What religion/belief system are you?

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Just curious about what's everyone's belief system here.  Because I like you guys and want to know more about you.

I'm a worshipper of Bach

[zezhyrule]

I believe in music.

[patrickd]

Roman Catholic

[pianowolfi]

[thalbergmad]

Thalism

[iansinclair]

Thalism

I love it!  Old Scottish Episcopalian...

[thalbergmad]

Are they the ones from the Isle of Lewis who lock up the playground on the Sabbath??

Thal

[perfect_pitch]

ATHEIST!   

[j_menz]

Druid for the clothes and Pagan for the parties.

[drexo]

Apatheist.

[ajspiano]

I used to tell people I believe in spontaneous creation, *pause ...of music.

otherwise I'm a clear non-believer of anything remotely religious. Each to there own, I just can't personally get my head around the issue of faith despite no evidence with organised belief systems.

...So long as a person makes up their own mind, instead of taking what they were told or read in a book then I feel their beliefs are as valid as my scientific ones, even if I will never agree..

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I used to tell people I believe in spontaneous creation, *pause ...of music.

otherwise I'm a clear non-believer of anything remotely religious. Each to there own, I just can't personally get my head around the issue of faith despite no evidence with organised belief systems.

...So long as a person makes up their own mind, instead of taking what they were told or read in a book then I feel their beliefs are as valid as my scientific ones, even if I will never agree..

Oh dear, I forgot to say what I was.

I'm an atheist.

[gitaristica]

I am Orthodox Catholic .

[littletune]

I believe in Universe! 

[albertus_magnus]

Roman Catholic

Also a Roman Catholic.   

[thalbergmad]

There used to be a lot of tambo bangers here, but they have either left or remain silent.

Thal

[musicluvr49]

There used to be a lot of tambo bangers here, but they have either left or remain silent.

Thal

d

Haha, I'm guessing you're referring to christians?

I am christian. Nondenominational at the moment.   

[Derek]

I grew up with parents who were sympathetic to Christianity but who never pressured me to adopt it. One parent leaned on the side of being agnostic, and the other seemed to be constantly struggling to become a christian, but ultimately remaining agnostic. Since all I ever knew from them growing up was absolutely constant love, and all I ever saw of them was happiness, the exact same thing is happening to me. I'm sympathetic to christianity, enjoy reading christian writings, but I can never get myself to think and act like an everyday christian. So it's not as simple as what belief system am I, I guess. I'm striving every day to figure that out.

[ted]

Both kindness and reason are very important to me; one without the other will not do. Most of the world's main religions seem to tolerate the crassest of obvious contradictions and stupidities, and the cruelty of some of their devotees of my acquaintance continues to appal me. Yes, I know there probably exist exceptions somewhere. Largely through these two reasons, I rejected all religion in the common meaning of the word when I was about eight, and nothing I have seen since has induced me to change my mind.

I used to argue about all these things as if I knew all about it, but when all is said and done, we live in a complete mystery. Consciousness is a mystery, death is an enigma, and there exist regions of the internal mind by turns so dark and terrible and so transcendentally beautiful that they can destroy the arrogance of reason in a moment. I continue to do bad things for all the right reasons and good things for all the wrong ones.

Like Derek, I had the privilege, sadly and increasingly rare in this dog-fight of a world, of unconditional love in childhood. My observations over a few decades tend to confirm this experience as being of far greater importance than most people suppose.

[danielekstrom]

I guess I would say I'm a Secular Humanist.

[geze]

Christian (Go to an Anglican church, raised an Anglican but see myself as a bit of a non-comformist)

[pianowolfi]

Belief is something entirely different than belief systems, I believe.

[ruvidoetostinato]

I'm Roman Catholic.

[m1469]

Music 

[hmpiano]

Surely the answer must be all those other many billions who are not of your belief can't be wrong, so what's your point?  I kind of worked that out when I was 8 and we've had a few billion added to the world since then.

[davidjosepha]

Surely the answer must be all those other many billions who are not of your belief can't be wrong, so what's your point?  I kind of worked that out when I was 8 and we've had a few billion added to the world since then.

You don't think a billion people can be wrong about something? Sounds like you could use to update some of the ideas you had when you were 8

[hmpiano]

You don't think a billion people can be wrong about something? Sounds like you could use to update some of the ideas you had when you were 8

Yes, a billion can be wrong but not 4 or 5 billion (I think that's my point).

[wilsonl]

Roman Chatolic,
and I expand my music talent on church as a senior organist and teacher. My fav one from Baroque era are Bach and Handel.

[davidjosepha]

Yes, a billion can be wrong but not 4 or 5 billion (I think that's my point).

Haha just remember that at one point, every single person on the planet thought it was flat.

[hmpiano]

Haha just remember that at one point, every single person on the planet thought it was flat.

And religion's somehow different?

[j_menz]

Haha just remember that at one point, every single person on the planet thought it was flat.

Do you have any evidence for that? There is no point in recorded history where that was true.

[davidjosepha]

Do you have any evidence for that? There is no point in recorded history where that was true.

At what point in time did civilizations start realizing the earth was round? Probably related to navigation, wouldn't it be?

[davidjosepha]

And religion's somehow different?

If everyone in a religion can be wrong, just as easily, so can everyone not in a religion. You say you can't believe billions of people could be wrong, but if you split religion into two basic camps, belief in a deity and no belief in a deity, you have two very large groups. They can't both be right, but by your logic, neither can be wrong

[j_menz]

At what point in time did civilizations start realizing the earth was round? Probably related to navigation, wouldn't it be?

That is indeed one theory, though the movement of the sun, moon and other celestial bodies may also have been the cause. In any case, it was prior to us having any written record of it. Sites such as stonehemnge indicate that at least some preliterate civilisations had an interest in, and a fairly sophisaticated knowledge of, matters astronomical.

No doubt there werre many people who believed the earth was flat at various times since then, and may even still be, but that was not the "learned" view.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I changed to a Valentina Lisitsian

Lol just kidding!  That would be too try hard and kinda creepy!

That's why I'm a Bachian!  Maybe if I worship him, he'll show mercy when learning his music!

I would be a Scriabimaninoffian, but there's really nothing they can offer.  They already gave everything to the world for people to enjoy!

But that doesn't mean I like Bach!  I'm only a Bachian out of fear!  THAT'S ALL!

[rachmaninoff_forever]

At what point in time did civilizations start realizing the earth was round? Probably related to navigation, wouldn't it be?

When ships were sailing off past the horizon, if you looked closely, the ship would disappear from bottom to top, suggesting that the Earth is round. 

Obviously nobody talked about it; they would be killed!

[j_menz]

That's why I'm a Bachian!  Maybe if I worship him, he'll show mercy when learning his music!

But that doesn't mean I like Bach!  I'm only a Bachian out of fear!  THAT'S ALL!

Proverbs 9:10  

[brianvds]

When ships were sailing off past the horizon, if you looked closely, the ship would disappear from bottom to top, suggesting that the Earth is round. 

Except, even with very large ships, I have never been able to see that phenomenon, because the ship tends to disappear in the haze (and get too small in appearance) before it is far enough away for me to see whether it really is disappearing from the top down.

I have noticed however that one can see the phenomenon very clearly when you go out on a small boat and you look back: with tall buildings it becomes very clear. I have also noticed the same thing when looking across wide bays toward buildings and things on the opposite side.

Then, astronomers also fairly early on realized that a lunar eclipse happened when the earth's shadow falls on the moon, and one can see that the shadow is round. They also relatively early on noticed that on the same day of the year, buildings and towers at various latitudes would cast shadows of different lengths (Eratosthenes rather brilliantly and famously used this data around the 3rd century BCE to calculate the size of the earth; his calculation was within a percent or two of the correct value - a little bit of science and math can go a long way!)

Last but not least, they had philosophical, and as it turned out utterly and completely erroneous, reasons to believe in a spherical earth.

[perfect_pitch]

You don't think a billion people can be wrong about something?

You mean the fact that a billion people believe that we were created by a (supposedly) omnipotent being who just simply wished the world into existence, and that a bunch of supposed fairy tales of his 'son' who magically became incarnate into the (ahem - excuse the use of quotation marks here) "virgin" Mary and grew up to supposedly walk on water, raise the dead and ascend into heaven (a magical place in the sky) despite the fact that there isn't a single piece of tangible (excuse me again) f@#$ing proof to back up any of it???

YES I DO... There are people who believe in aliens for goodness sake. There may not be a billion of them, but just because they believe in it doesn't make them sane... or right.

[davidjosepha]

You mean the fact that a billion people believe that we were created by a (supposedly) omnipotent being who just simply wished the world into existence, and that a bunch of supposed fairy tales of his 'son' who magically became incarnate into the (ahem - excuse the use of quotation marks here) "virgin" Mary and grew up to supposedly walk on water, raise the dead and ascend into heaven (a magical place in the sky) despite the fact that there isn't a single piece of tangible (excuse me again) f@#$ing proof to back up any of it???

YES I DO... There are people who believe in aliens for goodness sake. There may not be a billion of them, but just because they believe in it doesn't make them sane... or right.

I wasn't saying that billions of people can't be wrong, but rather, the opposite. My point was in response to hmpiano, who said he didn't think billions of people could be wrong about something. If half the world thinks one thing and the other half thinks the other, and the ideas are mutually exclusive, one set of billions of people must be wrong, therefore, a billion people has to be wrong.

Also, in response to the rest of your post, when narrowed down to two simple ideas, belief in a deity or deities or lack of belief in a deity or deities, there really is no more evidence for the lack of deity than the presence. Now, I know what you're saying, the burden of proof is on the person with the positive argument since the negative argument would be the "default" option. However, I would argue that the presence of a deity of some sort is apparent and that the burden of proof would be on those who contradict the obvious. Before you go throwing around insulting anti-theist cliches (as I can tell you're probably inclined to do just by the aggressive nature of your previous post), I do believe in evolution and I do believe in modern science. There are people who believe in a deity and are very rational. There are also a lot of people who don't believe in a deity who are just jumping on the "look at me, I'm enlightened! I know the term Flying Spaghetti Monster! Lol theists" bangwagon. In fact, I think there are just as many irrational atheists as irrational theists.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

There are people who believe in aliens for goodness sake.  

Well if you look at the chemistry of the universe, it would be pretty arrogant to say that aliens don't exist.

All life on Earth is made up of Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, and Carbon.

Well it turns out that Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Carbon are the three most abundant elements in the universe!  Nitrogen is like six or seven, but still...  If what we're composed of is everywhere, then that must be the universe is teeming with life!  It would be VERY arrogant to say that aliens don't exist.  

Intelligent life hasn't visited us, those stupid alien shows you see on TV with alien sightings and crash sites are freaking stupid.  You mean to tell me that aliens can travel millions of light years, mastered space and time, but they DON'T KNOW HOW TO LAND ON A PLANET?!

[pianowolfi]

Popcorn anyone?  

Btw I'm a coffeeist.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Popcorn anyone?  

This didn't quite go as planned... 

[hmpiano]

In fact, I think there are just as many irrational atheists as irrational theists.

A rational theist!?   

[brianvds]

Yes, a billion can be wrong but not 4 or 5 billion (I think that's my point).

I don't think the number of people who hold to a particular opinion or belief can tell us much about its truth or otherwise. The question is which method they employed to arrive at their opinion.

[hmpiano]

Yes, a billion can be wrong but not 4 or 5 billion (I think that's my point).

To clarify my point: 1 billion (of the nearly 7 billion on earth) accuse the other 6 billion of being wrong - what are the odds (etc.) the 1 billion are right?

[davidjosepha]

To clarify my point: 1 billion (of the nearly 7 billion on earth) accuse the other 6 billion of being wrong - what are the odds (etc.) the 1 billion are right?

Numbers mean very little. Your argument is a common fallacy that keeps things from moving forward. If nobody would believe something until they were in the majority with that belief, nothing would ever change, because the situation is paradoxical.

[hmpiano]

because the situation is paradoxical.

Sure, it certainly has me stumped!

edit: from another thread (I just changed the first word)

[Religion] is for lazy people who don't want to solve problems themselves.

[nanabush]

Atheist...

I just find that because we have empirical evidence of nearly everything that is discussed in creationism, I can't rationally say I believe in 'god'.  I'm not going to go out of my way and call someone out for loving god; I love RPG video games... I don't expect everyone who doesn't to come and call me out lol.

It's hilarious seeing paintings of Adam and Eve with belly buttons

I don't like the people who go out of their way to grief Christians... those people are just as bad as radical religious people who knock at my door every month.

[davidjosepha]

[Religion] is for lazy people who don't want to solve problems themselves.

Funny, because if there is no God helping them solve their problems (which I don't think there is--I don't think God helps people with their problems), then your religion shouldn't have any impact on your problem solving; either religious people are full of problems or they solved the problems themselves (and possibly attributed it to God). And looking around, I notice most strongly religious people I know don't have nearly as many problems as most of the "hardcore" atheists I know. So who solved their problems then? Notice that it's the atheists that come to this thread on the offensive, making unprovoked remarks about how ridiculous theists are, not the other way around. Yes, theists might often walk to your door and ask if you have a moment for Jesus, and, while annoying, you can hardly deny it's mostly done in good faith, not in a "I can't believe you're so stupid that you don't believe in God" kinda way.

I would argue that the Gospels, even if read as pure works of fiction in the same way you'd read To Kill a Mockingbird, contain more good teaching and advice than just about any book you'll find out there. Yes, it will help you solve your problems, but are you really going to say it doesn't count as solving your own problem if you read the Bible? That's like saying an addict doesn't want to solve his own problems and that's why he checked into rehab.