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I'm fine with all Religion, just not when it becomes radical or extreme, you do you!

I also believe in good and bad karma but thats as far as I go

religion is bs it causes problems hence im a proud athiest!

Somthing I will add to this and I feel like many people could agree on:

No religion, church, cult or otherwise group of any specific belief should in anyway be tax exempt and should pay their taxes like everyone else.

Ones personal belief for their organisation should not exempt it from paying taxes.

(Nov 16, 2018, 06:56 PM)BlackDog Wrote: [ -> ]Somthing I will add to this and I feel like many people could agree on:

No religion, church, cult or otherwise group of any specific belief should in anyway be tax exempt and should pay their taxes like everyone else.

Ones personal belief for their organisation should not exempt it from paying taxes.

Also, they should stay away from politics and not be integrated in governments.

(Nov 16, 2018, 08:45 PM)Project Wrote: [ -> ]Also, they should stay away from politics and not be integrated in governments.

Thats the wierd thing I find about America, it seems to have been founded as a Secular nation where people wished to avoid the church having mass influence over politics and where people we're free to be as they we're without fear of persecution from a religious government, such as with basicly every other nation on earth at the time, except for perhaps Japan due to the Sengoku Period 150+ years prior.

Where governments almost we're bound to abide by the wishes of the church to avoid a peasant revolt, or religious uprising from its lower-middle class

The unofficial, yet accepted motto of america for almost 200 years was "E pluribus unum" which can mean "One out of many" or "One from many", it is still on their seal.

Yet in 1956 the US congress voted to change and ratify the official US motto to "In god we trust", and in 1954 they officialy adopted into their "Pledge of Allegiance" the wording of "Under god"

So much of american politics these days is so insanely marred in peoples own personal religious ideal that its kind of insane, hell their first amendment in their constitution states.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"

Yet it really does feel like this isnt at all enforced these days, such as the issue of tax exempt churches and religious organisations, if someone we're to put up a bill to remove this status from all religious institutions, you can guarantee that senators, congressmen, governors would come out of the woodworks, from all strata of american politics to vote against it, even though such a bill, we're it to pass would generate billions of tax dollars to fund various projects that are in need of extra funding.

(Nov 16, 2018, 10:20 PM)BlackDog Wrote: [ -> ]

(Nov 16, 2018, 08:45 PM)Project Wrote: [ -> ]Also, they should stay away from politics and not be integrated in governments.

Thats the wierd thing I find about America, it seems to have been founded as a Secular nation where people wished to avoid the church having mass influence over politics and where people we're free to be as they we're without fear of persecution from a religious government, such as with basicly every other nation on earth at the time, except for perhaps Japan due to the Sengoku Period 150+ years prior.

Where governments almost we're bound to abide by the wishes of the church to avoid a peasant revolt, or religious uprising from its lower-middle class

The unofficial, yet accepted motto of america for almost 200 years was "E pluribus unum" which can mean "One out of many" or "One from many", it is still on their seal.

Yet in 1956 the US congress voted to change and ratify the official US motto to "In god we trust", and in 1954 they officialy adopted into their "Pledge of Allegiance" the wording of "Under god"

So much of american politics these days is so insanely marred in peoples own personal religious ideal that its kind of insane, hell their first amendment in their constitution states.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"

Yet it really does feel like this isnt at all enforced these days, such as the issue of tax exempt churches and religious organisations, if someone we're to put up a bill to remove this status from all religious institutions, you can guarantee that senators, congressmen, governors would come out of the woodworks, from all strata of american politics to vote against it, even though such a bill, we're it to pass would generate billions of tax dollars to fund various projects that are in need of extra funding.

Likely cause they are also paid off with some of that exemption money, I mean, John Oliver just proved how easy it was by registering his studio as a church.

I don't like calling myself an atheist, as that group is... A bit different and more agressive towards religion

But nah, not religious.

Religion has it's good part, bringing people together and making them bond.
But at the same time it has it's bad parts, tearing people apart and making them hostile towards eachother.

Nothing against religious people though. Live your live how ya want. I won't tell you what you can believe in

(Nov 14, 2018, 11:39 PM)IVNT Wrote: [ -> ]I see religion pointless, despite me attending a catholic school I dislike religion as it causes bollocks with everyone saying 'my god is real ur ones shit' 

Aswell as this, I do astronomy and have strong beliefs against it with creation theorys and god aint one of them :)

Georges Lemaître, a Catholic priest, formulated the Big Bang theory. <3

Catholicism is the one true religion, but others are ok (except Islam, that's bad).

(Nov 14, 2018, 11:39 PM)IVNT Wrote: [ -> ]I see religion pointless, despite me attending a catholic school I dislike religion as it causes bollocks with everyone saying 'my god is real ur ones shit' 

Aswell as this, I do astronomy and have strong beliefs against it with creation theorys and god aint one of them :)

( Not diggin at ya, we're buds bro <3)

But...
Catholics actually agree with the theory of the big bang and evolution. They don't believe that the world was created in 7 days as it states in the Genesis bible story's; Catholics are liberalists on this topic ( strangely, not on many other things ) and don't literally believe that it was made in 7 days as that's what fundamental Christians believe.

Sorry bro a bit of RE GCSE knowledge  :cool: :cool: :cool:

This beginning part is just a story of me and my experience with religion. Go to the end for a basic outline of my beliefs that involve religion.

     Hi I'm Monkey, or Travis, and I am 16 years old. I want to start with some background of my religious life before I continue. From Pre-K to 8th grade I was sent to a Catholic private school in Texas, USA. I was taught, from basically the beginning of my life, to praise this so called Jesus and God. At these ages I did not know much of anything about the world as whole and the religious beliefs of others, but only about the Catholic faith and how it is supreme to everything else. Private school basically secluded me into a world of confinement and isolation from the idea of opportunity to think your own thoughts. My whole adolescentes I was told what and what not to think, say, and believe. Then comes high school, a public school which from the perspective of those around me was seen as a place of evil and hatred. The majority of my 8th grade class went to private high school which my family just could not afford.

     I get to high school and try to keep to myself. I thought that if I talked to someone I would get beaten up because "everyone" was so "evil". I started to make friends through basketball and then I realized, these "people" aren't so evil after all. These people that have been seen as evil because not all of them have the same religious beliefs are just people who are FREE. I then started to actually think my own thoughts about what I truly believe and I did hours and hours of research. All at the same time I was going through a Catholic sacrament called Confirmation. Confirmation for Catholics is the sacrament that confirms your faith as a free person, but I was never really "free" until the second and final year of preparation for the sacrament. Three quarters of the way through that I determined that I was not prepared and decided to talk to my parents about it. They told me to just continue and get confirmed because they paid money for the 2 years of classes. So I did as they said and respected my parents in one of my hardest decisions I have ever made. After that I stopped going to church and tried to relieve myself of any responsibilities from the church. Consequently, these last few months since then have been rough for me mentally. 

     I would now consider myself religiously persecuted from my parents. To a point where I have seriously thought about considering my family as just blood relatives, I kind of do currently. I am considered "broken" by my parents, and they have been discussing ways to "fix" me. I found a small gaming community which I considered my family. Then out of the blue I was "fired" from my position of Head Developer, which I agreed did not deserve because all I could do was code and lead a team. I do not know a lot of the behind scenes of running and operating a server/servers. The hard thing about it was being accused of leaking. My what I called family because of tough issues at home betrayed me. I did not know what to do except cut all communication from them and go into a deep depression. At the current moment, I would rather sleep, eat, and live at school. My house is just way too toxic to continue to stay. The only thing that keeps me going is the opportunity of my future.


Religious Beliefs

Through my time of consideration and research I have gathered beliefs about religion as a whole. 

First, the belief of an afterlife. I don't believe in anything after life. Our lives are basically useless in the long run. The only thing I can think of is to keep improve the abilities and mental capacity of the human brain to somehow make life endless without aging and death. And that is my belief of eternal life. 

Second, the belief of the supernatural or god. I do believe in a species of life that is more complex than that of the human life. A species that would look at us as if we were the ants of our world. A species that could have the capabilities of which of some people could dream of, but I don't believe that species to be one of a creator of the universe or even human life. I do not believe in a stereotypical god.

Third, the belief in the Bible. I don't see the Bible as any credible source of evidence of an existence of a god. I believe it was just a group of thinkers in the world that created a book with stories of morals and a way of living. Even so, it was written centuries after the existence of the so called Jesus, so how could that be evidence of a god. It is a well written story by multiple authors that explain a very good way to live life. It gave people a sense of relief that their life is worth something. 




Sorry for the rant, but I needed it. It probably doesn't even make sense. I respect everyone's belief as long they have a reason to believe it. If you can't answer a question about your belief than you really don't truly believe it, you were taught to believe it.

I'm agnostic myself, mostly because every time I hear atheist I think of that dumbass The Amazing Atheist.

I also recommend watching Stephen Fry's speech here as he brings up a lot of points I agree with on most religions.

Atheist same as 80% of the country

(Nov 17, 2018, 07:11 PM)Lord Octagon Wrote: [ -> ]

(Nov 14, 2018, 11:39 PM)IVNT Wrote: [ -> ]I see religion pointless, despite me attending a catholic school I dislike religion as it causes bollocks with everyone saying 'my god is real ur ones shit' 

Aswell as this, I do astronomy and have strong beliefs against it with creation theorys and god aint one of them :)

Georges Lemaître, a Catholic priest, formulated the Big Bang theory. <3

Catholicism is the one true religion, but others are ok (except Islam, that's bad).

Isn't Islam also Abrahamic?

(Nov 19, 2018, 05:38 PM)Montyfatcat Wrote: [ -> ]Isn't Islam also Abrahamic?

It is:

Judaism

Islam

Christianity 

These are the 3 largest Abrahamic religions on earth

If people so wish to watch:
"Abrahamic faiths resemble domestic abuse so well because they’re both rooted in power and control through dependency, degradation, and fear. This is antithetical to benevolence."