Non-Theists Only: Why Are You or Aren't You Religious? (ritual, mystic)

[Dirty Penguin]

Originally Posted by wanderer085

I'm not religious because I believe having to adhere to a set of beliefs stifles free thought.

oh mann...you get me!!!!!!

free thinking all the way.....

[robtex]

I think Fluffy did a great of echoing alot of non-theist setiments. I find life with passion and energy a life worth living but, in the absence of an evidencable God or a realistic or even well structured religious paradigm, feel I can turn to the people around me to find my emotional needs and wants in a real life (not fantasy) atmosphere. I find the postulations of secular humanism and humanism in general to be the most practical for the world I live in and find secular philosophy to hold the only intellectual merit from what I know about the world I live in. How other people need god is how I need my friends neigbors and co-workers. The passion others feel about God I feel about humanity. The emotional needs people place on God I place on the people around me and the desire to live forever, while I can see others absolute need for it, I find the wisdom in me to know just because I lust after it doens't make it so. I am an atheist because I accept the world just as it is presented to me, without any emotional attachments or desires that transcend my perception of reality.

[gnomon]

Simpy put, I have found no reason to believe in God(s).

[eudaimonia]

I adhere to a philosophical path. My philosophy doesn't involve any god-concepts, so IMO it is not technically a religion, but I could understand how one might see it as one.

When I say that I adhere to this path, I don't mean that I have abandoned free thought. Self-examination is one of the foundational practices of my philosophical path. If I were to discover that some important element of my philosophy was in error (e.g., if I were to discover that it is wrong to question my own beliefs), I would abandon my philosophical path in favor of something else.

To adhere means in this context to strive to walk the path -- to live up to my values and practices so long as I understand them to be correct and good for me. This is an action-committment, not a belief-committment. It would still be reasonable for someone to say that I am "religious" about my philosophical path in the relevant sense.


eudaimonia,

Mark

[logician]

Originally Posted by DreGod07

oh mann...you get me!!!!!!

free thinking all the way.....

I didn't know your were here to get.

[XAAX]

Originally Posted by MysticSang'ha

I do.
I'm in an odd position, because I do acknowledge the concept of deities' existences in other realms, but yet there is absolutely no loyalty from myself toward any of them. That is why I consider myself ultimately as a non-theist, because I am not working toward any union with any deity.

What purpose to deities serve in your belief Mystic?

[Sunstone]

**MOD POST**

Please remember that this is a debate for Non Theists Only. Others may ask respectful questions, but must not debate nor pontificate on their own POVs. Thank you!

[doppelgänger]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

So, if you're not religious, why aren't you religious?

Speaking only for myself . . .


I am not religious because religions stifle creative and independent thought by discouraging the inward journey necessary to make mythology real.

I am not a theist (by which I mean I don't imagine "God" as anything other than a linguistic symbol representing a subjective experience) because I've discovered that objectifying a symbol voids its meaning and value as a vehicle for introspection.