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What is your religion / faith?

vmaxnick

Not in the face!
Apr 8, 2008
234
0
26
West Country
www.rhino-trikes.co.uk
I don't make a point of mocking someone's faith. My children are not Christened, because I believe it to be their choice and also, because I will not go into a Church and promise to do things such as "bring the child up in the Christian faith" and so on, because I wouldn't and I don't go to Church, so that would be mocking the beliefs of Christians, in their own Church. Also the reason why I refused to be a God Parent to my best mates child (also a non Church goer). Incidentally, regarding that mate. They had to get confirmed etc, so that SHE could get married in a Church and when they got married, I stood at the front with them, knowing full well that she was pregnant.

So who is more at fault? Me, who lives as best he can and lets people believe what they want, and respects their belief enough to refuse my best mates request, or the couple who don't go to Church, getting confirmed, getting married while she was (secretly) pregnant, then promising to bring the child up as Christian, when we know full well that they won't, just because it is the done thing and or to please her Mother?
Without wanting to get into the ethics of the thing, there is a little thing called 'Tradition' involved here. I don't see that observing old tradition for the sake of others as 'mocking' others beliefs, quite the opposite. I was married in Church because my Wife is a Christian and at the time I was just an unbeliever without conviction (now a comfortable Atheist). We have not had any of our 3 Children confirmed because that is their decision. Now, we would have a choice to be married in almost any setting without a member of the Clergy present but back then, it was Church or registry office. Considering that you pay for the services of the Vicar, Organist, Flower arrangements and the Civil service, I see the Church as a Business, offering it's Traditional style wedding service for sale. In the same way as you can have Elvis marry you in Vegas. If the Church doesn't like this, they can limit marriage services to regular members of their congregation.
Now before any Christians get all righteous on me about this; I don't mean to disrespect you and I know that the Hallowed walls of the Church mean much more to you than that. I appreciate and respect that as I respect your beliefs but the Church is just beautiful bricks and mortar to me and with the Congregation falling year on year, my money will help in it's upkeep just the same as yours.
(Ooooh I can feel a sermon about money lenders in the temples coming on :p)
 

Kat

I'm a love Albatross.
Aug 18, 2006
1,048
0
0
35
Carlisle/ Leeds
For me it's science all the way.

I know religious people will ask me all sorts of questions about how I can believe nothing etc. But I can.

And to be honest I enjoy the way I conduct my life and to become religious would be a) a lie, as i still wouldn't believe in it and b) would change my current lifestyle.

A lot of people claim to be religious, but they're not really. They have faith, but they don't conduct themself as their religion asks them to.

Anyway, science. I need things to be proved to me. And I'd rather believe in 'nothing' than devote my entire life to a maybe.

And I refuse to believe that a supernatural being waved her (yes her ;)) hand and created something as intricate as the human body, or does god have genetic enginering? :p

Interesting debate though.
 

Skeet

Platinum Member
Without wanting to get into the ethics of the thing, there is a little thing called 'Tradition' involved here. I don't see that observing old tradition for the sake of others as 'mocking' others beliefs, quite the opposite. I was married in Church because my Wife is a Christian and at the time I was just an unbeliever without conviction (now a comfortable Atheist). We have not had any of our 3 Children confirmed because that is their decision. Now, we would have a choice to be married in almost any setting without a member of the Clergy present but back then, it was Church or registry office. Considering that you pay for the services of the Vicar, Organist, Flower arrangements and the Civil service, I see the Church as a Business, offering it's Traditional style wedding service for sale. In the same way as you can have Elvis marry you in Vegas. If the Church doesn't like this, they can limit marriage services to regular members of their congregation.
Now before any Christians get all righteous on me about this; I don't mean to disrespect you and I know that the Hallowed walls of the Church mean much more to you than that. I appreciate and respect that as I respect your beliefs but the Church is just beautiful bricks and mortar to me and with the Congregation falling year on year, my money will help in it's upkeep just the same as yours.
(Ooooh I can feel a sermon about money lenders in the temples coming on :p)
Not all mate. If you got married in a church, because your wife was a Christian at the time, that is cool.

Neither my mate or his wife were practising or remotely Christian and only got married in a Church because her mother sang in the Choir there.
And she was pregnant and they they had their child and subsequent children Christened there, despite not going there before marriage or since.

Smacks of Bollox to me matey and mocking the faith of true Christians.
 

Robbo

Owner of this website
Jul 5, 2001
13,116
2,157
448
London
www.p8ntballer.com
Thought i'd chuck this into the melting pot

Heres a few blokes that dabbled in science and still had time to communicate with big G,whatever they conceived the "great score keeper" to be.



Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543) Astronomer and mathematician

Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1627) First dude to devise scientific inquiry based on experimentation and inductive reasoning.


Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) Mathematician and astronomer

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Astronomer

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) Mathmetician

Isaac Newton (1642-1727) Early physicist,mathmetician,mechanical engineer and chemist

Robert Boyle (1791-1867) Chemist and physicist

Michael Faraday (1791-1867) Revolutionised physics with his work on electromagnetism and electricity.

Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) Made breakthroughs to pave the way to the mathematical foundation for genetics.

William Thomson Kelvin (1824-1907) Physicist who amongst other things estimated that the earth was 500 million years old,dodgy estimate but longer than 7 days,he didnt understand enough about radiogenic heating at the time.


Max Planck (1858-1947) Of the Plancks constant fame.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Well,you dont have to be Einstein to know who he is.
Kris, I haven't yet worked out where you are coming from mate, in more ways than one.
I'm not sure if you fully understand some of the points you are hoping to make, or in turn, it might be me, who is failing to interpret your presentations.

Some of your posts seem to miss the mark under an avalanche of name-drops, and others just seem to miss the mark, in my opinion that is.

I think you feel passionately about the subject matter but for some reason I am unable to key into the relevance / thought process, of some of your responses.
I don't think you are indulging us too much in 'Google expertise' but something ain't quite right here and it may well be me....but I doubt it :)

This last post catalogues an impressive array of intellectuals who you say had at sometime or another, occasion to touch base with him upstairs.
I think the point you are trying to make with this is obviously, if those guys decide to align themselves with a god, then who are we to question otherwise?
I think we need to differentiate between god and religion here, any scientist worth his salt would have to default to a creator when he ponders our position.

The fact we live in a universe where causality underpins everything, it might be hard to subscribe to any notion of spontaneous creation, and as you may be aware, the logical conclusion of winding the big bang back is to look into the ugly face of a singularity ...the mathematics used to wind it all in reverse, chokes on that.

It's hardly surprising that at this point, scientists and astro-physicists / mathematicians would all consider a prime mover.
The fact that Dawkins (The God Delusion) then dismisses any such conclusion on the basis you are then drawn inevitably toward asking , 'well who created him'? is in my opinion, a mistake.

Unfortunately for Dawkins, in my ignorant opinion, he then goes onto make this assumption a cornerstone of his book.
If he considered this point a little more instead of glossing over it as if it were a mere philosophical certainty then he mighta got my soul.

Believing in a god (creator) is not the same as being religious.
Religion to me, should be a derivative of the creator, but in this world, it is more a derivative of man, and man's emotional / spiritual / political need to look upward and also to create an extremely powerful and effective social focus.
 

Robbo

Owner of this website
Jul 5, 2001
13,116
2,157
448
London
www.p8ntballer.com
For me it's science all the way.

I know religious people will ask me all sorts of questions about how I can believe nothing etc. But I can.

And to be honest I enjoy the way I conduct my life and to become religious would be a) a lie, as i still wouldn't believe in it and b) would change my current lifestyle.

A lot of people claim to be religious, but they're not really. They have faith, but they don't conduct themself as their religion asks them to.

Anyway, science. I need things to be proved to me. And I'd rather believe in 'nothing' than devote my entire life to a maybe.

And I refuse to believe that a supernatural being waved her (yes her ;)) hand and created something as intricate as the human body, or does god have genetic enginering? :p

Interesting debate though.


Kat, I originally believed god was male, and as I got to know more about the world in which we live, I am now convinced god is female.

After all, the world of quantum mechanics seems to deny any rational approach to unlocking its innermost secrets...which is most definitely a female trait.
 

vmaxnick

Not in the face!
Apr 8, 2008
234
0
26
West Country
www.rhino-trikes.co.uk
Not all mate. If you got married in a church, because your wife was a Christian at the time, that is cool.

Neither my mate or his wife were practising or remotely Christian and only got married in a Church because her mother sang in the Choir there.
And she was pregnant and they they had their child and subsequent children Christened there, despite not going there before marriage or since.

Smacks of Bollox to me matey and mocking the faith of true Christians.
Still don't agree that they were consciously mocking anyone's faith or beliefs by availing themselves of paid services offered by the Church although I suppose that going through the prayers and promises to bring any Children up as Christians could be seen as such!
I would never seek to destroy or mock any other persons beliefs as I don't believe that just anyone could be strong enough to get through the cr*p that life throws at you without something to lean on! Me, I am comfortable with the knowledge that I will return to the inactive state from which I came (No I don't mean Portugal!:p)
I have a Spinster Aunt dying of Cancer, She has no Children through which She can feel her immortality but She is a Jehovah's Witness and so does not fear her impending demise. I would never seek to deprive her of what is now her only comfort. It's a shame that virtually no Religion would feel the same compassion towards me!
I still celebrate Christmas too, My Wife gets such pleasure from it, why would I deny her that? Besides, I get presents, now wheres that list.... Angel A1....Emag........Cuddly toy :D
 

Skeet

Platinum Member
Still don't agree that they were consciously mocking anyone's faith or beliefs by availing themselves of paid services offered by the Church although I suppose that going through the prayers and promises to bring any Children up as Christians could be seen as such!
I would never seek to destroy or mock any other persons beliefs as I don't believe that just anyone could be strong enough to get through the cr*p that life throws at you without something to lean on! Me, I am comfortable with the knowledge that I will return to the inactive state from which I came (No I don't mean Portugal!:p)
I have a Spinster Aunt dying of Cancer, She has no Children through which She can feel her immortality but She is a Jehovah's Witness and so does not fear her impending demise. I would never seek to deprive her of what is now her only comfort. It's a shame that virtually no Religion would feel the same compassion towards me!
I still celebrate Christmas too, My Wife gets such pleasure from it, why would I deny her that? Besides, I get presents, now wheres that list.... Angel A1....Emag........Cuddly toy :D
Consciously no. But it only takes a minor consideration to see that it could be that way. Sadly, too few people consider the small things...

BTW. V-Max. Would that be a ballistic tip or a Yamaha?
 

Kat

I'm a love Albatross.
Aug 18, 2006
1,048
0
0
35
Carlisle/ Leeds
Kat, I originally believed god was male, and as I got to know more about the world in which we live, I am now convinced god is female.

After all, the world of quantum mechanics seems to deny any rational approach to unlocking its innermost secrets...which is most definitely a female trait.
If there was only god in the beginning they/it must be genderless, or why would they decided to produce a second sex?

Maybe they were lonely....or didn't swing 'that' way.

Anyway, lack of any rational approach to life makes things more interesting!!