Religion, Theology, and all that good stuff

[Mary]

OK guys. Here's the new religion thread.

This is not the place to bash religion or to tell atheists they're going to hell. Aside from that, anything is fair game!

I'll try to get things started with a little poll, just because, hey, everyone loves taking surveys around here

1) Do you believe in God?
2) Do you think reason and faith are radically distinct?
3) What religion, if any, do you practice? (Or, perhaps, if you're a nonbeliever, what religion were you raised in? Or what religion does your family practice?)
4) How important are religious questions to you?
5) Have you ever seriously doubted your own religious beliefs? (that applies to atheists/agnostics too!)
6) Do you think the differences between religions are major and important, or do you think that most religions share the same basic principles, and the differences beyond that are unimportant?
7) Do you believe in heaven and hell?
8) Do you attend religious services with any regularity? What kind?
9) Have you ever attended religious services for a religion besides your own? Which one? What did you make of it?
10) How important to you are shared religious beliefs in relationships?
11) Does it matter to you if political leaders are religious?
12) True or false: the world would be a better a place if all religions just disappeared overnight.

That's it... feel free to elaborate, or not, on anything!

Cheers,
M

[JACkory]

1) Do you believe in God? Yes
2) Do you think reason and faith are radically distinct? No
3) What religion, if any, do you practice? (Or, perhaps, if you're a nonbeliever, what religion were you raised in? Or what religion does your family practice?) I'm a professing Christian who attends a Southern Baptist church, but lean towards Calvinism theologically...I probably have a few different ideas and methods than your typical Baptist, Calvinist or any other denomination.
4) How important are religious questions to you? Somewhat important.
5) Have you ever seriously doubted your own religious beliefs? (that applies to atheists/agnostics too!) Yes.
6) Do you think the differences between religions are major and important, or do you think that most religions share the same basic principles, and the differences beyond that are unimportant? The inevitable bottom line to me is that, yes, by their very individual natures they have differences that are major and important. Still, my perception of Christianity is not so much as a religion but as a relationship. And so I can accept that "religion", as a man-made set of rituals and doctrine guidelines, is faulty all the way around. God is awesome and His creative ways are unfathomable...Even though I believe the Gospel to be absolute truth, I think there is a purpose for other belief-systems and I have a hard time reconciling the point-of-view that would think that God's not behind it all somehow and for some reason...
7) Do you believe in heaven and hell? Yes, although not literally in the symbolic manner they are described in the Bible. Heaven, I believe, will be better than any description of it has ever made it sound, and likewise, hell will be worse.
8) Do you attend religious services with any regularity? What kind? Yes, weekly. I usually go on Sunday mornings and evenings, but sometimes I slack off for the PM service.
9) Have you ever attended religious services for a religion besides your own? Which one? What did you make of it? I won't count "different denominations within Chrsitianity" as altogether different religions, so I can't say that I recall ever attending a non-Christian religious ceremony. I think I went to a Mormon church service in 1987, but I cannot remember anything about it. I do, however, have a CD of Tantric Buddhists chanting, and listening to it is almost as good as being there.
10) How important to you are shared religious beliefs in relationships? From my own experience being married to a woman who attends a denomination which I consider outside the pale of Orthodox Christianity (though she would disagree), I have to say that YES, it is very important. 10 years ago I would have said "no", but that was because I didn't have any beliefs to worry about then. I honestly believe that the denom differences between my wife and I are a setback. But I also think that it's more important to work on things that we CAN change than to think too much about our disagreements.
11) Does it matter to you if political leaders are religious? I actually wish there was a rule in politics that states "You cannot reveal or discuss any religious beliefs you might or might not have"...I mean, we don't need to know. That's my opinion. A clean slate as far as your constituency goes and you get elected based on how you feel and believe about the issues and not because of some sense of loyalty to a shared faith.
12) True or false: the world would be a better a place if all religions just disappeared overnight. To be replaced by what? Religion is such a cherished and important part of so many lives...truly the majority of people are people of faith (in one god or another), so yeah, I think it would leave a huge hole in their lifes that cannot be replaced. No, the world would not be a better place, IMHO.

[chrisfan]

Geez Mary, not exactly a quickie answer survey!

1) Do you believe in God?

Yes

2) Do you think reason and faith are radically distinct?

Not at all. In fact, I think that each is weakened without the other.

3) What religion, if any, do you practice? (Or, perhaps, if you're a nonbeliever, what religion were you raised in? Or what religion does your family practice?)

I am a Christian who was raised, and still am in the Methodist Church.

4) How important are religious questions to you?

Hard to rank on a level of importance. Relevant? Yes. Something I seek to ponder each day? Not really.

5) Have you ever seriously doubted your own religious beliefs? (that applies to atheists/agnostics too!)

I don't know how serious the doubt was, but the most questions that have ever gone through my mind were when I was taking Anthropology 101 with a prof who didn't see religion in the same light that I do.

6) Do you think the differences between religions are major and important, or do you think that most religions share the same basic principles, and the differences beyond that are unimportant?

Can I say both? I think the basic principles of most religions are generally similiar. HOwever, the differences are very large, and very relevant.

7) Do you believe in heaven and hell?

Yes.

8) Do you attend religious services with any regularity? What kind?

Yes. A relatively traditional service at a Methodist church I grew up in.

9) Have you ever attended religious services for a religion besides your own? Which one? What did you make of it?

Services, only Christian, but several different churches within the Christian family. I've visited churches of other relgions, but not specifically for services.

10) How important to you are shared religious beliefs in relationships?

Very

11) Does it matter to you if political leaders are religious?

Yes and no. It matters to me from a stand point of the values they hold more so that specifically what church they attend, or what their beliefs are. That said, I do sadly recognize that the professed religion of some world leaders can and will have an effect on our relations with some other nations, so it's relevant to me from that standpoint.

12) True or false: the world would be a better a place if all religions just disappeared overnight.
FALSE

[Dr. Drum]

1) Do you believe in God?

No.

2) Do you think reason and faith are radically distinct?

Yes.

3) What religion, if any, do you practice? (Or, perhaps, if you're a nonbeliever, what religion were you raised in? Or what religion does your family practice?)

I was raised as a Roman Catholic and practiced the faith into my early 20s. My parents are both practicing Catholics as is my wife’s mother. I don’t think any of my brothers or sisters attend Mass any more; some of J’s do.

There is a very real sense in which 'once a Catholic, always a Catholic is true', BTW, practicing or non-practicing; believer or non-believer.

4) How important are religious questions to you?

I’d distinguish between ontological/spiritual questions and doctrinal issues but as regards the former, I don’t know how you could not wonder about this stuff.

5) Have you ever seriously doubted your own religious beliefs? (that applies to atheists/agnostics too!)

At the age of 8, as is the Catholic practice, I received the sacrament of confirmation; the laying on of hands, the receipt of the Holy Spirit. As part of our preparation for the sacrament we had to choose a new confirmation name to be taken from a saint or one of the apostles. I chose to name myself after the Apostle Thomas – "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

There is always doubt. And that does apply to atheists, too.

6) Do you think the differences between religions are major and important, or do you think that most religions share the same basic principles, and the differences beyond that are unimportant?

There are certainly shared basic principles between most of those that profess faith in a personal God. You couldn’t really say that the differences are unimportant, however, considering, if nothing else, the religious schisms and wars over the centuries.

7) Do you believe in heaven and hell?

No.

8) Do you attend religious services with any regularity? What kind?

Weddings and funerals, basically, at this point. I took my mother to Mass a few years back and stayed for the service, which was a bit of an odd one.

9) Have you ever attended religious services for a religion besides your own? Which one? What did you make of it?

I’ve been getting dragged off to an annual Christmas charity concert at an Anglican church for the last few years. Not a service per se, of course, but the event is steeped in that church’s precepts and general outlook. Quite similar to Catholicism in many respects but there is this subtle though pervasive and totally anachronistic sense of what I can only call British imperialism running throughout with the Union Jacks draped in the church and the references to the monarch and such. God, King and Country – bit of an odd mindset at the turn of the 21st century!

10) How important to you are shared religious beliefs in relationships?

I’ve never been in a relationship with anyone who differed radically from where I was at at the time. It wouldn’t be an issue for me with anyone from any kind of mainstream faith tradition.

11) Does it matter to you if political leaders are religious?

Religious – no, not necessarily. Fundamentalist, millenarian and/or doctrinaire and wishing to enshrine those principles in law – that would matter.

12) True or false: the world would be a better a place if all religions just disappeared overnight.

At times in the past, I’ve certainly thought it was true. I mean, how could you not – the prospect of no more 9/11s, for starters and the understanding that we are responsible for each other and this planet and there’s no one "up there" going to make it all right in the end if we fuck it all up. It’s possible from anthropology and primatology over the last 20 years, however, that warfare and aggression in human beings and societies are as much nature as nurture. As believers will rightly point out, many of the last century’s greatest mass murderers (Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot) were also professed non-believers. So the end of religion wouldn't likely to better our lot on that front.

I think this one has to remain inconclusive, in the end. For every Pat Robertson, to pick a recent example, a Thomas Merton...

[Kensterberg]

1) Do you believe in God? No.

2) Do you think reason and faith are radically distinct? This is a really good question. I cannot accept something on faith that is not supported by my reasoning as well. In order to have faith in something, you have to suspend your critical faculties, which I just can't do. So I guess I think it's tough to keep these two things distinct.

3) What religion, if any, do you practice? (Or, perhaps, if you're a nonbeliever, what religion were you raised in? Or what religion does your family practice?)

I was raised in the Methodist church, but I haven't set foot in a church for a service in nearly two decades. I've been to funerals and weddings, but that's it. As most (if not everyone) here knows, I strongly identify with the teachings of the Buddha, and am closer to being a Buddhist than any other belief. However, I haven't been very diligent in my practice of the 8-fold path lately. So I guess the best description of my religious practice remains "confirmed agnostic." (Note, every time I see a Star Wars movie I'm struck that what I really want to believe in is the Force, which (I think) Mark Hamill once termed "religion's greatest hits." So maybe I'm just a closet Jedi.)

4) How important are religious questions to you?

Extremely. IMO part of being a good agnostic means continually questioning things, and always being open to answers. I've yet to see proof that would get me off the fence, but I'm definitely open.

5) Have you ever seriously doubted your own religious beliefs? (that applies to atheists/agnostics too!)

Every day. Sometimes intensely, sometimes only very mildly. An agnostic, almost by definition, has to question their inability to take a position on the question of the existence of the divine.

6) Do you think the differences between religions are major and important, or do you think that most religions share the same basic principles, and the differences beyond that are unimportant?

Yes. From a certain perspective, all religions boil down to "the golden rule," but at the same time people will fight and kill each other over seemingly trivial differences in religious belief or practice. What amazes me is the way that believers in any religion will embrace their own written works as absolutely correct, and will reject written works in other faiths (which have at least equal historical authenticity) as false. How can someone embrace the absolute truth of The Bible (for example) and then reject The Koran or the Bhaggavad Gita?

7) Do you believe in heaven and hell?

Only as it has been created here on earth through the thoughts and acts of men.

8) Do you attend religious services with any regularity? What kind?

No.

9) Have you ever attended religious services for a religion besides your own? Which one? What did you make of it?

Yes. I've been to several different Protestant denoms (Methodist, Congregational, Baptist, Christian Church), and a few Catholic services. None of them really had any significant effect on me.

10) How important to you are shared religious beliefs in relationships?

Pretty damn important, frankly. All of my significant relationships have been with women who were at best only marginally believers, and generally fit into the agnostic/atheist category. I know it would be very difficult for me to have a serious relationship with someone who got out of bed at 7:00 a.m. on Sundays to go to church.

11) Does it matter to you if political leaders are religious?

Only to the extent that it affects their policy decisions. Which I guess is a "yes." I'm much more comfortable with leaders whose religion teaches tolerance and inclusion rather than those who think that their faith is the absolutely correct and only route to truth. "Only a Sith deals in absolutes."

12) True or false: the world would be a better a place if all religions just disappeared overnight.

If religion truly "disappeared" -- which is to say, it was gone and people had no idea that it was gone, or that it had ever been a part of their lives -- I think that would be a very good thing. At this stage in human history, the role of religion as a divider of populations outweighs its value as a unifier of smaller groups. In other words, it does more harm than good in the (post-)modern world. However, if religion were simply banned, that would be disasterous as it would simply go underground and inspire more fanaticism. Only persecuted/oppressed religions need martyrs.

Great survey question, Mary! Can't wait to read your answers.

[Thorngrub]

1) Do you believe in God? Yes
2) Do you think reason and faith are radically distinct? Yes [At least "Reason as we know it"]
3) What religion, if any, do you practice? (Or, perhaps, if you're a nonbeliever, what religion were you raised in? Or what religion does your family practice?) None
4) How important are religious questions to you? Pretty important
5) Have you ever seriously doubted your own religious beliefs? (that applies to atheists/agnostics too!) Of course
6) Do you think the differences between religions are major and important, or do you think that most religions share the same basic principles, and the differences beyond that are unimportant? The latter: they share the same principles
7) Do you believe in heaven and hell? Heh heh heh...: YES and NO
8) Do you attend religious services with any regularity? What kind? No
9) Have you ever attended religious services for a religion besides your own? Which one? What did you make of it? Yes: Catholic; Baptist; Unitarian; Non-denominational; Methodist; others I've forgotten -- it's the same ol' story
10) How important to you are shared religious beliefs in relationships? Relatively Unimportant, but it does depend on the individual's perspectives
11) Does it matter to you if political leaders are religious? Yes [But maybe not...]
12) True or false: the world would be a better a place if all religions just disappeared overnight. Trick Question: I believe nothing would change

[stratman19]

1) Do you believe in God?
I'm not sure. I try to, but it's difficult. It's not something that comes naturally to me. I do know that I believe in something.

2) Do you think reason and faith are radically distinct?
Yes.

3) What religion, if any, do you practice? (Or, perhaps, if you're a nonbeliever, what religion were you raised in? Or what religion does your family practice?)
I don't practice any religion. I was raised Catholic, but my parents converted to Methodism when I was around 8 years old. I was married in a United Methodist church, and my daughter was baptized there.

4) How important are religious questions to you?
Very important.

5) Have you ever seriously doubted your own religious beliefs? (that applies to atheists/agnostics too!)
Just about every day!

6) Do you think the differences between religions are major and important, or do you think that most religions share the same basic principles, and the differences beyond that are unimportant?
I believe most religions share the same general principles, but I also believe the differences are major, and important.

7) Do you believe in heaven and hell?
I have no idea if a life, or anything else, exists beyond this plane of existence.

8) Do you attend religious services with any regularity? What kind?
No.

9) Have you ever attended religious services for a religion besides your own? Which one? What did you make of it?
When I was a kid, we went to a black church with some friends of my parent's. Man, talk about a different experience! I was used to structure and ceremony, but those crazy black people were gettin' down with the spirit!

10) How important to you are shared religious beliefs in relationships?
Generally, not very important, as long as both people's point of view can be respected.

11) Does it matter to you if political leaders are religious?
No. Strong personal character is important to me, irregardless of religious affiliation.

12) True or false: the world would be a better a place if all religions just disappeared overnight.
False.

[Mary]

OK, my turn Thanks for the answers thus far, everyone - I've been reading everyone's responses and they're very interesting!!


1) Do you believe in God?
No

2) Do you think reason and faith are radically distinct?
Yes - but I think there are a number of different ways of reading this. I don't think they're radically distinct in the sense that faith is "irrational" and thus silly or stupid or unjustifiable. I just think they're radically distinct in that they involve different kinds of belief, but I would not denigrate either one in the name of the other. I would also point out that there is a long theological tradition, called fideism, of insisting on the radical distinction between reason and faith, and insisting that theologians are wasting their time getting caught up in things like the effort to "prove" god's existence, or the effort to rationally resolve the problem of evil (theodicy), when these things fundamentally belong to a different realm from rational argument. Lots of devout believers have been fideists, so insisting on the radical distinction between reason and faith is NOT some millitant atheist ploy to denigrate religious belief.

3) What religion, if any, do you practice? (Or, perhaps, if you're a nonbeliever, what religion were you raised in? Or what religion does your family practice?)
None, but my family is Jewish.

4) How important are religious questions to you?
Very important, in the sense that the philosophical questions which motivate religious belief are very important to me.

5) Have you ever seriously doubted your own religious beliefs? (that applies to atheists/agnostics too!)
Yes - doubt is my preferred modus operandi, after all!

6) Do you think the differences between religions are major and important, or do you think that most religions share the same basic principles, and the differences beyond that are unimportant?
This question was kind of silly, upon rereading it. On some very abstract level, I think there is a great deal of commonality between most major religions, and that these common tenets are probably what really matters. On the other hand, I'm fascinated by theological disputes - I started this board because I'm totally fascinated by the dispute between different christian sects about the relative balance between works and grace in attaining salvation - so I also think these differences do matter. And those are just the differences between christian sects - i could babble on all day about the different consciousness of christians and jews... but i won't

7) Do you believe in heaven and hell?
No.

8) Do you attend religious services with any regularity? What kind?
No.

9) Have you ever attended religious services for a religion besides your own? Which one? What did you make of it?
I've attended Jewish and Catholic services - I felt awkward and out of place and nervous at both!

10) How important to you are shared religious beliefs in relationships?
It would be difficult to for me to be with someone who was really really intensely devout or fundamentalist. But I certainly don't require agnosticism!

11) Does it matter to you if political leaders are religious?
No. If their religion affects their policies in dubious ways, then I don't like it, but it's the policies that I don't like.

12) True or false: the world would be a better a place if all religions just disappeared overnight.
Ahhhh, really, I think this is a completely impossible question to decide. It's unfathomable. Sorry for the copout answer... my purely speculative hunch is that no, the world would not be a better place - and besides, human beings without religion would be so radically different from the humanity that we know today, who knows what would be lost. But that's just a hunch - on the other hand, maybe the disappearance of fanaticism and internecine religious wars and schisms and all of that would greatly enhance peace and respect between peoples. Very hard to say.

Cheers,
M

[Thorngrub]

As for that last question Mary - - an extra 2 cents: Without religion, mankind would make another up to fill that space.

I.e, it's a moot question, really. For there can be no "without religion": at least not for very long...

[Thorngrub]

I realize many of my answers are insufficiently explained.
If there's any question you have Mary about any answer I gave - -
please ask me to elaborate further.

[Galactus]

1) Do you believe in God?

Uh, I don't know. I think I believe in spirituality more then I believe in a higher being.

2) Do you think reason and faith are radically distinct? On an intelectual level yes. I beleive faith in some things is good. Somethings you just know and you don't have to have reason and in a strange way that is the reason. However faith in neither admissiable in debate or in court.


3) What religion, if any, do you practice? (Or, perhaps, if you're a nonbeliever, what religion were you raised in? Or what religion does your family practice?)

I was raised Lutheran. I Don't practice anything right now.

4) How important are religious questions to you?

I find it as interesting as any philosophical discussion.

5) Have you ever seriously doubted your own religious beliefs? (that applies to atheists/agnostics too!)

I'm doubting them rght this very minute.

6) Do you think the differences between religions are major and important, or do you think that most religions share the same basic principles, and the differences beyond that are unimportant?

Both. I think the basics are the same but they get twsited with each interpratation of what it means.

7) Do you believe in heaven and hell?

I don't know. I was going to write about book once...a fictional account of the afterlife where heaven is a higher plain of universal thought.

8) Do you attend religious services with any regularity? What kind?

no.

9) Have you ever attended religious services for a religion besides your own? Which one? What did you make of it?

Not that I remember

10) How important to you are shared religious beliefs in relationships?

Not very.

11) Does it matter to you if political leaders are religious?

Not inherently no. My problem is when they lead with faith over reason.
]
12) True or false: the world would be a better a place if all religions just disappeared overnight.

False. Alot of people need religion whether it's reall or not. To some it's what gets them up in the morning. I don't buy that religion and morality are in any way tied on a grand scale though I do recognise that it's what keeps some people grounded. What ever gets you you through the night, religion is an important force in many peoples lives. Even if it all turns out to be a big lie...

[Thorngrub]

In fact, I'll save you the trouble & re-do mine, because I've thought up a term which applies to many of those questions: NITCS ("Not In The Conventional Sense"):


1) Do you believe in God? Yes \ NITCS

I believe we need to dispose of the word "god". We need to UNlearn it. We need to clean the slate, and begin understanding the meaning behind such a word better. Because it has gotten to the point where this 3-letter-word is so generic and means so many different things to so many different peoples, that it is really muddying up the waters more than it is clearing them. YES, I believe that our reality - this entire universe, down to every last microbe and every single star in every galaxy, has a purposeful design. What is BEHIND this purposeful design is what I would refer to as being "God". And I do believe that force exists. I understand that it is the nature of this force that is beyond our abilities to fathom, currently.

7) Do you believe in heaven and hell? Yes \ NITCS

I believe we have largely misconstrued the intent behind our scripture's meanings. When we have taken things literally, they may have been meant alleghorically. And when we have taken them alleghorically, they may have been meant literally. I believe we have got it all mixed up; we have only succeeded in translating a certain percentage of scripture in the manner in which it was intended to be understood. (Whether that percentage is large or small is beyond me).

For instance, maybe "Heaven" all along was supposed to be something we created for ourselves while we could still breathe air. And we mistook it for something awaiting us after we're dead. And hence created a different cycle of manifest destiny for ourselves. Same with Hell. We could be very well be busily constructing our own Hell, in our misunderstanding of what the scriptures intended for us to know.

Hence my belief in Heaven and Hell is very real; I simply believe their natures are somewhat different than we may have supposed.


*gotta run*: (I'll be back to finish up the last 3, if there's any more to add that is)

---------------------------------------
10) How important to you are shared religious beliefs in relationships?
11) Does it matter to you if political leaders are religious?
12) True or false: the world would be a better a place if all religions just disappeared overnight.

[Thorngrub]

10) How important to you are shared religious beliefs in relationships? Important: I did mention before that it "depends on the individuals perspectives", and so upon thinking it through further, I've changed my answer from "Relatively unimportant" to "Important". I do think it is important for partners to share, at least in a general way, deep-seated beliefs like religious ones. Otherwise, that difference will probably amount to yet another "straw on the camel's back", in the long run. And we all know how high the divorce rate is in this day & age.


11) Does it matter to you if political leaders are religious? I Just Don't Know That's a tough one. On the one hand, it matters if they're going to bring those beliefs directly into play while in office; that I can't go along with. Which is why I said "Yes" before. But then I added "Maybe not" because on further reflection, it shouldn't matter what religious beliefs a politician has - - so long as he behaves accordingly, and keeps his work & private life seperate.



- - - -

I think that should clarify any ambiguities my initial post may have left open. Thanks for the poll, mary, I'm looking forward to catching up on everyone else's answers!

[Rit]

ahh! a perfect opportunity to ramble slightly
--------------------

1) Do you believe in God?

i do not believe in god as a distinct being.

2) Do you think reason and faith are radically distinct?

Not really. My personal view is that both are mere appendages to the root core of a person, and that root core is undefined. Both faith and reason are exterior to the soul, and can be used/misused/changed/rewritten/ are basically subject to the daemons of the soul. Ho ho ho, don't kid yourself. The daemons are very real, unlike the windowpane concepts of 'Faith' and 'Reason' - the deamons are a convenient conceptualization of whatever byplay/chance outcome goes on between the DNA, brain neurons, and electromagnetic charges between cells. Err, yes clearly so.

3) What religion, if any, do you practice? (Or, perhaps, if you're a nonbeliever, what religion were you raised in? Or what religion does your family practice?)

I was raised Catholic, i started questioning belief in a god at about 8 or 9, because i have concrete memories of it. Then i spent my entire adolescence/teenhood in a very stupid reactionary state - athiest to the core. "I'm too smart for theists', said I. What an arse i was. Such reverse dogma merely warped the finer divisions of clear-minded thinking on this subject, and replaced it with a steamrolling truck of no finesse or sensitivity.

4) How important are religious questions to you?

recently, religious questions have become important to me, but not in the traditional sense. I've read all sorts of critical text analysis works on the Bible in the past year, but never with the eye of a believer. I'm trying to be receptive to the poetry of it (Book of Ecclesiastes), the fierce allegories of it (Book of Job), the apocalyptic mode of it (Books of Isaiah, Book of Revelations), the parables of it (Gospels). Plus, i developed an avid interest in the unorthodox readings of it, for example: the gnostic myths and interpretations.

5) Have you ever seriously doubted your own religious beliefs? (that applies to atheists/agnostics too!)

i was a ccnfirmed atheist for so long, that i forgot there was anything else in the world to be. My hardline atheism was rooted in a rigourous devotion to the scientific method. That began to falter when i started to read William Blake, Kierkegaard, and a few others. I realised that making such a hard line distinction in the mind is probably unwise, and in anycase stinks to high hell of the unpoetic. This takes me back to question 2: "Faith" is a totally void concept for me. I don't recognize the distinction. What i do recognize is the capacity for imaginative life, and warm-blooded receptivity to ideas as ideas which can add to your own life. As long as the mind carves out a healthy niche for itself in relation to multiple threads of awareness and is alive to pragmatic transformations in the the world around it, you are a worthy person indeed.

6) Do you think the differences between religions are major and important, or do you think that most religions share the same basic principles, and the differences beyond that are unimportant?

The distinctions between religions is coded with political undertones, socio-economic considerations, blah blah blah. To take this kind of distinction seriously is evidence of a very irreligious impulse. There is no religion, only god.

7) Do you believe in heaven and hell?

i don't believe in heaven or hell, though what Thorn was saying in his second post was pretty neat
Heaven and Hell, in the Blakean sense, are states of Being, which are very much alive on this earth. To pursue the Garden - to use a trope (and it's attendent milieu of cultivation, thoughts in repose, nurture, etc..) - is to believe in "heaven". Simple as that. The universe exists only in your personal subjective view of it. So only you can craft the supra-allegories which can "save" you, or you can be a victim of your own demons, and live in a private hell. The grand (and tottering) institutions of the physyical world (ex. formal churches, political designations, etc...) are merely public appropriations of what is actually private tendencies to perceive the measure of the world in various ways -- if you are victim to exterior definitions, then you are a dumbass. Because those institutions can essentially be re-conceptualized and re-scaled in your own head, with ample common sense paid to how it relates to the various parts of your own life and people in your life. I prefer to look at it this way: the grand institutional ideas are only just mega-sized versions of everyone's private ideals, which you can visualize in relation to yourself, and thus be master of your domain, to quoteth Seinfeld. (i'm a very poor explainer of things at this stage.. i'm still grappling with things as a neophyte)

8) Do you attend religious services with any regularity? What kind?

none. though i read a lot of introspective/critical books. which is a kind of spiritual exercise, if you think about it.

9) Have you ever attended religious services for a religion besides your own? Which one? What did you make of it?

a hindu ceremony once. it was mildly diverting, but ultimately meant nothing to me.

10) How important to you are shared religious beliefs in relationships?

as a resolute non-denominationalist, i have no qualms about that.

11) Does it matter to you if political leaders are religious?

it certainly does. their religious beliefs, and i don't mean superficial things, but the way in which they believe, how rigidly, how they conceptualize their heavens and hells -- that is crucial information, windows into a person's soul.

12) True or false: the world would be a better a place if all religions just disappeared overnight.

Nigga, please! this is a hypothetical, and not a very good one at that
On a basic level, major world religions are convenient cultural blocks of masses of people, and are primarily cultural, as far as i'm concerned. People love to belong to clans, and it's impossible to deal with the social void that would result if religious identity dissappeared over night. As with any severe destructurizing removal on that kind of level, chaos would reign supreme instantly, as the microparts sought out ways to re-visualize their identities in the world.
Secondarily, is the religious question. Which is bunk. It's all bunk. Even my all answers in this post. Peace out

[phil]

1) Do you believe in God?

No and I don’t think that I ever did. The way the catholic church was teaching religion in the early 60’s in Québec was not very convivial, to say the least …

2) Do you think reason and faith are radically distinct?

Let’s just say that my faith in the human race
is constantly challenged by my own reasoning …

3) What religion, if any, do you practice? (Or, perhaps, if you're a nonbeliever, what religion were you raised in? Or what religion does your family practice?)

I was born and raised Catholic and my education was made essentially by nuns and priests !! The Jesuits in my last year in high school were kinda cool though !

4) How important are religious questions to you?

Important enough to answer this questionnaire I guess…

5) Have you ever seriously doubted your own religious beliefs? (that applies to atheists/agnostics too!)

Hard to doubt something you don’t have and while I’ve questioned many choices I’ve made in my life, religious beliefs or unbeliefs in my case are not one of those.

6) Do you think the differences between religions are major and important, or do you think that most religions share the same basic principles, and the differences beyond that are unimportant?

All religions basicaly started as a way to explain the unexplainable; then as more people came together to form primitive societies, religion started to be used as a mean to regulate social behaviours. Then it became a way to exert power …


7) Do you believe in heaven and hell?

Hell no ! Nor in the carrot and the stick method …

8) Do you attend religious services with any regularity? What kind?

Nope ! Except for funerals in the family … My own mother gave up attending Sunday masses as soon as we kids told her we were not going anymore… And our kids are not baptized.

9) Have you ever attended religious services for a religion besides your own? Which one? What did you make of it?

Prayers in a few mosques in Egypt and Morocco, more as a way to unwind and think in a peaceful (and COOL !) place than anything else.

10) How important to you are shared religious beliefs in relationships?

Well… I don’t think I’d be able to share a close relationship with an overly religious person but then… I never did have the opportunity to try.

11) Does it matter to you if political leaders are religious?

HÉ ! Every politician should have to answer Mary’s questionnaire
and then keep his/her religion private while in office…

12) True or false: the world would be a better a place if all religions just disappeared overnight.

People will always feel the need to be part of a group and also get the opportunity to transcend oneself… I just wish Ecology could one day
become the unifying factor for the human race.