Hello Religious Friends and Happy New Year to you all!

I never post here, but I lurk from time to time and I appreciate how deeply you have made me think through your posts and through private conversations that I enjoyed with some of you last year.

I do not think I am the only silent lurker on your religion thread. I just wanted to gift you with this Silent Monks Singing The Hallelujah Chorus. I hope that it starts you off giggling in the new calendar year.

Peace on Earth, friends.

Awesome "performance", thank you for sharing Angela!!

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Janice

Somebody Necro'ed a thread again. The last posts with much of any substance on Religion are from back in August, including one from Qui-gon I thought was a rather nice statement of Deism. Is the topic of religion around here fallen out of favor, is it discouraged either officially or unofficially? Please forgive me the question, I have been away for a while.

some have fallen victim to turning towards hate speech, which eventually is not tolerated.

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Janice

some have fallen victim to turning towards hate speech, which eventually is not tolerated.

Thank you for the answer. That somewhat explains things. Religion, being a topic of importance to so many people, with questioning and debate of matters of faith not being allowed by many religions, and many people's ignorance of religions not their own, I can see how a descent into very poor behavior indeed would result. Perhaps what is effectively a sub-forum devoted to religion isn't really appropriate here on these forums, for that reason, not even in the politics forum. A shame too, for we all could learn a lot from each other on this topic, as long as we all could keep civil and respectful.

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https://youtu.be/iY57ErBkFFE

#Texit

Don't blame me, I voted for Johnson(L) in 2016.

Truth is dangerous... especially when it challenges those in power.

Somebody Necro'ed a thread again. The last posts with much of any substance on Religion are from back in August, including one from Qui-gon I thought was a rather nice statement of Deism. Is the topic of religion around here fallen out of favor, is it discouraged either officially or unofficially? Please forgive me the question, I have been away for a while.

Happy New Year Major. This thread is used less and less as others open discussions in their own threads on specific topics (though, like all threads, even posts to threads on specific topics seem to wander). I still plan to post here every once in a while when the spirit (pardon the pun) moves me.

I will get this thread back on track by saying that my focus on my faith, being on the worship committee and my increased service to our church is playing a major lift while my wife and I deal with some extremely difficult issues affecting our family and friends.

Within a week we learned my sister-in-law is cheating on her husband (and has done so repetitively) and is leaving him and their 2 kids and has asked to move in with us (temporarily)...we also found out that my wife's best friend has also been cheating on her husband and is planning on walking. My wife is godmother to her sister's kids (born before I was in the pic) and we are both godparents to her best friend's daughter.

These revelations have been devastating compounded on several deaths of very close friends in the past month have made life VERY difficult right now.

Without my faith, I am not sure what I'd do...

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I will get this thread back on track by saying that my focus on my faith, being on the worship committee and my increased service to our church is playing a major lift while my wife and I deal with some extremely difficult issues affecting our family and friends.

Within a week we learned my sister-in-law is cheating on her husband (and has done so repetitively) and is leaving him and their 2 kids and has asked to move in with us (temporarily)...we also found out that my wife's best friend has also been cheating on her husband and is planning on walking. My wife is godmother to her sister's kids (born before I was in the pic) and we are both godparents to her best friend's daughter.

These revelations have been devastating compounded on several deaths of very close friends in the past month have made life VERY difficult right now.

Without my faith, I am not sure what I'd do...

I sorrow to hear about the difficulties life is throwing at you and yours. I am happy to hear that your faith is helping sustain you through this period. My beliefs have helped sustain me through difficult periods, as well. It certainly does help to have faith in a power higher than yourself, and to be surrounded by others sharing it.

Be well.

Somebody Necro'ed a thread again. The last posts with much of any substance on Religion are from back in August, including one from Qui-gon I thought was a rather nice statement of Deism. Is the topic of religion around here fallen out of favor, is it discouraged either officially or unofficially? Please forgive me the question, I have been away for a while.

http://setiweb.ssl.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=32479&nowrap=true#420919

Blurf, I have not the complete insight to tell anyone with any certainty that they are absolutely wrong. Nor Does anyone.

Which leaves all of what any of us believes beyond total proof to be "faith".

And if yours helps you along and does not harm others.. more power to it.

Hopefully you can say the same of mine. And if not, then I respect that too.

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Janice

Is this the new religion to include everyone and every living thing, all without the corruption of dogma?

A New Beginning?

All may be brought to light in the next UK census:


Census: 1911 v 2011

The "Jedi Stunt" was more than a tribute to Star Wars. It was the beginnings of positive action atheism. By designating "Jedi", citizens identified that as atheists they were not simply outsiders, they deserved a say in the religious debate just as much as other identifiable groups. I don't know what the favoured response will be this year but I hope we achieve more than 390,000.


(There is already Buddhism, or is that too 'old fashioned' for the modern high-tech world?)

Keep searchin',
Martin

(Thread 13)

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

...
But they are beliefs. Right, wrong, or somewhere in between.. they deserve respect.
...

Some day we might find out who started this "beliefs deserve respect" thing, open the grave and desecrate the body.

Young earth, intelligent design, respect anyone? A show of hands. Who respects those? Vaccines cause autism -- how about another show of hands?

To easy? Voodoo? Santeria? Do I see any hands? How about the what is mixed with Voodoo to get Santeria, Roman Catholicism? Did some hands go down?

Anyone respect religions that are nothing but rituals and taboos? Do the number of hands change when I point out both Islam and Judaism are ritual/taboo religions? Do I get respect for one but not the other?

There is belief and there is knowledge. Beliefs are stupid. I do not know is a legitimate answer.

We all have emotions but most of them we have the courtesy to keep private. For some reason religion is given a pass. Public displays are encouraged. Public worship services are the equivalent of public orgies.

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Unvarnished
Haaretz
Jerusalem Post
The origin of the Yahweh Cult

Showing others respect should not violate any religion.

It transcends religion. It is part of humanity.

Or at least part of civilization.

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Janice

Somebody Necro'ed a thread again. The last posts with much of any substance on Religion are from back in August, including one from Qui-gon I thought was a rather nice statement of Deism. Is the topic of religion around here fallen out of favor, is it discouraged either officially or unofficially? Please forgive me the question, I have been away for a while.

Back on track (I hope), I have been thinking about MajorKong's statement that I was describing "Deism" back in August. That was not my intent nor my belief. As I understand it, Deism is a belief in a God that created the universe then left it to develop as it will, without further intervention. I understand why my post #1026275 was interpreted as Deism, thought that was not my intent.

The post in question was a reprint of a post in another thread that asked why one believes (or does not believe) in God; I intended to answer a criticism of religion by some people who did not believe in a God that let bad things happen to innocent people. By posting only my response to that critique, I left the impression that God made us but abandoned us. That is not my belief.

A more complete statement of my belief in God should have included the further statement: that God did not abandon us, God's ultimate creations here on earth, but has continued to assist in our physical and spiritual development by giving us the intellectual resources and spiritual guidance to become better people, better members of our families, our communities and the world, yet allowing us the freedom to ignore any or all spiritual lessons. This is the crux of an analysis of good and evil, but that's a topic for another day. That some have indeed ignored God's guidance is not a reason to reject God.

I find it personally presumptuous of us to consider that human lives are significant to a divinity. This is a big universe. Picture in your mind how big the universe is. Nope! Much much bigger than that.

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Janice

I find it personally presumptuous of us to consider that human lives are significant to a divinity. This is a big universe. Picture in your mind how big the universe is. Nope! Much much bigger than that.

I don't understand your statement. Are you saying that because the universe is vast that constitutes evidence there is no God? Or are you saying that a God that could create the whole universe does not also have the power to create sentient beings? I am not clear how the size of the universe has any bearing on the relationship between God and sentient life. Why wouldn't a God that created such an orderly universe, subject to laws of physics and math, which we have recently discovered, not also supply sentient creatures such as ourselves with the tools, i.e. ethical and moral rules, to make our lives and interactions with others better?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems you are saying you don't believe in God because the universe is so large that nothing could or would be interested in such puny insignificant things like people. I see the vast, ancient, well oiled machine of a universe, which I have difficulty comprehending in its size, as evidence of a very powerful God. I look further than the physical, to the spiritual side of my (our) being, and with the help of religious ethical teachings I try to understand my role in the world. In other words, I see the immensity of the universe as an analog of God's "rules" for the way I (we) should treat each other.

I believe we are one of many sentient species on this planet alone. And if the universe was divinely created, we are not significant in that creation. That is of course the big "if" that religion revolves around.

To me, the answer to god yes/no is.. it does not matter.

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Janice

I believe we are one of many sentient species on this planet alone. And if the universe was divinely created, we are not significant in that creation. That is of course the big "if" that religion revolves around.

I agree, in the grand scheme of things, we are not all that significant--as a species and even less significant as individuals. I wish I had used a word other than "sentient" when I was posting my response/query to your post. I meant to say humans, but did not want to exclude the possibility of ET.

To me, the answer to god yes/no is.. it does not matter.

Perhaps it doesn't matter, but there have been so many millions of people who have wondered . . . and many of those have reached an answer. Religion gets nasty when people try to force their particular answer on others--whether the answer is yes or no, or some variant thereof.

Most of that is a case of "And man created god in his own image".

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Janice

Most of that is a case of "And man created god in his own image".

You earlier posted that you find it "presumptuous" that one should consider human lives are significant to a divinity. Given the the extremely slight chance that the vast universe around us simply sprang into being from a singularity and cooled asymmetrically (again, against the odds) into our current state, but without some divine plan, I find it to be somewhat arrogant that some believe God is simply a man-made concept. But that's just me.