Are you religious?

Are you? Because I sometimes am.

Lol, nope. Was an atheist in my teens, became an apathetic agnostic ("don't know, don't care") in my 20s and stuck with that since. Never took all that supernatural and mythological hocus-pocus nonsense seriously, and even less so since 2021 when I took a little detour to study where the Bible and Christianity really came from.

@madrocketeer: Nice! Where did the Bible and Christianity really come from?

That's a long story. The short of it, though, is that the Bible is a compilation of many different religious traditions and authors, most of them anonymous, and with many Canaanite, Mesopotamian, Persian, Egyptian and Greco-Roman influences.

Christianity, meanwhile, is a product of 600 years of Greek and Roman influence on Judaism starting in earnest with the publishing of the Septuagint in 3rd century BCE, and reaching its "1.0 release" at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, and continuing to develop afterwards. "Original Sin" is a 4th century invention by a Roman bishop, while "Hell" is syncretised from Germanic mythology, etc.

Influence and syncretisation upon influence and syncretisation, with very little original material. Just like any other cultural works.

Depends do I gain anything from feigning being religious?

I don't go around announcing I am atheist.

Definitely. I'm a follower of Pentecostalism, which is a branch of Christianity. Before I was a christian, I was a sufi muslim. Before that, I was an atheist.

forced to go through the motions as a kid ( catholic school through hs )

never caught on, all seemed to silly.

non-religious now and raising kids to be the same.

do not care if others are religious or not, just don't be an asshole in the name of your religion... which, frankly, many people are BAD at.

Hot damn. You guys make me so proud, sometimes.

No one is forcing religion upon you, keep that in mind.....don't have to be so negative about your views regarding the matter, so yeah. Just keep an open mind will ya, the universe is kinda unpredictable.

I am religious, though also spiritual.

They kinda are, though:

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/24/texas-legislature-chaplains-schools/

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/25/us/oklahoma-superintendent-school-bible-mandate.html

https://www.local3news.com/local-news/whats-trending/unveiling-of-in-god-we-trust-sign-hailed-in-anderson-county/article_6c1a84e6-9b7f-5981-886f-6aa1d56513d1.html

etc etc etc

Not at all.

I was just answering a question about my position honestly.

Sure, the universe is weird and complicated; just take one look at Quantum Mechanics to understand that. Science is about making some sense of that weirdness the best we can, and while we do not have all the answers, we just admit we don't know and keep trying. That is the intellectually honest answer.

What we do NOT do is substitute that gap with an ancient Canaanite anthropocentric egotistic simulacrum, and a book of Iron Age to Roman Era myths and folklore, whose conception of the universe looked like this:

Sure, people are free to hold such beliefs. Humanity is infuriatingly diverse, and we just have to live with that. I also reserve my freedom to hold that such beliefs should not be considered seriously.

Nope. I'm opposed to religion. I'm all for spirituality, belief, faith...that is your own business. I don't care for the organization and structure of religion. Similar to a large corporation or government.

Yes, I consider myself a Christian.

I am atheist.

While it is possible that there could be some divine out there, there is no evidence to support such a notion, and PLENTY of evidence against existing religions.

Grew up Catholic before becoming a Baptist around 11 years old. Been Baptist for 20 years before discovering Non-denominational churches in my late 20's. Definitely different than what I experienced in a Baptist church as they don't believe in speaking in tongues and you can certainly feel the spirit of God in these churches. I don't have a home church but found one near my house. I do believe in God and consider myself a Christian.

Nope. All religions are just man made myths and fairytales.

I'm fantabulous.

I'm not Religious person. I'm more of a Spiritual guy.

What she said.^

I'd blinkered myself well enough with logical positivism, growing up. It was very boring, and didn't account for much of anything. While I don't want to fall into the trap of blinding myself with religious dogma either, I'm well aware life isn't as cosily mundane as I'd assumed as a kid. It's really weird, if you watch closely. I figure I'm best off signposting my observations in my own way. Not at all bothered whether my understanding is independently verifiable; I'm not trying to sell anyone "the truth", it's all just useful models.

Not really religious , I'm more of a manipulator of my own subconscious ...

Yes.

Yes.

I am religious.