Let’s not turn this into a flamewar about religion. I’m just curious! Eveyone has their own reasons for believeing what they do, and let’s not insult them for it. Now, answer the poll! 
(note: if the existence of this poll offends you, just ignore it!)
Nope.
Well i guess this is why they have the off topic. :-?
Does anyone care?
Martin
I can’t bring myself to believe in any god-like beings, as there is no phyiscal proof that they exist. That’s just my opinion, so please don’t be offended.
So as you can probaly geuss, I answered, No.
I personally don,t believe in anything, as someone pointed out I can’t believe in something I don’t touch or see.
but, I admire peoples who do. Because it gives them something to believe in in the worst moment of their life. it gives em a goal, hopes and it helps feeling better. If this is what they need, than I say it’s the best thing in the world…and that even if I don,t believe in it.
So yea, I don’t believe, but I understand why other believe and that’s why I never insulted anyone that believed insomething…
My 2 cents:
I think it’s aritificially narrow to imply that you have to follow some kind of organized religion to be religious/spiritual.
I’m an “atheist,” yet I consider myself a very religious person. Everyone has to cope with life and death. We just do it in different ways.
b01c
I’ve abandoned “religion”.
This doesn’t mean I don’t believe in “God” “gods” et cetera, I simply have no use for negative connotations that "religous"ness inspires in people.
I’m having a difficult time right now, though I can say I trust nothing, and no one. I do however believe in a metaphysical entity that -can but chooses not to- control entirely the 4 dimensions in which we exist.
For those who rely on “science” I think you are much like religious people in many ways, many believe in science as the be all end all, which it is not. Simple because we as humans are fallible, science cannot by it’s own definition explain things beyond what we can comprehend. We make errors, thus science cannot explain all.
Though I believe in a god, diety, etc I have to say one of the most profound and authentic things said and that will be said has come from X-warrior. Well said.
I can’t wait for Oxman’s posting, it’ll be enjoyable to read, as are most of his postings.
And the inevitable Matrix quote:
"What is real? How do you define real? If you’re talking about what you can feel, smell, taste, and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by the brain…’’
It doesn’t matter.
I guess I would be an atheist, because no ‘god’ has givin me proof of existence, I have never been helped when I was feeling under by some spiritual force or had any of my problems solved without me having do solve them completly by myself. Also I don’t believe in devoting your entire life to worshipping some figure that may or may not exist, while you could be out enjoying your short life and not worrying about what comes next.
I believe in God (the one from the bible) and find it harder to believe that the whole universe we live in created itself by accident.
science is a part of religion.
IMO from what i understand religion has served a number of purposes in history (if i don’t include the purpose it has been occasionally twisted into doing such as control etc…)
religion serves these purposes.
Explaination, how does the universe exist, why does rain occur, why does the sun come up every day…
Community, it serves as a gathering point often, most/many religions have an aspect of community
Self Discovery, many religions are a way of self discovery, self reflection, and councelling, for example confession, could be considered a form of councelling, you can go to your religious leader and ask for advice on issues, and talk about things going on in your life. through reading you are often taught to reflect apon yourself.
Morals, most religions have a moral element, laying down what is good/bad, acceptable or not. most have things about stealing, killing…
in todays society[/u]
[b]Science has taken over the explaination element, it ignores the “soul”, things like psychiatry, and labelling conditions for everything, create a sense of “its not my fault, its a condition” and remove personal responsibility, if science is not in connection with an element that reflects the person/soul.
science has the ability to inform, or equip a person to deal with somthing, it is not a replacement for religion.
Community has become somewhat diluted, the bigger the cities the more isolated people have become, work, and school have effectivly become a number of peoples only locations of interaction. religion(church i am really saying) still offers a solution to this.
self discovery oprah, sally, dr phil, councellors… have become locations for “self discovery” i don’t feel they offer the answers to everything though, and much self discovery as it has been forever, has been done through experience, and the fact that some individuals have been equipt from childhood to reflect. (i feel self reflection is taught, i know a number of people that always blame blame blame, and it is impossible to reflect when you are scared of yourself LOL)
Morals Britney Speirs, Micheal Jackson, George Bush, Mum & Dad, or nowdays more, Mum… or… Dad (divorce rates LOL) are all the moral figure heads.
Law is somewhat relied apon for morals, and in todays society law is not a good indicator/ pointer to what is moral or not, its a “if i can beat the system, then it must be ok” killing someone as long as you “get off on a technicality” is seen by many people as OK because they didn’t get a punnishment.
Religion is very much in need for morals IMO, or at least good parenting and community involvment in the laying down of morals. (parents are your first step, but with parenting being crap these days i find it disheartening watching society expect parents to be the sole instillers of morals)
the end of the non debate/ my opinion part.
In saying this, no i am not religious.
i believe rather heavily in science, but then again believe in some form of “greater” thing (not a personification, but an unknown)
but i have been brought up in a very “self reflective” and “moral” environment. the word “consequence” has been in my vocablury since i was probably first talking LOL.
don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t sleep around (LOL)… don’t doa lot of things, not because my parents think anything about them, but because i don’t want to for personal reasons. (infact my parents offered my alcohol almost weekly since i was 16, i would just say no thanks :P)
self religion is a nice idea i think 
Alltaken
I believe that God does exist, but “He” doesn’t have any relation (not even remotely) with what “religion” says about “Him”…
God is a very personnal matter to me and no priest is gonna tell me, how I should “search” for “Him”…
I don’t belive in god - which doesn’t mean I don’t belive - or as X-warrior said - belive in somthing I can’t see or touch. I do belive in many things - god is just not one of them.
‘A simple mind can easily be filled with faith’
Religion has a good basis, but like everything human ever created it was FUBAR by the powerfull to control the people. There is nothing special behind religion, just something like “food and games for the mob”.
give somebody who got nothing in his life faith or better hope and he will sacrifice his life for you.
“the rich will rot in hell. be poor and believe in god and you will get eternal life”
f*** … how much nonsense in one sentence. religion is just a drug for the mind to keep dumb people happy.
so NO i am NOT religious. in the name of religions (e.g. christian, islam) more people were/are still killed that in any war that was/is just lead by political desicions.
Church every sunday @ 10am.
I believe that science is a way of describing the principles by which g*d has created the universe.
one day god made the laws of physics…
Well, i figure that I don’t really need to be that religious, I attend church every week, but was really gets me is that it is logical to be religious. If there is a god, who values religion, you are in good shape. If there isn’t, well, then, you have lived a good life anyway. Do it is perfectly logical to believe in God or whatever.
And there are many faiths, many of them going with the monotheism, so I figure that if 86% (or 75% depending on sources) of the US is christian, something like 98% religious, then I think they might just be on to something. If a religion has made it through wars and thousands of years, they just may be on to something. Any why not? It can’t hurt, can it?
i belive in proofs, and i have never seen anny proofs that god exists, so no i dont belive in god.
But if there is a god, wouldent it be a bit lonly for a god to not have annyone to talk to(just a little thaught 
)
And another question, why dosent he show hemself if he exists 
What i think is that god is what we want it to be, and that death is what we belive it will be, so for example hell or heaven is what we think it is. I dont have anny proofs about religion. so i dont belive in anny of it…
And how was earth made and the world made? I think it has always been, and by a quinsident life started existing.