Alternative religions. Anyone follow one?

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  • juliemouse83
    juliemouse83 Posts: 6,663 Member
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    I am a spiritual eclectic. I believe in the duality of man, that people can be good AND bad, not strictly one or the other.

    I believe in the "Do unto others" concept, as well as the Law of Threes.

    I believe in magic(k).

    Spiritually speaking, I'm pretty simple, and hesitate to label myself. :flowerforyou:
  • MaydayParadeGirl
    MaydayParadeGirl Posts: 190 Member
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    Tree-hugger :glasses:

    WOOWOO

    Anyway I was baptised Catholic but my mother abandoned that way and studies Wicca and my step father who helped raise me is Protestant. I've been to youth group, I've sat under the trees and spoken of the Gods and Goddesses. I don't want to just take one persons word for anything, I believe that there is some divine being out there I'm just not yet sure who that is, or how many there are. I honestly don't know what I would even call myself, however I'm reading through this and perhaps I will find my answer.
  • MaydayParadeGirl
    MaydayParadeGirl Posts: 190 Member
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    Im a Jedi.

    .....you're the coolest person I don't know....
  • asyluma
    asyluma Posts: 65 Member
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    I believe in Individualism. Basically, I believe in myself and don't follow "the herd". It all comes down to one's basis of faith. If I put my faith and belief into thinking the sky was purple, no one could change my mind (I don't btw, just an example = P). This, in turn, means I respect others' faith. If they hold faith and belief in nature, or human nature, or a higher power, who am I to tell them they are wrong? Every human being has the ability to determine what is right and wrong (let's exclude the environmental factors for now) so if the "Golden Rule" is do unto others as you wish done unto you, then truly, all religions have the same base of faith. It's our individualism that make up the various varieties. = )
  • richardheath
    richardheath Posts: 1,276 Member
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    If atheism is a way of life with organized points of view on life, then it may qualify as being a religion. The difference perhaps is faith in a being that is beyond being human such as a superman. However, is atheism organized, or is it like religious faiths that have varied points of view ?

    I do not believe that atheism is an organized anti-belief system. But, just because I don't believe it is not organized, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist as one.

    Did you see how I turned that around?

    I don't think it HAS to be an organized system but it certainly is for many. You can not believe and not have any other aspects to your non-belief but many Atheists that I know do not believe in a God but they do have an organized, commonly accepted structure to what they DO believe.

    Just like the three main, organized religions out there (Judaism, Islamic and Christian), I believe Atheism has it's own set of guidelines/principles and tenets. I'm not an atheist, but I sense the atheistic tenets are more scientifically based than faith based.

    I could be entirely wrong here, and would love to hear from "organized atheists" on here if that holds true. But, just as I believe there is a speed of dark to counterbalance the existence of a speed of light, I feel there is an atheistic set of principles to counterbalance theistic principles.

    The only thing you need do to be an atheist is not believe in any gods or goddesses.

    To be clear: the opposite of atheist is not Christian. It is theist. Other than on the existence of god question, atheists are no more organized and in agreement about what we believe than are Christians, Muslims, Jews, and every other religious people all thrown in together.

    There are some atheist organization, but one does not have to join one to be an atheist. These groups are mainly (on a National level) concerned with things like maintaining the separation of Church and State (at least in the US). Smaller groups on the local level are more of a club than a church.

    And no, Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens, Harris, PZ Myers etc are not our high priests. Some of us may read their book or blogs, but that doesn't make them saints any more than CS Lewis is a saint.

    I, personally, think that having dismissed gods as the source of morality and law means that humans are therefore free to write our own laws that better the whole of society. Much of what I think is mirrored in secular humanism, although I've never been a member of any specific group.
  • RawMomma10
    RawMomma10 Posts: 89 Member
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    dont see a delete... removing my double post.. :) lol
  • RawMomma10
    RawMomma10 Posts: 89 Member
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    I am paggan/Wiccan with a twist coming from a christian background.... :wink:

    ^ This. First let me say how wonderful this thread is! As someone with out of the box beliefs I usually steer clear of these conversations but I've actually been reading this quite thoroughly.

    I consider myself a christo-wiccan which basically means I am a monotheistic wiccan who recognizes the Holy Spirit (and in turn Christ) as my "higher power". My faith is strongly rooted in nature and the spirit that flows within us all. My whole life I felt pulled strongly in both directions until I got to an age where I realized they don't have to be separate. It's about right vs wrong for me, not who is correct.

    Ive just been reading The Path of a Christian Witch.... Love it so far... many things ringing true for me in this book... :)
  • foxro
    foxro Posts: 793 Member
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    My silly question to the atheist community is if you don't believe in gods or godesses doe this mean you also don't believe in the concept of extraterrestrials(sp?) influenzing the development of early humans and taken as gods ? Does it also then follow do you believe human beings are the highest form of sentient beings in the universe - just asking to know
  • monjacq1964
    monjacq1964 Posts: 291 Member
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    My silly question to the atheist community is if you don't believe in gods or godesses doe this mean you also don't believe in the concept of extraterrestrials(sp?) influenzing the development of early humans and taken as gods ? Does it also then follow do you believe human beings are the highest form of sentient beings in the universe - just asking to know

    I don't think its a silly question at all. I believe that there could be ETs out there, who have influenced the early development of humans, for sure. They would explain it to themselves using their own frames of reference, and yes, consider them "god like". I don't think we're the only sentient beings in the universe. Lots could be smarter than us, FOR SURE!! i think we're pretty dumb, on the whole.
  • LibertyBelle89
    LibertyBelle89 Posts: 275
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    not religious either, im an agnostic......although Ive always loved studying religions & comparing them




    what I find interesting though, is that the majority (not all) of atheists & agnostics know more about the bible then most christians do


    (this isnt to offend anyone, just stating what I think)

    :)
  • MaydayParadeGirl
    MaydayParadeGirl Posts: 190 Member
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    Can someone sort of explain to me what it means to be 'Spiritual'? I'm just generally confused and have always been. I just kind of always thought that was Hippies for some reason (sorry if that's wrong and offensive it's just always what I thought, the word just makes me think of freeness and openeness and things). Is being spiritual like being a wiccan? Or something along those lines?
  • LibertyBelle89
    LibertyBelle89 Posts: 275
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    & i also live by the Golden Rule
  • BigDog
    BigDog Posts: 272 Member
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    My silly question to the atheist community is if you don't believe in gods or godesses doe this mean you also don't believe in the concept of extraterrestrials(sp?) influenzing the development of early humans and taken as gods ? Does it also then follow do you believe human beings are the highest form of sentient beings in the universe - just asking to know

    You will get a hundred different answers to this as the only thing atheists have in common is their lack of belief in deities.

    My personal belief is that yes there has to be other life out there, but I also highly doubt our little rock has ever been visited by highly intelligent space faring entities. (No evidence to support that hypothesis that I have ever seen)
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    My silly question to the atheist community is if you don't believe in gods or godesses doe this mean you also don't believe in the concept of extraterrestrials(sp?) influenzing the development of early humans and taken as gods ? Does it also then follow do you believe human beings are the highest form of sentient beings in the universe - just asking to know

    Hi, from my perspective, I don't believe in things that are supernatural (unless there was evidence to support it that could withstand scientific scrutiny and then I would). I don't think that ancient aliens influenced early human development. That is just not something I believe. I don't see any evidence for that either.

    I do believe that there very likely could be other alien beings off on some other planet. I don't think they have abducted people or any of that. But, how could I determine that there are none? We exist, so why not other beings on some other planet. The universe is huge. And there are a lot of unknowns. The point of my being an atheist is that there are things I don't know. Not that I think I know everything. It seems to me that religion seeks to answer and give answers to the unknown questions. I don't trust those answers, they just seem to have been made up by people for either wishful thinking or for control of people through fear of divine justice (even for things that are not crimes or wrong).

    I don't think human's are superior to animals. We have a slightly higher ability to organize a society. But, we are really not all that much more intelligent than animals. Just a little bit. And other beings on other planets could surely be more intelligent and advanced than we are.
  • richardheath
    richardheath Posts: 1,276 Member
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    My silly question to the atheist community is if you don't believe in gods or godesses doe this mean you also don't believe in the concept of extraterrestrials(sp?) influenzing the development of early humans and taken as gods ? Does it also then follow do you believe human beings are the highest form of sentient beings in the universe - just asking to know

    Atheism means no god-belief. That's it. Period.

    Raelianism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raelism) and Scientology are religions founded on a belief in aliens.

    I think it highly likely that there may be life on other planets. If life started and evolved here, why not somewhere else? The universe is SO big, there must be other suitable planets out there. However, I also think it extremely unlikely that any such aliens have ever visited Earth, or that we (humans) will ever run into them, unless we develop faster than light drives or wormholes or other highly improbable (impossible?) technologies.

    So are we the highest form of sentient being in the universe? I have no idea. I think we ARE the highest form of sentient being in the universe that we know of.
  • soldier4242
    soldier4242 Posts: 1,368 Member
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    If atheism is a way of life with organized points of view on life, then it may qualify as being a religion. The difference perhaps is faith in a being that is beyond being human such as a superman. However, is atheism organized, or is it like religious faiths that have varied points of view ?

    I do not believe that atheism is an organized anti-belief system. But, just because I don't believe it is not organized, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist as one.

    Did you see how I turned that around?

    I don't think it HAS to be an organized system but it certainly is for many. You can not believe and not have any other aspects to your non-belief but many Atheists that I know do not believe in a God but they do have an organized, commonly accepted structure to what they DO believe.

    Just like the three main, organized religions out there (Judaism, Islamic and Christian), I believe Atheism has it's own set of guidelines/principles and tenets. I'm not an atheist, but I sense the atheistic tenets are more scientifically based than faith based.

    I could be entirely wrong here, and would love to hear from "organized atheists" on here if that holds true. But, just as I believe there is a speed of dark to counterbalance the existence of a speed of light, I feel there is an atheistic set of principles to counterbalance theistic principles.

    The only thing you need do to be an atheist is not believe in any gods or goddesses.

    To be clear: the opposite of atheist is not Christian. It is theist. Other than on the existence of god question, atheists are no more organized and in agreement about what we believe than are Christians, Muslims, Jews, and every other religious people all thrown in together.

    There are some atheist organization, but one does not have to join one to be an atheist. These groups are mainly (on a National level) concerned with things like maintaining the separation of Church and State (at least in the US). Smaller groups on the local level are more of a club than a church.

    And no, Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens, Harris, PZ Myers etc are not our high priests. Some of us may read their book or blogs, but that doesn't make them saints any more than CS Lewis is a saint.

    I, personally, think that having dismissed gods as the source of morality and law means that humans are therefore free to write our own laws that better the whole of society. Much of what I think is mirrored in secular humanism, although I've never been a member of any specific group.

    Thank you richardheath I was beginning to wonder if anyone got it. If a person is an atheist all that tells you about that person is that they do not believe in the assertion that there is a god. That is it. Atheism is not a religion. It isn't that an atheist is selling something different it is just that an atheist is not buying what the theists are selling.
  • SageGoddess320
    SageGoddess320 Posts: 2,589 Member
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    tumblr_ljhxqfJwB71qhisruo1_500.gif
  • WanderingLass
    WanderingLass Posts: 86 Member
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    I consider myself a christo-wiccan which basically means I am a monotheistic wiccan who recognizes the Holy Spirit (and in turn Christ) as my "higher power". My faith is strongly rooted in nature and the spirit that flows within us all. My whole life I felt pulled strongly in both directions until I got to an age where I realized they don't have to be separate. It's about right vs wrong for me, not who is correct.

    Your last 2 sentences sum me up quite clearly. I am exploring where I am drawn to but that does not mean I do not have the same essential faith I was raised in.

    My mother was horrified that I did not have my son baptized. I wanted him to be old enough to make that choice for himself. I don't think he would have endured eternal punishment for my choice, no matter what belief system was in place.
  • LibertyBelle89
    LibertyBelle89 Posts: 275
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    I go between being earthly religious and thinking that we are all just an alien experiment...like a bunch of lab rats. Maybe they watch us from their base inside the moon. Or has anyone ever looked into the brain in a vat theory...scary ****.

    Um, I have thought this many,many times and was so P*ISSED when that stupid Ancient Aliens show came out. That was MY theory damnit!:mad:

    I know right!!!!??


    If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say that the universe aimed rather low & settled for very little~~ George Carlin
  • SabrinaLC
    SabrinaLC Posts: 133 Member
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    Atheist since birth <3

    Not a "hipster atheist" either. I've honestly never even heard of that.

    What does that mean, I am just curious?

    hipster atheist? I don't really know. someone in the earlier replies said it. Apparently there are people who are atheists because they think it's cool.

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