Welcome to Gaia! ::

As a recovering Catholic, it took a very long time for me to believe in God again & on that journey I felt : there was no God, there were many Gods, Goddess was more accurate, then Universe, Creator & finally God! So I can understand people who don't believe, or who believe different things & send a prayer & good thought to all. Each of us must find our way at our own pace & be tolerant of everyone else. Peace & blessings to all! 3nodding

I think the thing to remember here is, regardless of what you believe or what you dont believe: So long as one side does not push their belief-system on the other, and not question the why or why not, and only remember to have a peaceful level of respect, people can be peaceful amongst each other without discussing religion at all.

Boopsie, I really dont think this topic was as uncomfortable for some... In fact, this is the most intelligent conversation I have ever witnessed. In my opinion, everyone held theirselves well. Truthfully speaking... everyone... and I mean EVERYONE, will hear something that will offend them... it doesnt necessarily mean it will be a personal attack against you (figuratively, not necessarily you personally Boopsie)... To air out your differences without attacking is something today's world of religions and politicians could really learn from. Many are so easily swayed to get into a verbal fight, that its rediculous.

There are many people who refuse to live under a book that basically is another person's interpretation of what their God/Goddess tried to preach or to live by.

Im going to be very honest, and the bottom line here that I want everyone to understand is this:

I refuse to have any sort of religion in my life. I do not believe in living by a book that contradicts itself, regardless of what religion it is. I do not believe in being told how to live my life... Sex only when you are married and ONLY if you want to have children. You cant tell me that "God is all forgiving", and then in another reading, it says "Eye for an Eye"...

Religion in our family created more turmoil than any good. I am the eldest of 36 grandchildren... the majority were raised Catholic. Most of the girls were pregnant out of wedlock by loser jerks who were allowed to sleep in their beds under the age of 17 under their parents' roof. When word got out they were all pregnant... you want to see some serious hell fly?

Im not saying all of Catholic girls do this, but Ive seen how strict religious families (my own families) end up with more turmoil than those with no religion whatsoever. Look at Governor Palin and her daughter that is 5 months pregnant? A self-admitted strict Christian home, and their daughter is knocked up. Sorry, but there is alot more going on in that story than anyone is willing to disclose.

Anyways... Im atheist, but, I would never cast judgement, doubt, nor would I ever question anyone the 'why' of their religious choice.

What I do expect from everyone, and that includes religious fanatics to the gentile, to the die hard politicians and the new interns of a campaign...

Do NOT ever push your views, or tell me 'its not the Christian way", "Catholics dont do that", tell me how to live my life under religion, and how to raise my children under religion. It has happened to me, and let me just say, I have no problem throwing it back.. because they have chosen to disrespect me by pushing a very personal subject on me.

Three years in a row, Mormons came knocking on my door Christmas morning at 7am. CHRISTMAS MORNING!??!?!? Now, mind you, they dont celebrate Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries.. nothing. They tell me this, while standing in front of my door in their Sunday-best Church clothes trying to persuade me in to their 'ways'.

I was so angered by this disturbance because, the building I live in clearly has a sign that states "NO SOLICITORS OR RELIGIOUS FOLLOWERS ALLOWED, POLICE WILL BE NOTIFIED, PER ORDER OF THE LANDLORD". I looked at the woman and asked her when she graduated from school.. .because her reading skills sucked and that her kind does not belong knocking on doors of people who are still in bed preaching a religion that is by far, the worst of its kind.... I told her that if she had children, she would be spending it at home, still in her pajamas, making hot chocolate, helping her husband to cook together a nice holiday breakfast and enjoying the holidays, but OOPS, you dont believe in that. Youre gonna grab me out of bed.

I had said to her that her ignorance of not reading the sign is no excuse, and secondly, that if she didnt leave, I would call the police for trespassing. She tried giving me reading material, and I told her "If I take that, then I am teaching my daughter it is ok to accept things from strangers, so clearly, you have no common sense"... I did though grab a business card from her and let her know that I was going to call their main congregation and warn them that I was calling the police and that Im tired of having their 'kind' push their religion on my family. It is rude, inconsiderate and unwanted. Whomever I talked with didnt argue, but asked that I didnt call the police. I had said to him, if your people dont leave my neighborhood, I will still call the police.

Their people did bother other neighbors, and let me tell you, there was LOUD yelling and screaming... pushing religion at 7am is not a good thing.

Thankfully I dont use that as tackling fuel. But, when a person tells me 'you should do things the Christian way", or what ever religion they throw at me.. I find that rude and repulsive and completely unwarranted.

I dont hate people for being religious.. I hate religious people who think they are mightier than thou, better than thou and think you are just as evil as the devil for not having religion in my life.

If I were so religious, I would not be able to do my health-care related job with an unbiased mind.

Common respect for everyone is common sense. No judgement, no questions, and no pushing it...

Sorry for being on a soap box...

It is truley amazing at the level of maturity maintained in this topic, I am truley and honestly impressed. As such I wil disclose some of my belief system, (unfortunatly, I find it hard to explain fully so i'll try to keep it as short as possible).

I come from a religious family and a religiously diverse one (my maternal grandparents were catholic, my parents are christian, my paternal grandparents were pagan, my sister is wiccan, and my aunt on my mother's side is atheist, and i've dabbled in them all, except for catholisim. So needless to say, no one usually dare talk about religion at family gatherings). Any way, on top of that I am in a science field of study (Biotechnology to be exact). Long story short, I believe something is out there, and BEING in a science field has only fed that belief, as I have to admit that while studying DNA, it's a miracle that little strand of sugar and protein which makes us..us, stays intact considering all threats against it. (And I don't believe in random coinedences, despite data sheet probabilities)

As for what is out there; well more like what it is, I have my theories, but their too complex to explain here. (Would have to put it into a 10 page report literally).

3nodding ditto

honestly i had my doubts whether or not he truly did exist so i ask him "if ur real, if everything u have shown me is true show me dont let me doubt u anymore" sure enough two weeks later i got a response but it wasnt what i expected, i joined a kult but the whole time i was there, everything i did was for him not for the kult and i would ask myself how long must i stay there and every time the same answer, three months i asked like three times the last time he answered through another person, that person was talking about something but i wasnt paying attention but as soon as i finished asking myself if i really have to stay for three months that person said yes, i dont know what he was talking about but he answered me ha crazy and so i continued to experience things like that during my time there then one day something happens were they get mad at me and i leave to a friends house i explain to my friend what was going on and he ends up helping me, he himself had a life changing experience, so we end up picking up my clothes and i leave from there, so we get back to his house and i remember something, so i check the calendar and sure enough it was exactly three months from the time i joined to the time i left, after that my faith in God will always remain true and i believe in everything because God is everything and he is everywhere, i have notice that everyone speaks to God but not everyone realises it because when he speaks to u he uses ur own voice because who better for him to sound like than urself, he even told u u r a part of him and he is a part of u, he is the good and the bad, he is the ying and the yang, he is everything and at the same time he is nothing, he is very difficult to understand but once u understand u realize he is the most simplistic being to ever create himself.

I believe God. I'm a Christian and I believe that God created us and we should atleast listen to him. But thats just me. biggrin