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hisannabelle -> RE: Faith to the faithless, a perspective (2/4/2008 9:09:09 PM)
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greetings sugarmychurro,
for me, faith is comfort. it's something that helps me in how i live my life. it allows my ego to get out of the way and to let my more intuitive bits out. i honestly don't really care if someone wants to equate that with believing in santa claus - if believing in santa claus had the same effect, i'd still do it :P (unfortunately, i've seen enough loss in my life and enough christmases without trees or presents to know that santa claus doesn't exist).
in my experience, many atheists and agnostics also are faithful - their religion is very atheistic science and/or making fun of people who do have faith. it becomes a practice all its own.
and to all, some thoughts i had while reading through the thread:
i don't believe in a childish god. i've always had that problem with the old testament. i'm still fuzzy on my concept of god, especially since i've embraced islam after being a polytheist for so many years and a buddhist as well (although that is more passive (a)theism, depending on how you interpret it), but reading about god in the qur'an was the most freeing thing ever (the first time i've ever actually connected with any monotheistic, omniscient, omnipotent idea of god). if there is a god, he is infinitely merciful, and i know that in my heart.
i think it's important to have faith, regardless of what you have faith in. personally, i'm not a big proponent of the one, right, and only way declaration. i think that people are walking the path they need to walk. i know many christians who would make terrible buddhists and many buddhists who would make terrible christians, but both religions claim to have a monopoly on the good and say that everyone should convert. personally, i think it's better to have faith in what you need to have faith in and let that enrich your life, rather than doing something because it's supposed to be right and ending up unfulfilled.
mzmia - my roommate cracked up when i said "oh my god" one day. she's like, "i thought you didn't believe in god!" (as in the judeo-christian concept of god.) i'm like, "i don't...but that doesn't mean i can't still take his name in vain!" most of us, even unbelievers and heathens (who don't believe in the more popular ideas, but believe nonetheless), still use oh my gods and god help me and for heaven's sake...because in the west, that's just the appropriate thing to do. it's a cultural thing. it just comes out.
another thing that bugs me is the fact that all atheists/agnostics/science obsessed anti religion types equate belief with judeo-christian religion. i've been pagan and buddhist for more than half of my life. it has been a very long time since i've even come close to possibly even maybe a little bit thinking about god the way he's talked about in judeo-christian tradition. ever. but i am more religious than most anyone else you will meet. i am superstitious. i'm one of those crazy people most of you wouldn't be able to stand...the difference is, i don't call myself a jehovah's witness and i'm a very competent scholar and i'm able to think outside of my own beliefs and worldviews, so most people tend to ignore the rest of me. but seriously. get over it. not every theist thinks divinity is a creator, an absolute, omniscient, omnipotent, or anything like that. just because you are still in therapy over your awful experience of christianity doesn't mean you have to blame the rest of us whose ideas of god are so far apart from that! sheesh.
quote:
Actually, we have pretty generally accepted theories on evolution (for creatures and humans), the formation of galaxies, stars, moons, planets, etc. But my point is that creation myths aren't the main thing. Plus we're still relatively confused about what the universe was like a long time ago. We have this whole "big bang" theory, but allow me to be honest and say that it's a vague theory. We're not even guessing where things came from before that. Maybe they were spread out, collapsed, and blew up there. Maybe it's from a larger system. Maybe it's something we can't even comprehend right now. We just don't make up fairy tales about it. :P
curiouslord, that sounds a lot like how i think about it. heck, even most roman catholics believe in evolution, and they're considered among the worst of the believers. what's the deal? why am i ostracized? we're not that freakin' different. ;)
respectfully,
annabelle.
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