happyboy

i have stated on a few occasions before that i hold more respect for buddhism than i do for christianity. i just think that it's crap, like any other religion.

happyboy

Harumi

Crap huh?

I don't like to call anything "crap" unless it's seriously out to hurt others, for example Christian Science or the KKK.

Don't agree with your strong feelings toward religion in general, but then again I'm a mild, naive, and positive person by nature, so I have yet to become cynical. Drives my boyfriend nuts. He can't stand my "happy happy the world is wonderful" point of view.

happyboy

my life has not been a pretty life, by ANY stretch of the imagination. truth be told, the rather unpleasant life i've led has led me away from all religions. i'm happier this way, truthfully.

happyboy

Harumi

Neither has mine. I've suffered a lot of crap from my family, but it's not religious based. Religion was actually the one thing I could use to bond with my family, thus the positive memories from that.

All the crap I suffered only led me to really dislike Chinese confucianism. And that is also atheistic by nature as well.

emotional

I'm an atheist because that's where the evidence leads.

But there has never been a period in my life that I wasn't religious. From the moment I gained understanding of the world, I have always wanted to worship something. For a brief time, this was the monotheistic God, but I couldn't worship what I couldn't see and feel and sense. Now, as an atheist, I worship the Sun, the Moon, the stars, the trees and the stones -- the natural universe.

happyboy

i don't worship anything. i RESPECT the sun, the moon, the stars, the ocean, and all the living things around me; i don't worship the things, for crying out loud!

a very annoyed happyboy

Nowhere357

As Emotional and others have been trying to show, you are confusing religion with spirituality. We ALL experience spirituality, even you yourself by your own words "i feel awe and wonder towards the universe" know this feeling. Religion is of course a primitive way of expressing this spirituality, but then physically we are still stone age man, so maybe just a bit more tolerance on your part would be a good thing.

We have two ways of coming to conclusions, knowledge, understanding, BELIEF. We have rational belief, and we have intuitive belief. Right brain, left brain. Neither is inherently superior to the other. We live in a culture which emphasis rational belief, of course, but the fact is rational belief can be wrong, and intuitive belief can be right. We need both. We are humans, not some sort of logic machines.

At any rate, intuitive belief is NOT a 'shutting off' of the brain. That is a closed-minded and intolerant opinion - I expect more from a freethinker.

BTW Einstein was aware of, and embraced, his spirituality, even as he rejected organized theism. Also, he rarely used the words 'fuck' and 'shit', and rarely insulted people. He had more class than that.

NowHere

happyboy

if that's spirituality, then fine, i'm a spiritual person. but that doesn't change the fact that religion is bullshit, and the people who follow it are deluded.

happyboy

emotional

But I do! I raise my hands in the air before the stars, in deep, rapturous praise. I hug the trees in intensive love. I thank the Sun every morning for giving me life. I really, truly worship Nature!



How easy it is to annoy/irritate/agitate/confuse you, happyboy!



Theistic religion is bulls**t, and those people who believe in personal gods in our day and age are hopelessly deluded. Supernaturalism is crap, I totally agree with you. But why throw out the baby with the bathwater? Throw out theism, throw out all the supernatural, occult nonsense, and leave intact the worship, the liturgy, the ceremony, the devotion! If you're inclined to worship, of course...

Be now happy, boy!

happyboy

how about we just leave the respect for the cosmos, and throw out all the worship, in addition to the supernaturalism?

happyboy