What is your faith/religion?
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and if you atheist/switched faiths, why did you do it and what faith did you choose?
im in a curious mood today
Grew up atheist, went through a semi serious pagan phase, got certified as a shaman, went back to atheism. Will still throw in the odd ritual, but more with the expectation that it will affect the way I think about a problem rather than the ritual doing anything on its own.
So like if you have a job interview you can either raw dog it and show your lack of confidence or.preform a ritual and gain some confidence which will count in your favour during the interview.h
Is the ritual doing any direct alterations? No, but it's still useful.
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I will never understand this. Every parent knows their children have their own minds; you don't expect your child to think the same thoughts as you, or to have the same experiences as you had, so why would you ever be surprised - much less dismayed - that they come to different conclusions about religion than you do? Did you do your homework and come to that conclusion yourself? Great, if that's what makes you happy then I'm happy.
In their mind it's not a simple difference of opinion, it's the fate of your eternal soul forever. They can't understand how someone could reject infinite happiness in heaven for pure unending suffering in hell.
And even worse than that, you are (directly or not) saying they are wrong, that they are fools for believing in fairy tales, and not just about any old subject, but about the most important thing in the universe - it's whole purpose.
That's quite a hard thing for a lot of people to accept unfortunately, and some don't take it well at all. I do feel like I was lucky that my parents didn't take it as harshly as some do.
Probably helps that I'm still cis and straight, and grew up in a left-wing area, so it's not like I'm the only atheist they knew. -
and if you atheist/switched faiths, why did you do it and what faith did you choose?
im in a curious mood today
Apathetic since forever.
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It's more complicated than that since I do believe God exists but in a way that is incomprehensible to humans, and, according to all evidence, doesn't "intervene" with the universe. I say "intervene" because God, as classically described, is simultaneously incapable of intervening and incapable of not intervening. If we define God as "an omnipotent being"(which, for the record, I do not), then He is necessarily also all knowing and exists outside of the limitations of time and space. Such a being would be perfectly optimized as well, and so it would be impossible for anything to occur without its express permission and cause. Therefore, under classical theism, it seems impossible for God to say, answer prayers, because this would imply that He could possibly change His mind or that what was happening wasn't already what He wants to begin with.
You should see this video: https://youtu.be/n2kZ0lRW9Ls
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and if you atheist/switched faiths, why did you do it and what faith did you choose?
im in a curious mood today
Antitheist
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We are, actually. We didn't ask to exist. It was forced onto us by a cruel god that thought it would be neat to make humans.
We aren't owed nothing.
I'm going to take a hit and say I made a poor job at explaining myself and clarify that, for the creed I mentioned, the creator entity did not made humans. What the creator entity did was set off the unfolding of reality as we perceive it: the Universe. Humans contained within it are off shoots of causality.
There was never a direct nor directed intention to create humanity, thus, nothing is owed to it.
The premise is that anything to exist is better than nothing. If the Universe was to be populated with barren rocks and flaming balls of matter - which is, mostly - without humanity to perceive it that creation mythos was already fullfilled.
If we think back to the dumpster baby, god created a child and threw them in a dumpster. For fun. It doesn't get to wash its hands and say "I don't owe them anything, it's up to them to survive." It's still responsible for creation and it is derelict in its duty.
That premise is the premise of the christian, islamic, jewish, and all other self appointed omnipotent creating entities. Those entities claim to have created humanity, in their image, to ocuppy a world they devised for that specific purpose. A world created in such a way that, nonetheless, humans make use of their own agency to tamper and distort.
I'm not a believer but that is the short and dirty version of those myths: the world was perfect, until humans decided they weren't completely happy with it. Which leads us back to pointing fingers at the creator, for making a poor job.
This is a circular discussion.
That premise is the premise of the christian, islamic, jewish, and all other self appointed omnipotent creating entities.
Well, yeah, those are the gods I hate. I used the term "almighty" as a shorthand for "god that created literally everything." They created everything including non-physical concepts like good and evil. You're basically just describing a Big Bang with a personality, which isn't really in the category of gods I hate. That god just made cool stars and rocks and stuff, it didn't really make everything. Rather, the rocks spontaneously came to life and started suffering without input.
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and if you atheist/switched faiths, why did you do it and what faith did you choose?
im in a curious mood today
Discordian
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and if you atheist/switched faiths, why did you do it and what faith did you choose?
im in a curious mood today
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That premise is the premise of the christian, islamic, jewish, and all other self appointed omnipotent creating entities.
Well, yeah, those are the gods I hate. I used the term "almighty" as a shorthand for "god that created literally everything." They created everything including non-physical concepts like good and evil. You're basically just describing a Big Bang with a personality, which isn't really in the category of gods I hate. That god just made cool stars and rocks and stuff, it didn't really make everything. Rather, the rocks spontaneously came to life and started suffering without input.
Nothing really deserves that much attention from you.
Reading that comment, the words you chose to express how you view reality, pains me as a human being.
I can't imagine what you have been through in order to be weighed down with such a bleak view of life and the world.
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and if you atheist/switched faiths, why did you do it and what faith did you choose?
im in a curious mood today
Agnostic atheist.
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and if you atheist/switched faiths, why did you do it and what faith did you choose?
im in a curious mood today
This one thinks there were three cycles of moon giving from our mother Fadomai. Ahnurr gave Fadomai her cubs. First was Alkosh, followed by Khenarthi, Magrus, Mara lastly there was S'rendarr.
During the second moon gift there was now Merrunz, Mafala, followed by Sangiin.
Although Ahnurr's house was full, Alkosh and others wanted more cubs to bask in lights warmth.
So Fadomai gave her first cubs their wishes. Azurah, Nirni, Y'ffer, Masser, Secunda all joined with the light children.
Fadomai still had longing for small cubs so she fled to the void and one cub, Lorkhaj was given.
Exhausted, Fadomai knew her time of ending was near. So a gift was given to Nirni, for she desired to give cubs the light.
So it was that Nirni came to her brother Lorkhaj for she needed a new dwelling for her cubs. Lorkhaj did just so, forming the mortal realm. Some of Fadomai's first cubs were imprisoned in the new realm. The second set of Fadomai's cubs saw what had happened and did not follow.
Mayhaps was not just Nirni who was given the gift of cubs. So is said Azurah came down to one of Nirni's cubs and shape his form most desirably, so log as they would be given their mother Fadomai's Beauty, Ahnurr intelligence and Alkosh's streingth.
Azurah found some of Nirni's cubs in the forest and from them Khajiit were born under Masser and Secunda's light.
Angered by Azurah's decision to take so many cubs Nirni came to Y'ffer and ask for punishment. He did so turning the grasses to warm sands and forest to marsh.
Azurah loved her cubs and taught them the ways of the moons and the gift of shapes.
However not all her children were given the gifts of Azurah and favored Nirni. By her hand the fur was taken and the forest given. For Nirni also loved here cubs and their grandcubs.
Although maybe not M'aiq is very practical. He has no need for mysticism.
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In their mind it's not a simple difference of opinion, it's the fate of your eternal soul forever. They can't understand how someone could reject infinite happiness in heaven for pure unending suffering in hell.
And even worse than that, you are (directly or not) saying they are wrong, that they are fools for believing in fairy tales, and not just about any old subject, but about the most important thing in the universe - it's whole purpose.
That's quite a hard thing for a lot of people to accept unfortunately, and some don't take it well at all. I do feel like I was lucky that my parents didn't take it as harshly as some do.
Probably helps that I'm still cis and straight, and grew up in a left-wing area, so it's not like I'm the only atheist they knew.Right, but like that has to be tempered with the understanding that different people think different things about stuff like religion, right? Some acknowledgement that what might be self-evident truth to you is a muddy contradictory mess to others? shrug Iono, people be dumb I guess.
Yeah, my parents were pretty chill, took a kind of 'expose the kids to lots of things and let them make their own minds up' view and didn't even really comment (they asked, obviously, but they were just like 'whatever' upon hearing the explanation) when I told them I had been asked to not come back the church we had been going to. But I do get that this is a big deal for other people, so I don't mean to demean their struggles or anything.
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What makes you feel that way?
I think there are many very different ways to approach experiencing it. If my first experience was at a temple in my local area I would very much be turned away….
Because I feel like the Buddha had some pretty good ideas. Like I get that suffering comes from desire, I can vibe with the cycle of rebirth and renewal, etc. I just.. I never got to the point where I was like 'This is the one for me.' Maybe because I didn't investigate it all that deeply back when I was investigating lots of other religions around the world, I was always pulled away by other ideas in Hinduism or Gnostic Christianity, or Sufism.
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and if you atheist/switched faiths, why did you do it and what faith did you choose?
im in a curious mood today
Atheist, universalist Unitarian. Other people's theism is just at the bottom of my priorities these days lol. UUs seem like nice people
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I think more broadly you could say I'm anti-demiurge, I guess I don't particularly hate the other gods but they're just jumped up elementals/spirits. Like, whatever, some guy demands to be worshipped in exchange for boons or to bestow curses or whatever. I think he's an asshole for lording his cool lightning powers over us, but I don't think he needs to be destroyed for it per se.
Demiurge in the Gnostic sense? Or is there some broader sense I'm not familiar with there?
So.. your position is that all gods are real according to their own cosmogony, and one of them in particular has pissed you off but the rest just don't rise to the level of being worth the effort of hating? My compliments, that's a pretty interesting position and one I've not seen before.
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The ancestors part always brings a smile to my face.
- they were young, once, hence, they had sex, masturbated, etc.
You being alive is proof enough of the later. No room for judgement there: they've been there, done that.
- the entire "cult of the ancestors" starts on the present.
If the person paying respect to past figures is concerned over such petty parts of life, that person is concerned over the wrong things.
- you will, theoretically, become an ancestor one day.
Will you be bothered over petty things or be concerned with your descendants living well and happy, like you wanted, tried and wished for others?
I do enjoy the notion of teverence towards the ancestors. It's like having a personal roster from which to choose and say "not doing what they did" or "they had worst and made it". Or a personal fan club.
Yeah, it's a pretty ridiculous notion when you get down to it. I agree. Haha.
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Demiurge in the Gnostic sense? Or is there some broader sense I'm not familiar with there?
So.. your position is that all gods are real according to their own cosmogony, and one of them in particular has pissed you off but the rest just don't rise to the level of being worth the effort of hating? My compliments, that's a pretty interesting position and one I've not seen before.
Well, no, my position is that gods could be real but none of them are worth worshiping.
Then, additionally, if there's some kind of omnipotent and omniscient Creator then it's evil and I hate it.
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and if you atheist/switched faiths, why did you do it and what faith did you choose?
im in a curious mood today
What do you mean "if you are an atheist, why did you do it"? I just want raised with a religion.
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Well, no, my position is that gods could be real but none of them are worth worshiping.
Then, additionally, if there's some kind of omnipotent and omniscient Creator then it's evil and I hate it.
Ah, fair enough, that makes sense and I generally agree. I have my own beliefs and ideas about personified deities, but I agree, I dunno why some of these deities are even worshiped given their legacy of evil and assholery, so if they do really exist they should absolutely be opposed.
