Personally, I think there’s nothing wrong with either position. Just like sexual orientation, your religious affiliations do not represent, define, or dictate who you are as a person. You actions and choices do, simple as that.
You don’t have to believe in God, but you can still believe in what God stands for–which is goodness, fairness, love, and spiritual connection–and you live by those principles and seek to be guided by them in your decision-making and well-being.
If you believe in God, then it’s the same thing–you believe in what God stands for, which is goodness, fairness, love and spiritual connection–and you live by those principles and seek to be guided by them in your decision-making and well-being.
Sadly, the god debate is never as good-natured and humorous as the above video. Most of the time it’s bitter, hurtful, egotistical and unforgiving. You know, it just seems so silly sometimes–what people fight and argue about. On one hand atheists are blaming religions for a myriad of crap in the world, and one the other hand religious people are prosecuting non-believers for being heathens.
No–! The reason why shitty things happening in this world (colossal generalization, of course) is because there are shitty people making shitty, misinformed, misguided and inherently selfish decisions!!! LEAVE RELIGIONS OR ATHEISM OUT OF IT. Just see things as they are without twisting them. Most of the time I just want to scream: stop being so narrow-minded and just be respectful of each other!! SEE THE BIG PICTURE, please, I beg you. There’s enough shit that happens in this world outside of the context of religious debates, as it is. Can’t we just be people together, without putting each other into categories?
What’s the big deal, really? So what if I am Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or Catholic? So what if I’m not? Being part of a religion and not being part of a religion does not make me inferior, unworthy, or undeserving. If I am inferior, unworthy, or undeserving, that will be because of the decisions and actions I make as a person. There’s no “true” religion, nor is there a “correct” version of religion. Religion is about learning. It’s about community and belonging. It’s about questioning and finding answers. It’s about everything that is human. Most importantly, it’s about becoming better. Who identifies with a religion just for “fun”?
That is not to say religions shouldn’t be fun. I’m just saying that I believe the purpose of religions or intentions behind God-seeking is essentially of self-betterment, character-building and positive striving–and those things can be achieved with or without a God. You can believe in nature. You can believe in goodness, charity, kindness to the ones around you. You can believe in role models, in setting an example, in forgiveness, in philosophy…
Garh. It makes me so frustrated sometimes. Honestly, why are we trying so hard to divide each other? Why can’t we just see things and people as they are? It seriously drives me crazy.