I know what you mean. 
Any religion which imposes a vow of silence would be a pleasant relief from the incessant public proselytizing.
I like spiritual people who are introspective, soft spoken, and discreet.
Every time is see a four page Bible or Koran quotation, ending with “unless you become a believer, woe awaits”, I experience great mental woe that moment. I try so hard, but somehow crossing (blessing) myself always turns into tearing out my hair. Am I doing it wrong?
Bless all believers, the rest can go to hell…
Every time is see a four page Bible or Koran quotation, ending with “unless you become a believer, woe awaits", I experience great mental woe that moment. I try so hard, but somehow crossing (blessing) myself always turns into tearing out my hair. Am I doing it wrong?Which is one of the main reasons I don't engage theists on this forum. After fencing with them in a couple of posts it's time to move on. I can't stand the incessant clatter of their ontological arguments and anecdotal evidence. It should be plain for the proselytizers to see that they're not converting anyone here. They may be just attempting to sharpen their debating skills and I have tremendous respect for the patience that you guys show in throwing their arguments back in their faces but it in the end it seems to boil down to: here's the evidence, no, the bible says, blah, blah. Ok, go to your street corner with your floppy book and shout at the traffic. I can't tear my hair out any more. I have to save what's left! Cap't Jack
Siddhartha Gautama was a neuroscientist?Yes of course! Just as I am a good chemist because I succeed in digesting my food everyday! Buddhism is humanism, with the addition of a practice method not just to believe in your humanistic ideals, but also to live according to them. Or so. :roll:
Yes of course! Just as I am a good chemist because I succeed in digesting my food everyday! Buddhism is humanism, with the addition of a practice method not just to believe in your humanistic ideals, but also to live according to them.I was first introduced to Buddhism in a round about way in college. My friends and I were reading Herman Hesse's books and we read most of them, including "Siddhartha".Previous to that I knew little about the philosophy. Demien was my favorite though. Since then I've read more about it and can see why it would appeal to a humanist (which I'll readily admit I am). Cap't Jack
Siddhartha's one of my favorite books. If anyone hasn't read it before I recommend it. It's pretty short and easy to read too, and written just beautifully.Yes of course! Just as I am a good chemist because I succeed in digesting my food everyday! Buddhism is humanism, with the addition of a practice method not just to believe in your humanistic ideals, but also to live according to them.I was first introduced to Buddhism in a round about way in college. My friends and I were reading Herman Hesse's books and we read most of them, including "Siddhartha".Previous to that I knew little about the philosophy. Demien was my favorite though. Since then I've read more about it and can see why it would appeal to a humanist (which I'll readily admit I am). Cap't Jack
There seems to be a lot of religious posters lately. If any of you are reading this, please tell me why your religion and your god are THE ones and the others are not. I'm not asking you to argue against atheism or humanism. I'm asking you to convince the rest of us that your chosen religion and god, and not the others, are the correct religion and god. Answering with "you just have to have faith" doesn't count because *everyone* says that and comes to the exact opposite conclusion. Oh, and I'm not asking why your religion/god are the right ones for YOU personally. I mean why they are THE correct ones for everybody, as so many religious folks believe.Humanism. Lois
Paganism, it’s the only religion that promotes humanity instead of stifling it like all the Abrahamic religions.
Paganism, it's the only religion that promotes humanity instead of stifling it like all the Abrahamic religions.Paganism is not a religion. In fact the word was used as a pejorative by those who embraced an Abrahamic religion for anyone who didn't embrace an Abrahamiic religion. Pagans did not constitute one belief system. Their beliefs ranged from what we would call godlessness to a belief in many gods. People called pagans were seen as outcasts for not joining in with the people who decided they were "in the know." "In a wider sense, it has been used as a label for any non-Abrahamic folk/ethnic religion. It was historically used as one of several pejorative Christian counterparts to "gentile" (גוי / נכרי) as used in the Hebrew Bible - comparable to "infidel" or "heretic". Modern ethnologists often avoid this broad usage in favour of more specific and less potentially offensive terms such as "polytheism", "shamanism", "pantheism", or "animism" when referring to traditional or historical faiths." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paganism
There seems to be a lot of religious posters lately. If any of you are reading this, please tell me why your religion and your god are THE ones and the others are not. I'm not asking you to argue against atheism or humanism. I'm asking you to convince the rest of us that your chosen religion and god, and not the others, are the correct religion and god. Answering with "you just have to have faith" doesn't count because *everyone* says that and comes to the exact opposite conclusion. Oh, and I'm not asking why your religion/god are the right ones for YOU personally. I mean why they are THE correct ones for everybody, as so many religious folks believe.Humanism. LoisHumanism isn't a religion. It's just a set of beliefs to live by, hopefully grounded in facts, subject to change, etc. No supernatural element means not a religion. (Though I agree with you that Secular Humanism, as a non-religious belief system, is the best we have to go with since like the scientific method it should be self correcting.)
There seems to be a lot of religious posters lately. If any of you are reading this, please tell me why your religion and your god are THE ones and the others are not. I'm not asking you to argue against atheism or humanism. I'm asking you to convince the rest of us that your chosen religion and god, and not the others, are the correct religion and god. Answering with "you just have to have faith" doesn't count because *everyone* says that and comes to the exact opposite conclusion. Oh, and I'm not asking why your religion/god are the right ones for YOU personally. I mean why they are THE correct ones for everybody, as so many religious folks believe.Humanism. Lois Humanism isn't a religion. It's just a set of beliefs to live by, hopefully grounded in facts, subject to change, etc. No supernatural element means not a religion. (Though I agree with you that Secular Humanism, as a non-religious belief system, is the best we have to go with since like the scientific method it should be self correcting.) By certain definitions of religion, it can be considered a religion. I don't like to use the term myself because most people define religion as requiring a belief in gods and the supernatural. But humanism can be seen to fit the basic premise of religion as a social construct. Atheism, however, does not fit the definition because it has no dogma nor does it contain a moral code. It is simply a rejection of supernatural belief. Nearly all Humanists are atheists but not all atheists are Humanists. "The word religion is sometimes used interchangeably with faith or belief system; however, in the words of Émile Durkheim, religion differs from private belief in that it is "something eminently social". A global 2012 poll reports that 59% of the world's population is religious, 23% are not religious, and 13% are atheists." Wikipedia There are interesting articles on religion and on humanism on Wikipedia. Worth reading. There are also good articles about Humanism on the American Humanist Society's website. Whether anyone wants to call it a religion is up to the individual. But it does qualify, IMO.
There seems to be a lot of religious posters lately. If any of you are reading this, please tell me why your religion and your god are THE ones and the others are not. I'm not asking you to argue against atheism or humanism. I'm asking you to convince the rest of us that your chosen religion and god, and not the others, are the correct religion and god. Answering with "you just have to have faith" doesn't count because *everyone* says that and comes to the exact opposite conclusion. Oh, and I'm not asking why your religion/god are the right ones for YOU personally. I mean why they are THE correct ones for everybody, as so many religious folks believe.Humanism. Lois Humanism isn't a religion. It's just a set of beliefs to live by, hopefully grounded in facts, subject to change, etc. No supernatural element means not a religion. (Though I agree with you that Secular Humanism, as a non-religious belief system, is the best we have to go with since like the scientific method it should be self correcting.) By certain definitions of religion, it can be considered a religion. I don't like to use the term myself because most people define religion as requiring a belief in gods and the supernatural. But humanism can be seen to fit the basic premise of religion as a social construct. Atheism, however, does not fit the definition because it has no dogma nor does it contain a moral code. It is simply a rejection of supernatural belief. Nearly all Humanists are atheists but not all atheists are Humanists. "The word religion is sometimes used interchangeably with faith or belief system; however, in the words of Émile Durkheim, religion differs from private belief in that it is "something eminently social". A global 2012 poll reports that 59% of the world's population is religious, 23% are not religious, and 13% are atheists." Wikipedia There are interesting articles on religion and on humanism on Wikipedia. Worth reading. There are also good articles about Humanism on the American Humanist Society's website. Whether anyone wants to call it a religion is up to the individual. But it does qualify, IMO.Hmmm, so then would Boy Scouts be considered a religion? They have a certain belief system and moral code, pledge allegiance to it, and it's definitely is a social construct mean tto govern behavior in a social setting. IMO without the reference to a god or supernatural then the definition is too wide...just about anything could be considered a religion. No biggie of course, we're not opposite sides arguing here, just same-siders batting ideas back and forth ;)
There seems to be a lot of religious posters lately. If any of you are reading this, please tell me why your religion and your god are THE ones and the others are not. I'm not asking you to argue against atheism or humanism. I'm asking you to convince the rest of us that your chosen religion and god, and not the others, are the correct religion and god. Answering with "you just have to have faith" doesn't count because *everyone* says that and comes to the exact opposite conclusion. Oh, and I'm not asking why your religion/god are the right ones for YOU personally. I mean why they are THE correct ones for everybody, as so many religious folks believe.Humanism. Lois Humanism isn't a religion. It's just a set of beliefs to live by, hopefully grounded in facts, subject to change, etc. No supernatural element means not a religion. (Though I agree with you that Secular Humanism, as a non-religious belief system, is the best we have to go with since like the scientific method it should be self correcting.) By certain definitions of religion, it can be considered a religion. I don't like to use the term myself because most people define religion as requiring a belief in gods and the supernatural. But humanism can be seen to fit the basic premise of religion as a social construct. Atheism, however, does not fit the definition because it has no dogma nor does it contain a moral code. It is simply a rejection of supernatural belief. Nearly all Humanists are atheists but not all atheists are Humanists. "The word religion is sometimes used interchangeably with faith or belief system; however, in the words of Émile Durkheim, religion differs from private belief in that it is "something eminently social". A global 2012 poll reports that 59% of the world's population is religious, 23% are not religious, and 13% are atheists." Wikipedia There are interesting articles on religion and on humanism on Wikipedia. Worth reading. There are also good articles about Humanism on the American Humanist Society's website. Whether anyone wants to call it a religion is up to the individual. But it does qualify, IMO.Hmmm, so then would Boy Scouts be considered a religion? They have a certain belief system and moral code, pledge allegiance to it, and it's definitely is a social construct mean tto govern behavior in a social setting. IMO without the reference to a god or supernatural then the definition is too wide...just about anything could be considered a religion. No biggie of course, we're not opposite sides arguing here, just same-siders batting ideas back and forth ;) Which is exactly what this forum is for. :) Lois
There seems to be a lot of religious posters lately. If any of you are reading this, please tell me why your religion and your god are THE ones and the others are not. I'm not asking you to argue against atheism or humanism. I'm asking you to convince the rest of us that your chosen religion and god, and not the others, are the correct religion and god. Answering with "you just have to have faith" doesn't count because *everyone* says that and comes to the exact opposite conclusion. Oh, and I'm not asking why your religion/god are the right ones for YOU personally. I mean why they are THE correct ones for everybody, as so many religious folks believe.The best true religion would probably be the one that is the most tolerant but I'm not sure if anyone knows which "religion" that would be so I will stay at my most religious, a pantheists.
The best religion would be the Church of Humanism. But count me out, as I am not religious.