I am not involved with religion, for to me religion is the embrace of organized authoritative theism.
I instead embrace the teachings of many belief systems but also seem to relate more towards Judaism and Judaic philosophies.
Purely out of curiosity, what religion are you involved in?
None.
None. I simply believe that people are good somewhere deep inside. That's enough faith for me.
I am agnostic. I don't follow any religion.
What I do like though, is that my country (as does the US) tries to adhere to (the nice bits of) Christian principles in its running, organisation and philosophy.
We do try to be good people, look after our poor and infirm, do the "decent thing" when we can.
The fact that we so often fail shouldn't stop us from trying.
So, if I had to follow a religion, it would be non-fundamentalist, modern Christianity. (I still wouldn't believe in God though.)
No religion, but I have read about many including the mystery religions most religion is very different in the public view as opposed to it's hidden form. Solar worship was included into the bible and it's traditions, ie Apollo, it's no secret Dec 25th is the birthday of the sun gods.
http://philologos.org/bpr/files/a009.htm
If you look at your own country you may discover that it has more gods than the religions of today, most countries have the phallic symbol of Ancient Egypt the obelisk normally set near a domed building which represents the womb. This is sometimes representative of a mock of the earths atlas, the anima mundi, the warriors block. You also have the black cube. The little black stone of Adam. This dates back before Rome. I think there is a link with Planet Saturn. You will also have many Greek/Roman Gods, Victory and many other gods can been seen outside Buckingham Palace. Victory could be synonymous with Vulcan and Hermes (identified with the snake), Mercury "trickster Gods" who stand at the cross much like Papa Legba (voodoo), and act on your behalf as an administrator between the spirit world and earthy plane. Similarities of Jesus and other Gods have been noted. We are infact still Rome, and Rome came from Egypt. We have an odd statue in Hyde Park called The Family Of Man, it is of a family running into the park with the god Pan chasing them with his panpipes. https://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/hyde-park/things-to-see-and-do/memorials,-fountains-and-statues/pan-statue
Pan is often synonymous with goat type gods one being baphomet. Not sure if you've ever read the story of Pan? It links in with Masonic belief and music. You also have Hermes the corpus hemetica and The Emerald tablets, this goes back to Egyptian tablets and also linked to Solomons temple. The original concept was that statues were made to incase the spirit of whatever god the statue represents sometimes as a prison. There are so many Gods in rome and greece because they believed that every vice or virtue was guided by a particular spirit hence their belief in magic. Whether you call it Geni, jinn, Ioa, god, daimon, angel, spirit, truth, charity, progress, hope, justice. Carl Jung believed in these archtypes he wrote about it in The Red Book and Seven sermons of the dead. Interestingly he is one of the fathers of the psychological, though less is known in public domain about his own psyche.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraxas
These things also go back to Solomon's Keys, his seal (repham/moloch/chiun) ring and the lesser keys, in fact all these things are played out in cinema and music time over. The hebrews believe that God spoke the word/logos into existence. Hence words are very important to the hebrews, vowels are classed as sacred and never written. In fact this was seen in Phonician aswell. Our alphabet goes back to Phonician as do Phonetics. However, symbolism appears to have replaced this. But magic incorporates these things whether you believe in hocus pocus or not. Even prayer is envoking the God/s. The Gnostics believed in Astronomy, Alchemy and Thelogy.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_(paranormal) No matter how you try and shift it, even great men of science believed in a god or the Supernatural, and many scientific discoveries were brought through dreams.
Even Descarte had his demon. Newton explored the Bible for hidden meanings, this may seen nuts to some but Issac knew that secrets that were passed down were hidden. Same as the secrets in Leonardo da vincis' paintings, why go to all this trouble if it doesn't mean anything? If the early scientists believed in Thrice Hermeticum then then they believed that rationale, without mind was ignorance. They believed dreaming was a tool to discovery much of what now is classed as meaningless.
Most ancient texts go back to Sumer the Zigguret the first cities. Before that we were hunter gatherers and nomad tribes. Here you find that Enki bought "Me" to Sumer. In Buddhism they refer to the I watching me. In the Bible it refers to the nachash bringing sin. There is a common denominator throughout religion. But for some reason through all it's morphs it has stayed and it points to something. Russel Wallace believed God had intervened in life three times, the third time was to bring a more heightened conscious awareness to man. The Masons believe in Tubal Cain. It appears some of us are trying to remember something long forgotten or hidden. There is no such thing as original thought, all thought is produced of something else, yet the theme of this origin has surpassed time. This isn't prehistoric man this is the beginnigs of civilisation only several thousand years ago.The leaders of countries still get together and burn the cremation of care to a giant Owl at Bohemian Grove.
See some people will say forget it. For me I find it interesting. I know that our contract law came from the Age Of Enlightenment the "illuminated ones." One wrote a paper called The Leviathan. Our law is much like that today. We are not that different from serfdom, and court is not much different to theatre, the end game being that it makes money, regardless of the outcome. Same as George Orwell, everyone thinks it a marvel that he foresaw the future in 1984, or could it be more obvious? That he knew something we didn't?pennyforyourthoughts2.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/aldous-huxley-l
Huxley was a grandson of Thomas Huxley (Darwins Bulldog), not a surprise the Royal Society interbred with eachother in the effort to maintain superior stock. Thomas was part of the Royal Society and X-club with Darwin. Darwins grandfather was a freemason and Darwins son was president of eugenics society for 6 years.
Very few people look into the people they read about. What I like on here is that some creationists look into sciences history far more than atheists, Shiny is one. While the atheists scrutinize religion but not their own sources (for which at one time I was guilty). I was an atheist for years, then I had an experience having practiced buddhism for many. Carried on as an atheist for many years. Now I believe in something, from that experience I can say there is a different mindset where there is no violence and grasping to fulfill desire. It is something I cannot forget.
I'd certainly be interested in what your beliefs are Zombie if you'd like to share? Or any statues/stories and such in your areas?
I am a Pastafarian. I worship the mighty, the benevolent Flying Spaghetti Monster (pbuh). Every Friday (the Pastafarian Sabbath) Mrs Didge and I visit a trattoria and partake of the holy fare. Blessed be his name.
R'amen.
I'm an Ordained Minister of the Latter-Day Dude. Dudeism brings peace to the world.
Join us and become a part of all that is chill and relax. dudeism.com/ordination-form/
I am atheist and can't imagine being anything else, however I am fascinated by the more spiritual belief systems and pagan religions.
I am Catholic.
And here's why: catholicexchange.com/the-mystical-body-of-christ-the-wisdom-
I am honored to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses. I dedicated my life to Jehovah God by water baptism on October 9, 1982. I hope to follow closely in the footsteps of his son, Jesus Christ, now and forever.
None.
As a joke between my friends and I, I say that I am part of the fandoms religion! I worship my favourite authors!
But really, I am an atheist. I believe in science, and there are also too many religions for just one to be true. In primary school, we had to take part in religion lessons, which were Christian-orientated, which led me to believe that the Western world is too focused on God, and sometimes forget that there are other religions that other cultures follow, like Hinduism and Buddhism, just to name a few.
I don't believe that any religion is right or wrong, but people should embrace all religions even if they don't believe in them (like me), or think it's stupid. If you do follow one religion, you should also learn the basics about other religions.
I am a Unitarian and proud of it.