Alternative religions. Anyone follow one?

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  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    Oh yeah, I always forget to mention on these threads. Even though I am an agnostic atheist (as has been discussed in this thread), I do still read about Buddhism, meditate and do yoga. As I said I was raised in "alternative religion". It is long and involved and I don't want to say I had a bad experience with it, but I did not have a good experience or feel that it benefited my life (I am well aware of the reasons why). But, during those younger years I read books by Thich Nhat Hanh. He is a Buddhist monk. He has been through trauma and he is very down to earth, compassionate and understanding. So, I did relate to him and found his writing and wisdom to be helpful. I ended up becoming agnostic atheist (or secular humanism). And still like Thich Nhat Hanh. And it turns out that Thich Nhat Hanh also does not believe in God, afterlife, reincarnation...etc. A lot of Buddhists don't. Sometimes Buddhism is a way of life, a philosophy, a type of psychology and not a religion. So I appreciate the writings of a lot of secular Buddhists. And just because I like them, does not mean I agree with everything. We are all still individuals and all still learning.
  • WanderingLass
    WanderingLass Posts: 86 Member
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    Gnostic Theist= I believe that god is real because I know he is real.
    Agnostic Theist= I don't know if there is a god or not but I do believe there is a god.
    Agnostic Atheist= I don't know if there is a god or not but I do not believe there is a god.
    Gnostic Atheist= I know that there is no god.

    Thank you!!! I love this!!!
  • freebirdjones
    freebirdjones Posts: 237
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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 if I grow a liver from cells I am a God. I don't believe if we were genetically engineered by aliens that it makes them God. It makes them well educated in science. I also don't think if they aided us in anyway it makes them God like. I could talk forever about this but do not want to be offensive to anyone :happy:
  • MissMaryMac33
    MissMaryMac33 Posts: 1,433 Member
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    This is a pretty interesting little quiz:
    http://www.selectsmart.com/PRO/myreligion.php

    tells you which religion your beliefs actually fit into best and ranks them all in order.

    I went to Catholic school from kindergarten through college ... and it appears 26th out of 27 in my beliefs :)
    This is pretty accurate as I have considered myself "recovering catholic" for many years.
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
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    This is a pretty interesting little quiz:
    http://www.selectsmart.com/PRO/myreligion.php

    tells you which religion your beliefs actually fit into best and ranks them all in order.

    I went to Catholic school from kindergarten through college ... and it appears 26th out of 27 in my beliefs :)
    This is pretty accurate as I have considered myself "recovering catholic" for many years.

    Hahaha! Checked it out and apparently, I should be an Orthodox Quaker (100%)... after that Mainline Conservative Christian (which doesn't surprise me as I'm already so.. but I find I'm typically more liberal and tolerant than many of our leaders.
  • ScatteredThoughts
    ScatteredThoughts Posts: 3,562 Member
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    This is a pretty interesting little quiz:
    http://www.selectsmart.com/PRO/myreligion.php

    Secular Humanism 100%
  • Kohadre
    Kohadre Posts: 316
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    Im a Jedi.

    Nice to see a fellow Jedi on the boards. You on TOTJO?
  • crista_b
    crista_b Posts: 1,192 Member
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    This is a pretty interesting little quiz:
    http://www.selectsmart.com/PRO/myreligion.php

    tells you which religion your beliefs actually fit into best and ranks them all in order.
    Interesting. I got Unitarian Universalism at 100% which I looked into a bit a few years ago, and Secular Humanism at 91% which I hadn't heard of until this thread, and I'm realizing that it sounds a lot like me.

    Thanks for the quiz!
  • lilRicki
    lilRicki Posts: 4,555 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?

    To me, being spiritual means acknowledging there is a higher power or powers, with many names given by many peoples, that help guide us along our life journeys. I was raised a particular denomination and while I acknowledge my upbringing, I don't necessarily use the same names for powers or rituals that I did as a child but my intent is that of being the best person I can be to myself and others.


    Well said...
  • freebirdjones
    freebirdjones Posts: 237
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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 kind of have the opposite question, if you believe in a God do you believe in Aliens???
  • WanderingLass
    WanderingLass Posts: 86 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?

    To me, being spiritual means acknowledging there is a higher power or powers, with many names given by many peoples, that help guide us along our life journeys. I was raised a particular denomination and while I acknowledge my upbringing, I don't necessarily use the same names for powers or rituals that I did as a child but my intent is that of being the best person I can be to myself and others.


    Well said...

    Thank you. :blushing:
  • melindasuefritz
    melindasuefritz Posts: 3,509 Member
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    NO........................................... THERES 1 GOD
    CHRISTIANITY ..........................
  • 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

    I kind of have the opposite question, if you believe in a God do you believe in Aliens???

    I raised the question as there has been much written on the subject like "Chariots of the God"s that attempt to redefine and rationalize God as a being within this universe that is in actuality an Alien. Hence God is not in a "spiritual" world outside of this universe, but living in this universe and we as early humans with no other ways of explaining their nature, noted them as Gods or God. These interventions over time became embelissed and evovled into the modern day religions we have today. Whether I support this is something else, but attempts to rationalize why so many early and separated societies had a common theme that gods or Gods came from the sky or stars.
  • lilRicki
    lilRicki Posts: 4,555 Member
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    This is a pretty interesting little quiz:
    http://www.selectsmart.com/PRO/myreligion.php

    tells you which religion your beliefs actually fit into best and ranks them all in order.
    Interesting. I got Unitarian Universalism at 100% which I looked into a bit a few years ago, and Secular Humanism at 91% which I hadn't heard of until this thread, and I'm realizing that it sounds a lot like me.

    Thanks for the quiz!


    the absolute last thing I should be is Roman Catholic, which I was raised as...and 100% neo pagan...mmmmm
  • soldier4242
    soldier4242 Posts: 1,368 Member
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    Oh yeah, I always forget to mention on these threads. Even though I am an agnostic atheist (as has been discussed in this thread), I do still read about Buddhism, meditate and do yoga. As I said I was raised in "alternative religion". It is long and involved and I don't want to say I had a bad experience with it, but I did not have a good experience or feel that it benefited my life (I am well aware of the reasons why). But, during those younger years I read books by Thich Nhat Hanh. He is a Buddhist monk. He has been through trauma and he is very down to earth, compassionate and understanding. So, I did relate to him and found his writing and wisdom to be helpful. I ended up becoming agnostic atheist (or secular humanism). And still like Thich Nhat Hanh. And it turns out that Thich Nhat Hanh also does not believe in God, afterlife, reincarnation...etc. A lot of Buddhists don't. Sometimes Buddhism is a way of life, a philosophy, a type of psychology and not a religion. So I appreciate the writings of a lot of secular Buddhists. And just because I like them, does not mean I agree with everything. We are all still individuals and all still learning.

    It is a real shame that you and I will likely never talk to each other in person Binary Pulsar.
  • freebirdjones
    freebirdjones Posts: 237
    Options
    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 kind of have the opposite question, if you believe in a God do you believe in Aliens???

    I raised the question as there has been much written on the subject like "Chariots of the God"s that attempt to redefine and rationalize God as a being within this universe that is in actuality an Alien. Hence God is not in a "spiritual" world outside of this universe, but living in this universe and we as early humans with no other ways of explaining their nature, noted them as Gods or God.

    or well... one can believe God created the universe as well as Aliens. There are priests who study science. Although there priests who believe in aliens, not a lot of Christians do, but I think they would believe God created them too.

    I just think things like this are weird:
    http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_geographic_geometry_1.htm

    All of the languages were different, they did not have phones or a mail carrier yet all over the world megalithic structures were built in the same manner with no communication. So possibly if God created the universe one of God's beings "an alien" could have given us the knowledge?
  • ladymiseryali
    ladymiseryali Posts: 2,555 Member
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    NO........................................... THERES 1 GOD
    CHRISTIANITY ..........................

    Proof?
  • 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?

    To me, being spiritual means acknowledging there is a higher power or powers, with many names given by many peoples, that help guide us along our life journeys. I was raised a particular denomination and while I acknowledge my upbringing, I don't necessarily use the same names for powers or rituals that I did as a child but my intent is that of being the best person I can be to myself and others.

    That really cleared things up. Kind of sounds how I feel about things. Thanks :)
  • EponaBlue
    EponaBlue Posts: 96 Member
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    This is a pretty interesting little quiz:
    http://www.selectsmart.com/PRO/myreligion.php

    Interesting! My top 4:
    1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)
    2. Secular Humanism (94%)
    3. Non-theist (91%)
    4. Theravada Buddhism (80%)
  • soldier4242
    soldier4242 Posts: 1,368 Member
    Options
    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 kind of have the opposite question, if you believe in a God do you believe in Aliens???

    I raised the question as there has been much written on the subject like "Chariots of the God"s that attempt to redefine and rationalize God as a being within this universe that is in actuality an Alien. Hence God is not in a "spiritual" world outside of this universe, but living in this universe and we as early humans with no other ways of explaining their nature, noted them as Gods or God. These interventions over time became embelissed and evovled into the modern day religions we have today. Whether I support this is something else, but attempts to rationalize why so many early and separated societies had a common theme that gods or Gods came from the sky or stars.

    I am an atheist because I have not been convinced that a god or gods exist. That in and of itself does not mean that I don't believe in extraterrestrials.

    If the question was put to me simply "Do you believe that there is life on another planet?"

    I would say:

    "I am not aware of any evidence of life on another planet but due to the immense size of the universe and the number of planets that there are it is entirely possible that life may have developed on another planet. That said I doubt very much that aliens have ever flown here."

    Maybe one day we will discover life on another planet and it may even be sentient but I would be shocked if I learned one day that aliens had anything to do with life on this planet.

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