but in our belief, Satan was too proud to bow to human and respect him, and that's why he was driven out.

I gotta upload you for describing my perspective, too. You are explaining the overview of Islam pretty well, and mentioning what are Islam's actual instructions and beliefs. To be honest, I do not pay attention to a Muslim's sect because it doesn't mean anything to me. A person's belief is solely for himself, and I do not have the right to hate or kill him because of that. Sadly, the fights between Sunnis and Shiites are a result of misunderstandings and false pictures being painted about each other by external influences.

Those people are not even considered Muslims, in my opinion. Islam's teachings completely contrast what they do, as killing other Muslims is, under normal circumstances, a great sin. It is very sad of non-Muslims to take a general view of Muslims as being terrorists just because of such people. And the media doesn't help either, as it plays a critical role in presenting Islam as a religion of terrorism to the Western world.

Although the vast majority of people are still a religion, I am seeing more and more people become agnostic, perhaps then this is the ultimatum of evolution?

That might be happening in certain places, but most of the wars in these days are under the name of religion.

Notr really. Agnostics are simply confused people who don't know what to think of religion.

Its more of a devolution, really.

I like and I dislike atheists. For one, I like atheists if they let everyone believe what they want to believe. I DISLIKE atheists because a whole dumpload of them are just stupid 16-year-old retards that live in their parents' basement, who always have to go on f***ing YouTube and troll anyone with religious beliefs. THAT IS THE ONE SPECIFIC REASON I HATE ATHEISTS AND THEIR STUPID WTF IS THE WORD I FORGOT but still.

I'm a Christian, and I really don't mind what other people think, but seriously, I'd appreciate it if you didn't mind what MY beliefs are, selfish, ignorant idiots.

^This except with more cursing :3


There was one time an atheist who said I believed in a magical fairy man in the sky and then wondered why I ranted on her.

This may not be mature enough for a BE MATURE thread but I also believe in Haruhism and Norrisism.

People who do fight like that out of religious pride are horrible anyway, and will likely kill themselves out after a while, if they don't eventually stop.

Agnostics aren't necessarily confused about religion, they have an open mind. While yes, it is possible that everything in any religion happened, its still rather unlikely. As for devolution, I'd have to compare that to the evolution of the whale- it went from a fish, to being on land, to being a whale. It didn't devolve, it adapted.

Actually, religion both comforts and annoys me.

I have always felt that I have been brainwashed though. I was raised as a Christian, (even going to a Christian school at one point in time) and my whole family pretty much are strong Christians. But there comes a point when you actually need to... Not be a slave to it. I hate it when Christians keep constantly talking about God. When a good thing happens, it's not your own talent, it's because God was apparently watching over you. If they don't know an answer, ask God. Every time I talk to my parents about something, they mention God. That's really annoying. I never go to them anymore because of it.

But it's also kind of comforting believing that there is something out there watching over you and planning your future. Someone you can talk to, and eventually meet after your demise. But it all seems confusing after that. Very hypocritical. But I think that's due to the fact that everyone has a different opinion and view of heaven. Even God himself is different to everyone.

The way I look at it, religion is not a solid thing. It's everyone's sense of morals. Athiests are just a little more literal about it, I'd think. They don't personify anything... Like making a God or Heaven or Satan or Hell. To most people, God is Good and Satan is Evil. After death, people want to be with their loved ones again. It keeps us from giving up and seeing nothing.

I'm also tired of people trying to use God as a threat. I thought he was a good guy? The guy who cared about you? Not the guy who took his beloved children and damn them all to hell for not believing in him when he himself never took the time to come to his children and help them understand that he really was there. Some people can not see his light as easily as others.


I am not agnostic and I am not athiest. But I am not necessarily Christian either. I believe in my own personal form of God. If anyone has questions about what I said, just ask. I may have rambled a bit too much, but I can clarify myself if I said anything odd sounding.

I basically believe in my own form of god too. Like, I don't believe that hell is forever. That completely contradicts the teachings that god has eternal love and forgiveness.

Exactly. I mean, if God loves his children then he's not going to be an angry and vengeful god. He's going to punish us and then let us be happy and free when he knows we learned our lesson. At least, that's what I was brought to believe.