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anotherneil

anotherneil

Member
I just found this forum and registered for it. I normally use "neil" on other forums but I couldn't use it on this one and I couldn't think of anything other than "anotherneil." LOL

My position on religion is that I am not religious. Let me clarify on this so there's no confusion, and the reason I say this is because I have met religious folks who claim that they're not religious or somehow don't engage in religion - I am not one of those types of individuals. I do not attend any church services or participate in any bible studies; I don't do prayer, worship, rituals, etc.

My political leanings are libertarian (probably centrist), and I am not anarcho-capitalist. I fully support the two clauses in the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution, which both address religion. I am both for freedom from religion as well as for freedom of religion.

I won't be engaging in debates over interpretations of religious texts, but out of curiosity, there are some things I'd like to ask religious folks.
 
Revoltingest

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
Greetings!

Join us for mature scintillating sophisticated
rigorous organized civil debates about the
issues of our age....
R.1f9318d450a10abea20d00a5c1e06dba
 
anotherneil

anotherneil

Member
Secret Chief said:
Weird.
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Indeed. I have debated with myself whether it's just a matter of them being unwilling to communicate, or an intentional effort to be dishonest. I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter if it's just a matter of them being unwilling to communicate; from my POV it's nothing more than an intentional effort to be dishonest & should simply be treated as such.
 
Brickjectivity

Brickjectivity

wind and rain touch not this brain
Staff member
Premium Member
anotherneil said:
Indeed. I have debated with myself whether it's just a matter of them being unwilling to communicate, or an intentional effort to be dishonest. I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter if it's just a matter of them being unwilling to communicate; from my POV it's nothing more than an intentional effort to be dishonest & should simply be treated as such.
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Many Christians do not think much of the term 'Religion'. It was never used in my church, in my religious schooling, in my homeschooling. I only encountered it in libraries, on PBS type shows and later in public schools.

After that it came across as an imposition from the outside rather than some generally accepted concept.

I didn't used to consider Christianity a religion, either; and I wasn't lying about that. Also if you looked back in time, 'Religion' used to refer to Christianity and the faithfulness with which one attended church. The root for religion connoted regularity. It did not include other groups with other ways. The modern interpretation took a long time to arrive and still hasn't become typical in USA in many places.
 
anotherneil

anotherneil

Member
Brickjectivity said:
Many Christians do not think much of the term 'Religion'. It was never used in my church, in my religious schooling, in my homeschooling. I only encountered it in libraries, on PBS type shows and later in public schools.

After that it came across as an imposition from the outside rather than some generally accepted concept.

I didn't used to consider Christianity a religion, either; and I wasn't lying about that. Also if you looked back in time, 'Religion' used to refer to Christianity and the faithfulness with which one attended church. The root for religion connoted regularity. It did not include other groups with other ways. The modern interpretation took a long time to arrive and still hasn't become typical in USA in many places.
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I imagine that the same sort of position exists in many non-Christian religions.

My frame of reference is the US Constitution, specifically in this case it would be the 1st & 2nd clauses of the 1st Amendment - "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." I wonder if those who say that they're not religious (but are Christians, etc.) would quickly change their tune if someone came along and tried to make the argument that free exercise of Christianity, etc. is not covered by the 1st Amendment since it's not a religion. o_O
 
Viker

Viker

Häxan
anotherneil said:
I imagine that the same sort of position exists in many non-Christian religions.

My frame of reference is the US Constitution, specifically in this case it would be the 1st & 2nd clauses of the 1st Amendment - "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." I wonder if those who say that they're not religious (but are Christians, etc.) would quickly change their tune if someone came along and tried to make the argument that free exercise of Christianity, etc. is not covered by the 1st Amendment since it's not a religion. o_O
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Well, actually they'd still be covered under free speech and the right for folks to (peacefully) assemble. I originally came from that culture. We had all the bases covered.
 
Brickjectivity

Brickjectivity

wind and rain touch not this brain
Staff member
Premium Member
anotherneil said:
I imagine that the same sort of position exists in many non-Christian religions.

My frame of reference is the US Constitution, specifically in this case it would be the 1st & 2nd clauses of the 1st Amendment - "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." I wonder if those who say that they're not religious (but are Christians, etc.) would quickly change their tune if someone came along and tried to make the argument that free exercise of Christianity, etc. is not covered by the 1st Amendment since it's not a religion. o_O
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That certainly is a thoughtful comment, and I hope you feel welcome to the forum.

We occasionally have debates about that amendment, though I am not likely to weigh in on such a technical and ancient legal instrument. Besides rules on RF are very strict about not debating except in areas marked for debate, and I don't want to get us into a gray area discussion in your welcome thread! I wish we could go further, but because of multiple religions, missionaries and strong feelings and ex religionists we have very sharp lines about where we may debate. As long as we're just saying what we think its not debate, but I'm starting to feel tempted to argue.

You'll find on RF some very different points of view on how the US constitution ought to be interpreted, and conversations about it run long. They go into History and guns and freedoms and speech and who wrote what in their letters etc. One time there was a debate about why the Civil War started. I'm not saying that we have a lot of history buffs, but there are occasionally some.
 
Heyo

Heyo

Veteran Member
anotherneil said:
I just found this forum and registered for it. I normally use "neil" on other forums but I couldn't use it on this one and I couldn't think of anything other than "anotherneil." LOL

My position on religion is that I am not religious. Let me clarify on this so there's no confusion, and the reason I say this is because I have met religious folks who claim that they're not religious or somehow don't engage in religion - I am not one of those types of individuals. I do not attend any church services or participate in any bible studies; I don't do prayer, worship, rituals, etc.

My political leanings are libertarian (probably centrist), and I am not anarcho-capitalist. I fully support the two clauses in the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution, which both address religion. I am both for freedom from religion as well as for freedom of religion.

I won't be engaging in debates over interpretations of religious texts, but out of curiosity, there are some things I'd like to ask religious folks.
Click to expand...
Welcome to RF.
 
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