Now let start this by saying I'm asking a very real question. My intent here is not to in any way what so ever put down degrade offend or beliddle any participant of this forum or the world for that matter.
I am honestly trying to understand a mindset that just seems so foreign to me and that I just for the life of me can't fully comprehend. I do hope that people who choose to partake in this discussion read this post first otherwise if all they do is reply based of the replies below this will certainly derail (very much like most things in the real world based off the media).
So some back ground to try to set where my thought are coming from. I was raised in a fairly populated suburban area that would be considered fairly diverse. As such I was exposed to from a young age most established religions and I had friends growing up, close friends, who were members a a wide variety of churches temples mosques and so on.
I grew up in a time where it was perfectly except able to have a nativity out in front of a school a business a church or even yes even a government building with out protest. In grade school we "celebrated" the Christian holidays we discussed and acknowledged the Jewish holidays. In later years kwanza made it's first appearance and even the cafeteria was opened special hours to accommodate Muslim students during Ramadan.
I grew up in a house with two parents of different religious backing. Neither was uber religious but they followed the basics of their respective religion I would say like most religious American actually do and they took me to both houses of worship and discussed the principals of their respective religion.
My school district discussed religion a lot. It was discussed in literature classes. Creative writing classes economic classes and of course history class. And it was in history classes that we really laid out the religions when they broke off from one another we discussed in depth the tenants that were disputed by one faction or the other the influence kings had in the formation of religion and the enflurane powerful bishops and priests had on certain kingdoms.
So I would say I've been exposed to religion. I understand it's beginnings and I see wherever is today. I also understand that the vast majority of religion is based on faith. Ultimately the object of ones faith in something could never be proven until they are gone. A statement of a dear friend summarized went like this " I'm hedging my bets cause if it's real and I did nothing I'm screwed and if it's nothing than all I did was waste some time".
I've had people say religion guides them morally. So I have to beg the question what moral decision do you feel you would have gotten wrong had it not been for religion. The big one maybe the easiest is to not kill. If religion did not exist would a person feel it's ok to kill? There was a time in human history before religion and people didn't just kill people anymore so than they do today.
Knowing what we know about history. Knowing what we know about people. When you take those in the world cut out the BS and just look at people there are simply families trying to survive what ever challenges they have in front of them the same as you or eye regardless of their religious doctrine. I guess I question even the "need" of faith. People say it's a leap of faith. Why are you leaping when everything is right around you. My happiness my sadness my excitement an my pain is right here with me and with all the people I call family and friend. What is faith giving me beyond the trust I share with those I hold close.
To finish out cause I cod go on for days. I do actually believe in God. Let's call it not a religious god. I don't give it a name I don't give it a sex. So why does someone who doesn't believe in religion believe in god and I tell people because I'm not a completely foolish person. Science can explain a lot. But one thing science will never beable to explain is something from absolutely nothing. Regardless what your theory is on the creation of the universe be it a twilight zone vision or Big Bang. Once upon a time an atom of something came from pure nothingness and science will never explain that.
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I am honestly trying to understand a mindset that just seems so foreign to me and that I just for the life of me can't fully comprehend. I do hope that people who choose to partake in this discussion read this post first otherwise if all they do is reply based of the replies below this will certainly derail (very much like most things in the real world based off the media).
So some back ground to try to set where my thought are coming from. I was raised in a fairly populated suburban area that would be considered fairly diverse. As such I was exposed to from a young age most established religions and I had friends growing up, close friends, who were members a a wide variety of churches temples mosques and so on.
I grew up in a time where it was perfectly except able to have a nativity out in front of a school a business a church or even yes even a government building with out protest. In grade school we "celebrated" the Christian holidays we discussed and acknowledged the Jewish holidays. In later years kwanza made it's first appearance and even the cafeteria was opened special hours to accommodate Muslim students during Ramadan.
I grew up in a house with two parents of different religious backing. Neither was uber religious but they followed the basics of their respective religion I would say like most religious American actually do and they took me to both houses of worship and discussed the principals of their respective religion.
My school district discussed religion a lot. It was discussed in literature classes. Creative writing classes economic classes and of course history class. And it was in history classes that we really laid out the religions when they broke off from one another we discussed in depth the tenants that were disputed by one faction or the other the influence kings had in the formation of religion and the enflurane powerful bishops and priests had on certain kingdoms.
So I would say I've been exposed to religion. I understand it's beginnings and I see wherever is today. I also understand that the vast majority of religion is based on faith. Ultimately the object of ones faith in something could never be proven until they are gone. A statement of a dear friend summarized went like this " I'm hedging my bets cause if it's real and I did nothing I'm screwed and if it's nothing than all I did was waste some time".
I've had people say religion guides them morally. So I have to beg the question what moral decision do you feel you would have gotten wrong had it not been for religion. The big one maybe the easiest is to not kill. If religion did not exist would a person feel it's ok to kill? There was a time in human history before religion and people didn't just kill people anymore so than they do today.
Knowing what we know about history. Knowing what we know about people. When you take those in the world cut out the BS and just look at people there are simply families trying to survive what ever challenges they have in front of them the same as you or eye regardless of their religious doctrine. I guess I question even the "need" of faith. People say it's a leap of faith. Why are you leaping when everything is right around you. My happiness my sadness my excitement an my pain is right here with me and with all the people I call family and friend. What is faith giving me beyond the trust I share with those I hold close.
To finish out cause I cod go on for days. I do actually believe in God. Let's call it not a religious god. I don't give it a name I don't give it a sex. So why does someone who doesn't believe in religion believe in god and I tell people because I'm not a completely foolish person. Science can explain a lot. But one thing science will never beable to explain is something from absolutely nothing. Regardless what your theory is on the creation of the universe be it a twilight zone vision or Big Bang. Once upon a time an atom of something came from pure nothingness and science will never explain that.
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