What Religion/Belief am I?

[Sicklyboy]

First and foremost, yes, this is a religious belief discussion thread. If you are going to be rude, condescending, intolerant, or start flame wars against others and their beliefs, leave this thread now. I am starting this thread because I do not know exactly what belief my beliefs would fall under and I would like general input from the community. I am not starting this thread with the intent to challenge anyone else's beliefs - as you'll see later in my post, I do not personally believe in any major religion, however I do not reject the possibility of any of them nor their faith and followings. If you can't stay respectful, I'll be reporting your post, because there's no reason not to be. Simple as that.

That said, I've held my own set of beliefs for a while. I was raised Catholic, but I never really followed it. Religion was never a big thing through my household, and though I did go to CCD (Catholic religious teaching program), it just never sat with me.

I've been wondering what my beliefs would actually be classified as, and never thought until now to ask you guys.

-I believe in the concept of "god". I do not, however, believe that any individual "God" exists as many religions describe one as existing. I simply believe as "god" as some sort of a higher power - Mother nature, luck, alignment of the planets, the weather, anything. I do not believe in any such religions (as mentioned in a Wikipedia article on Deism, any religion that claims to have the word of god in a written book, specifically), however I do not reject the possibility that any one may in fact be right.

-Pertaining to that, I don't think that humans are supposed to be able to comprehend "god", just the concept of it. Think about it (from my perspective) - if there was an "ultimate creator", harnessing power stronger than any physics and science of this current date are able to even fathom, would that "god" be anything a mere mortal could really understand?

-That said, despite me mentioning the possibility of an "ultimate creator", I believe in the big bang theory. Again, that's not to say that I completely reject the possibility of some higher power creating everything from nothing, because I don't know with absolute certainty that that didn't happen. I do not personally believe it did, however.

-I do think that an afterlife exists, of a similar concept to "Heaven", though without the existence of "Hell". When anyone dies, good deeds or bad deeds accomplished in life disregarded, they all go to the same place. (Just like in life though, if you're an ass, expect to not have many friends lol). Nothing special beyond that.

-Fairly liberal on many hot topics - abortion (pro-choice); gay marriage (pro-gay rights); drugs (if it isn't harming anyone else, though personally I do not/don't intend to use).

My big thing is just trying to be understanding and accepting of what others believe. As long as you don't shove it in my face or start getting up and crazy about it, I'd be more than willing to have a talk about it. I like knowing what other people think about stuff, it's neat.

So I looked up Deism on Wikipedia and it actually does sound along the lines of what I believe, but I don't think it really is. It's almost like a cross between agnosticism/deism, I feel like. What do you guys think?


(I'm hoping that this discussion stays relaxed enough that the mods don't have to intervene. Please, people, just don't ruin it. Let's show the moderating staff that we actually can have a nice discussion once in a blue moon about something many people hold very controversial. I mean no disrespect or intolerance to anyone with the post I have just written, and if you feel I have, I am very sorry, and if you want to say something about it, take it up with me in a PM, not in open discussion. Thank you.)

Mods: I'm hoping you see this thread fit to keep open until shit goes downhill.

Edit - also, one thing to hopefully consider if you think anything I said was offensive in some way, shape, or form - Aside from earnest curiosity and liking to know what other people think in life, realize this - if I can't understand/comprehend the concept of a "god" that I believe in, there shouldn't be a reason why I could understand or comprehend the concept of the "God" you believe in. THAT is a big reason as to why I don't reject the possibility of any religions.

 

[Hyro-Sama]

You sound like an agnostic.

 

[mthrnite]

I was also thinking agnostic deist. I'll leave the atheist door unlocked for you, just walk in when you're ready.

 

[Lanlan]

Yeah, agnostic sounds good. Maybe agnostic pagan?

 

[Valwin]

your could be a animist ?

 

[Sicklyboy]

I was also thinking agnostic deist. I'll leave the atheist door unlocked for you, just walk in when you're ready.

I have a few friends who are atheist, and I just can't follow it (yet, at least). I have a hard time accepting the fact/belief that there is nothing higher up than us. I don't know what on earth it would be, but I think there's gotta be some sort of higher power somewhere.

Edit - Also, I do believe quite firmly in evolution. I can't, for the life of me, be okay with the idea that "poof" all of a sudden there's some perfectly sentient, capable bipedal creatures roaming the earth. The idea that we evolved from similar, though lesser beings makes much more sense to me.

 

[Foxi4]

I was also thinking agnostic deist. I'll leave the atheist door unlocked for you, just walk in when you're ready.

You on the other hand can always become a believer in a higher sentient force - everyone's invited.

 

[The Pi]

Agnostic theist sounds most like it.

However, you don't need to label your belief, as it doesn't change anything whether you do or not.

 

[Sicklyboy]

Agnostic theist sounds most like it.

However, you don't need to label your belief, as it doesn't change anything whether you do or not.

It's just a hell of a lot quicker to say "Yeah, I'm " rather than "Well, personally, I believe..." and that book I wrote above, lol.

 

[Foxi4]

It's just a hell of a lot quicker to say "Yeah, I'm " rather than "Well, personally, I believe..." and that book I wrote above, lol.

The way I see it, you're a person, not a label - why limit yourself to a handful of words that may not represent 100% of your beliefs?

 

[Hanafuda]

I'm just gonna put this here to give you a reason to contemplate why you're even asking yourself these questions. I first encountered this poem when i was about 20 yrs old (I'm 45 now) and this de-murked the waters for me quite a bit. Hope you like it.

[size="+1"]HEAVEN[/size]
[size="-1"]by: Rupert Brooke (1887-1915)[/size]​

• [size="+2"]
  
  [/size]ISH (fly-replete, in depth of June, Dawdling away their wat'ry noon) Ponder deep wisdom, dark or clear, Each secret fishy hope or fear. Fish say, they have their Stream and Pond; But is there anything Beyond? This life cannot be All, they swear, For how unpleasant, if it were! One may not doubt that, somehow, Good Shall come of Water and of Mud; And, sure, the reverent eye must see A Purpose in Liquidity. We darkly know, by Faith we cry, The future is not Wholly Dry. Mud unto mud! -- Death eddies near -- Not here the appointed End, not here! But somewhere, beyond Space and Time. Is wetter water, slimier slime! And there (they trust) there swimmeth One Who swam ere rivers were begun, Immense, of fishy form and mind, Squamous, omnipotent, and kind; And under that Almighty Fin, The littlest fish may enter in. Oh! never fly conceals a hook, Fish say, in the Eternal Brook, But more than mundane weeds are there, And mud, celestially fair; Fat caterpillars drift around, And Paradisal grubs are found; Unfading moths, immortal flies, And the worm that never dies. And in that Heaven of all their wish, There shall be no more land, say fish.
  

 

[mthrnite]

You'll eventually hit a point where you're considering a creator that's sitting around wondering where he came from.
Yes, it's turtles all the way up too.

 

[tatripp]

Sounds like you are Unitarian Universalism to me. Look it up on wikipedia or something
I personally think it is nonsensical but it sounds similar to what you are describing.
I suggest you read The Everlasting Man or Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton. I'm pretty sure Chesterton was born and raised as a sort of unitarian universalist but then he started to think differently. He learned that truth exists and it can often be found.

 

[C-Kronos]

Yeah, it sounds to me that you're an open minded agnostic.

 

[mysticwaterfall]

I'll have to go with the majority on this and say agnostic is the closest thing.

Also, I just want to say that faith and science is at least in my view not an either/or thing. The way I see, science is our way understanding the universe God created. I see no reason why God couldn't have set the system up and let it run, knowing what the end result would be. Certainly nothing precluding this. Not trying to derail your thread though, just throwing it out there.

 

[Psyfira]

It's just a hell of a lot quicker to say "Yeah, I'm <this, this>" rather than "Well, personally, I believe..." and that book I wrote above, lol.

I find a lot of people haven't heard of the term agnostic so you end up having to explain it anyway. I'd agree agnostic is the correct term but if you're looking for a quick answer to give when asked tick athiest and be done with it, chances are there wouldn't be any followup questions either way.

 

[Maxternal]

It's just a hell of a lot quicker to say "Yeah, I'm " rather than "Well, personally, I believe..." and that book I wrote above, lol.

Yeah, I think a quick glance and the definition of the the word "agnostic" fits your beliefs very well if you're looking for a simple, easy, one-word answer without having to give the whole description.

And, if you want something a LITTLE more descriptive, you could base it, also, on one of these lines from your decription :

-Fairly liberal on many hot topics - abortion (pro-choice); gay marriage (pro-gay rights); drugs (if it isn't harming anyone else, though personally I do not/don't intend to use).

So I looked up Deism on Wikipedia and it actually does sound along the lines of what I believe, but I don't think it really is. It's almost like a cross between agnosticism/deism, I feel like. What do you guys think?

Something like just a "liberal agnostic", "deist agnostic"
or "liberal, deist agnostic"


But, seriously, setting aside the specifics of my own, personal religious beliefs,
it IS rather interesting to look at the universe and ponder the "what if" concept of if there is a god or get all deep and start making guesses about what He, She, or It is like (or they ... whatever)
Here are a few very interesting points and ways of seeing things I've come across in my life that are not really specific to any religion in particular (mine included) :

Big bang theory's great ... but the laws of physics would have had to have changed in the instant of the explosion for it to even happen (something that hasn't happened since as far as I know of.)

Science does a great job at explaining a lot of things as far as documenting the rules by which the universe operates. It just doesn't necessarily say "why". We can observe that opposite charges attract and do all the math about how fast and hard they'll move together ... but that doesn't mean we can really comprehend "why" those two objects just start moving toward each other without anything in between them.

I'm all for evolution. It always moves in the direction that the situation pushes it (It's all based on the weather, climate, the movement of random molecules in DNA, all that the stuff that's bigger than us and beyond our control.)
The formation of DNA in the first place is the only organic substance that we have not (yet) been able to explain the original formation of ... the real kicker is, though, that if you change the DNA in a cell it usually just dies ... or becomes cancer. There's only so many combinations of DNA instructions that actually can form life, let alone the right combination to be able to start from scratch, floating in a soup of organic chemicals, without there already being a cell around it.

Lastly (and then I'll shut up) and this may not have as much to do with the existence of a deity, but perhaps the existence of the soul, but just the fact that I'm conscious seems incomprehensible to me through traditional scientific explanation. When understanding how a computer works, I realized it's just a bunch of transistors that just each receive a single wire and turn a switch on or off depending on if there's electricity in the first wire or not. That's it. The idea that a single transistor has any idea of existence of the millions of others it's interconnected with sounds just stupid. They just do their individual job and it just happens to do calculations and put stuff up on your screen, etc, because they're all arranged right. One effects the other like dominoes all falling in a row. It's incomprehensible that my brain, being just a bunch of nerve cells each doing their individual job, completely oblivious of the others ... could become conscious. They might act like they are but there'd be no central entity that's actually seeing out your eyes AND hearing through your ears AND feeling, smelling, tasting, AND directing the movement of all the rest. Even a single cell at the center of our brain couldn't do all that, directing the others. One cell's inputs are far too limited.
To me, the brain is just a TOOL for the soul ... helping it remember and helping it coordinate the body ... but I know I'm not an UNCONSCIOUS bundle of nerves mounted in a skull. It seems to me there has to be more than that.

/theological rant

 

[Sicklyboy]

Maxternal, just note that if possible I'd put more than 1 like towards that post. It was very well written and very insightful.

I'll reply more in depth when I'm home guys. Replying on my phone is a little less than enjoyable. But I like reading everyone's responses so far and it's already given me a bunch to think about for the rest of the day.

 

[Gahars]

To join in with the crowd, that sounds like Agnosticism.

I think it's important to point out, though, that the label doesn't matter so much. Faith and spirituality (or a lack there of) can be a complicated thing. It's more important to understand your beliefs than to try to make them fit to rigid standards or expectations. And since it's related, and no one else has posted it yet, here is Neil deGrasse Tyson's take; it's well worth a watch.

 

[Sop]

You sound like a good old fashioned Satanist (sorry guys, don't know much about religion and don't really care to learn (buddhist)).