Yeah, to be honest i think it’s just a bunch of power hungry people trying to dictate how we think and live our lives. I’m not talking about people who follow religgons, only those that preach them. I suppose i’m more or less in agreement with shotgunshell.

I was raised Christian, but I have been an atheist for many years now. Organized religion just seems like a way to keep people in line. That being said, I have no problem with people practicing whatever religion they want as long as they aren't causing harm to others or using religion from a position of power to manipulate people for their own personal gain.

The idea that there is an invisible being in the sky who watches everything you do and keeps a checklist never really made sense to me. Once we die, my belief is that we simply cease to exist. There is no reward or punishment after death. I don't believe there is any purpose in life other than the purpose we give it ourselves.

There is still so much we don't know, but humanity is making progress. I have hope that in the distant future, we will have a much better grasp on the way the universe works. Many formerly unexplainable phenomena have been explained through scientific study. Science isn't perfect, but it is our best shot if we want to truly understand how the universe operates. To me, religions take all the mysteries of the universe and say, with no evidence to back it up, that "(insert random deity here) did it" instead of saying "We don't know why it happened, but hopefully we will some day."

Here's the thing about religion. A lot of the messages contained within most religious teachings are completely fine and I can see the point to them. I agree with things such as striving to help the poor, not harming other people, and not steeling what isn't yours. But I can't exactly subscribe to any of the organized religions currently in existence. Ever since I've started seriously thinking about things like these, organized religion especially the monotheistic ones stemming from Judaism simply look like an easy way to control the masses, e.g. In the middle ages the catholic church was able to effectively stop any scientific advances for a thousand years, at least those that didn't have anything to do with warfare, and if someone came up with a theory that didn't fit into their narrative, to the inquisition they went. Also you can't forget the church didn't translate their services or even the bible into other languages, so the people had to rely on priests to communicate how they were to live. I also can't get behind the classic view of an all knowing, all good and all powerful deity. Another example, if you ask a person who believes in the christian god why he would allow all the suffering currently taking place on the world, you usually get an answer along the lines of "Because of the fall of  Adam and Eve", or "Because it's required for god's great plan to be fulfilled". But if God is punishing mankind for the sins committed 6000 years ago, he can't be all good. Similarly if suffering must happen for god to reach his objective, he isn't all powerful, and if he can't figure out a way to complete his work without humans needing to suffer, he's not all knowing. This is why I can't follow these monotheistic religions.
However, I also can't believe the universe, the earth, and intelligent life didn't evolve purely out of random chance. Sure, time has had 13.8 billion years to get to this point, and 10000 monkeys on a typewriter will eventually rewrite the works of Shakespeare given infinite time. But if you look at a phenomenon like the big bang, I'm left asking "What the hell happened"? According to the theory the singularity that our universe must have been before suddenly expanded, and is today somehow still expanding at an accelerating rate. But the way I understand it, what happened was basically a giant explosion of matter, and explosions need at least two elements to react with each other. So why did this expansion of the singularity happen 13.8 billion years ago, why not 50 billion, or just 100? Something at that precise moment in time must have caused it. I'm not going to pretend I know what that was, whether it really was some ancient deity, a race of powerful aliens, or simple quantum randomness. But until I know what it was, I have no reason to worship it unless it shows itself and expresses such desires.

Hello. I'm a wiccan/druid. I believe tha nature provides and we're slowly hampering that . I'm no tree hugging hippy or anything and i do believe in ghosts and what not. magic can't be explained by science it's an entity all it's own. I also believe that we were visited by aliens in the past which helped to shape our mythology.   If you think i'm a crackpot so be it but you did ask lol. I don't let this run my life. also santan is not inherantly evil he's the voice of free will if he even exists. but i feel that satan is a christian entity so i'm not realy a fan. The christian and espcailly the catholic religion is a corrupt orginazation. maybe not as corrupt as it was when it first came into being but still corrupt.

@10 I find that particular topic to be a conflict of interest, because while yes I am Agnostic and not Christian, I do believe the Quenton C moderators were in the wrong and are constantly in the wrong for multiple reasons. However, that particular debate is far out of the scope of this topic, so I would prefer that if we do talk about it that we do so in another topic.

@12 I believe there is a god, simply because you can't make something out of nothing. The universe and the planets within had to be formed in some way, I mean what are the odds that a few specks of dirt could just form a planet and a bunch of tiny oval-shaped creatures typing on keyboards and peaces of glass? Mind you, we didn't exist at first, but you catch my drift? Also, I'm not sure if we're oval or not, but that's what I'm guessing.

We may never know the answer to that question. But things like the big bang happening by chance is just, well, do the math, all of it, then, look at the  odds.  How was this planet, with such perfect conditions to support life created, with many others being  uninhabitable balls of fire. It may make a person think. As for my  beliefes, I believe I fall under the category of agnostic. I don't trust most  organize religions, because they seek to control. But I respect others beliefes, rather you  practice Christianity, Islam,  or a form of voodoo, so long as you use none of these religions to try to harm people. That's where I draw the line.

I like to look at others beliefes and see what I can learn from them, example , some native american beliefes, and say, there respect for nature, or a  religions morals. My morals are my own, though. I will do what I think is right, not what some religion says I should do.

I believe in nothing an no one except that humans are by nature spiteful leeches, and that if you are not one than you are a happy anomaly. I do not care if anyone believes anything different, but I do care if you try to tell me I should believe what you believe as if it is the only correct answer. I think the "you can't create something from nothing" argument is a paradoxical one, with the reasoning that if the universe could not have been created from nothing, god could not have been created from nothing. Why do you think god is different than the universe? I believe that when you die, you simply do not exist anymore. This is a rather frightening thought because it means there will eventually be nothing left for us, but I don't believe in heaven and hell.

@12
Damn. You beat me to it. I was actually going to make a refrence to that verry same song.
You nailed it.

i believe in islam.
the most remembering thing about our religion is that if the science is proving somethings back from 200 or 300 years, but the quraan had these things about 1400 years ago!
and quraan is the complete way of living the lives.
science had discovered all the planets stars and other things in the sky very late, but in quran, it was already 1400 years ago!
and it says, don't harm others or brake heart of others.
it also says, that look at all things around you!
and think deeply that how could have all these things formed?
if we will keep thinking we can not go further than the formation of this yunivers.
every thing has a connection with every thing.