Your religion

[Principessa]

What if any is your religion and does it cause issues when looking for love etc.

I am a United Methodist girl born and bred. I have never dated a man the same religion as me. This was not a conscious decision it's just not something for which I look in a mate.

Also, I am not one of those people who thinks if you aren't my religion you are going to hell. I know my religion isn't perfect; but for the most part it works for me.

The two long term serious relationships I was in were with men who were devout Catholics. At a certain point both expected me to convert. 'as if!' One (a black guy) expected me to convert for the good of the children we would have. The other expected me to convert for the good of our future children and so that his family would be more accepting of me (he was white).

Since then, I have sworn off dating Catholics of any color. I am sick of being called a heathen heretic and being threatened with the fires of hell. :12:

As for agnostics and atheists, I have no problem being friends with them; but I don't think I could ever marry one.

 

[Principessa]

Why didn't you mention Protestant? When I hear Christian these days I tend to put fundamentalist in front of it and consider that a bad thing. :redface:

There are many faiths that come under the umbrella of Protestant. I'm not sure why that site chose to ignore Baptist as a protestant religion? They do have a fairly comprehensive Big Religion Comparison Chart though, which I found interesting.

 

[Meniscus]

I was pagan most of my adult life, but about a year ago, after a process of several months, I stopped believing. I did not reason my way to the conclusion that deity does not exist, I just stopped believing. That place in my heart where I once found the Goddess is empty now. The awareness of a spiritual realm and the sense of connection to Deeper Powers is gone. I now consider myself a reluctant atheist. I say "reluctant" because I don't feel happily relieved of the burden of religious nonsense, I feel as if I have lost something precious. On more than one occasion, I have felt the Presence of the divine. I would give anything to feel that way again. Alas, as powerful as those experiences were at the time, the memory of them is not enough to sustain my faith. They seem like illusions now, a combination of imagination and clever self-deception. All I see now is a cold and impersonal universe.

 

[bigdicksarebest]

Witch

 

[FitFemFan77]

Born and raised a Catholic. Although, 50 years later and lots of weekly church-goings, I have my doubts on religion. I've prayed when family members have been sick and watched them die in hospital beds. I've prayed and lit candles and had my mother die in my arms from a hospital infection. I've prayed when my favorite Uncle was depressed after my Aunt died and he later put a bullet into his head. Too many sorrows, too many prayers, not enough miracles.

I've stopped going to church when the pastor asked for a second collection. Not to help the needy or the sick, but the rectory needed new air conditioning.

I've had friends lose loved ones on 9/11, and two unit members died in the collapse as they helped others. All caused from people following the teachings of a religion that has been twisted to fit their likings, to hate people not like themselves.

I have a faith. Religion was developed by people, carved from a belief that may not have been their own original beliefs. Faith allows each and everyone to follow something that could be religion based or a code of conduct and ethics, or some standard of merit.

I believe that love should have been a religion, because thats what drives people to be together. If you are meeting people and your opinion of them is based upon their religion, then your circle of friends and loved ones will be smaller than those who embrace everyone, no matter what the religion or faith of that person.

I have a faith... I believe that people should be happy, be friendly towards others, give where you can and expect nothing in return. Reach out and listen when someone needs a shoulder. There is no perfect person and I have many faults. I can only hope that people look upon me as someone who they can trust and become friends.

 

[ZOS23xy]

Primarily Christian but not limited to. I do believe in God, a divine being, and universal energy and all that good stuff.

All and everything is an aspect of god.

I think the term I use for this is "pantheistic".

 

[_avg_]

But that doesn't mean, until you believe something exists, you believe it does NOT exist.

Right. So...?

The agnostic holds two views:
1 I do not believe X exists.
2 I do not believe X does not exist.

No; you've conflated knowledge and belief again. The agnostic has no knowledge one way or the other; they may still believe or believe not.

Literally, "agnostic" means "without knowledge." Literally, "atheism" means "without theism." Until you HAVE knowledge, or HAVE theistic beliefs, you are WITHOUT them, and are therefore agnostic or atheistic. It's really that simple.

As I said above, the pervading view of atheists is that of the so-called 'hard atheist' -- who says 'God does NOT exist'. Those people who are WITHOUT theistic belief but who are not 'hard atheists' too often use "agnostic" to distance themselves from the 'hard atheist,' but that is a misuse of the term.

 

[1BiGG1]

Right. So...?


No; you've conflated knowledge and belief again. The agnostic has no knowledge one way or the other; they may still believe or believe not.

Literally, "agnostic" means "without knowledge." Literally, "atheism" means "without theism." Until you HAVE knowledge, or HAVE theistic beliefs, you are WITHOUT them, and are therefore agnostic or atheistic. It's really that simple.

As I said above, the pervading view of atheists is that of the so-called 'hard atheist' -- who says 'God does NOT exist'. Those people who are WITHOUT theistic belief but who are not 'hard atheists' too often use "agnostic" to distance themselves from the 'hard atheist,' but that is a misuse of the term.

But the Atheist is making presumptions he/she cannot support anymore then those believing in a deity can support there belief whereas the Agnostic simply admits he/she doesn’t presume to know things that are unknown.


Agnostic

Main Entry: 1ag·nos·tic

Pronunciation: \ag-ˈnäs-tik, əg-\

Function: noun

Etymology: Greek agnōstos unknown, unknowable, from a- + gnōstos known, from gignōskein to know — more at know

Date: 1869

1: a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god

 

[sdbg]

I was raised Catholic, and I grew up with a profound sense of right and wrong, and to this day have a strong conscience that keeps me in line. A foundation of my philosophy is to do the right thing and to never take my pleasure at someone elses expense. The Hare Krishna people had some influence on me back in the early '80s when I first moved toward being vegetarian. In the '90s, I took classes in Judiasm and World Religion to satisfy electives for my degree and to diversify my knowledge.

I often ponder the concept of infinity as it relates to time and distance. There is no beginning of time. If there was, what was before that? Is there a beginning and end to the universe? Perhaps, but if there is an end, what's beyond that? I took classes in astronomy and geology in college that made me wonder about my preconceived notions about god and religion. I don't really know what to think about all, yet as I get older, I'd really like to know what is the real deal about god and the origin of the universe.

I think that the relevance of any religion is measured by how the members treat others in the outside world. I question the value of a religion that wants to mock others who do not share the same beliefs, or worse yet, consider enemies of anyone that they can't convert.

 

[Guy-jin]

I don't get the separating out of Catholics from Christians, but leaving Orthodox and Protestants lumped together. Friggin Catholics. :tongue:

 

[tiggerpoo]

I'm an active Catholic. It doesn't cause me any hangups about sex or relationships.

 

[Principessa]

I don't get the separating out of Catholics from Christians, but leaving Orthodox and Protestants lumped together. Friggin Catholics. :tongue:

Contrary to what the Pope thinks Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox are Catholic and not Protestant. I don't know enough about Coptic Christians to say if they are closer to being Catholic or Protestant.

 

[Guy-jin]

Contrary to what the Pope thinks Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox are Catholic and not Protestant. I don't know enough about Coptic Christians to say if they are closer to being Catholic or Protestant.

Eastern Orthodox probably couldn't be farther from being Catholic. Protestants are far more similar to Catholics than Orthodox are to Catholics. Eastern Orthodox and Catholicism split off long before Protestants even came into being out of Catholicism.

 

[Principessa]

Eastern Orthodox probably couldn't be farther from being Catholic. Protestants are far more similar to Catholics than Orthodox are to Catholics. Eastern Orthodox and Catholicism split off long before Protestants even came into being out of Catholicism.

I am NOT an expert on any religion. However, if what you say is true, then you may want to correct this wikipedia entry about Eastern Orthodox.

Members of the Eastern Orthodox Church usually refer to themselves as simply Orthodox. Eastern is a term often applied in the Western World for the sake of clarity. Traditionally the Orthodox refer to themselves as Catholic since the Roman Empire (centered in Constantinople) called itself Roman and its people, Greek speaking though they were, called themselves Romans. But for modern scholarship and to alleviate confusion in textbooks the term Byzantine Empire is often used today. Members of the Orthodox Church consider themselves to be members of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, a claim also held by the Assyrian Church, the Coptic Church, and what is today referred to in the Western World as the Roman Catholic Church. As the Orthodox see it the Assyrians and Copts broke from the church after the first few centuries and the Roman Catholics in 1054. Since then the Eastern Church has referred to itself as Orthodox (Correct Believing). National pride has lead many local congregations to adopt national epithets such as Greek Orthodox or Russian Orthodox, but theologically and spiritually there is believed to be only One Church, the Orthodox Church.

Several other ancient Churches in Eastern Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa also use the term Orthodox, but are distinct from the Eastern Orthodox Church as described in this article.
​

 

[Sparkle_pony]

I'm an active Catholic. It doesn't cause me any hangups about sex or relationships.

I spent 9 years in a convent , nun run boarding school, I can fucking well asure you it changed my views on sex and I cant cum unless its fucking well wrong

 

[D_Botchely Boneher]

Who cares? They're all idiots.

 

[_avg_]

But the Atheist is making presumptions...

The atheist is a person who is WITHOUT theistic beliefs. That's it.

Until you believe that God exists you are WITHOUT the belief that God exists and are, by definition, an atheist. It's the law of the excluded middle: A or ~A.

Agnostic
....1: a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god

I've seen it all three times, and I keep trying to explain why the "broad sense" is inadequate. There has been a long history of the terms being misused, which makes it all the more difficult to keep them straight.

 

[Mem]

I notice that Mormon and Scientologist are not one of the choices. (the only things I know about those religions I learned from South Park)

 

[TinyPrincess]

Atheist

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

Literally, "agnostic" means "without knowledge." Literally, "atheism" means "without theism." Until you HAVE knowledge, or HAVE theistic beliefs, you are WITHOUT them, and are therefore agnostic or atheistic. It's really that simple.

Words take meaning from usage.
You can say that "agnostic" literally means "without knowledge," showing that "gnosis" means "knowledge" and "a" means "without."
Similarly with atheism, you can say "atheist" means "without" "theism."
But that cuts no ice at all if the way the words are actually used has long nudged the meaning somewhere else.
And that has happened, a fact made manifest in the definitions that various posters have given of both words.
And you need to get with the program, _avg_.
You are just fighting the wind.