I know this is meant to be a casual conversation and this topic can get deep fast, but I’d love to hear everyone’s elevator pitch for their religion or lack thereof. peace and love<3
No.
When I was a kid my mom send my sister and I to bible camp. I spent time with friends and I didn’t shun the one kid with a developmental disability like everyone else. Not for any particular reason I just got along with him as well as my other friends.
Those motherfuckers gave me a TROPHY.
Looking back it was the beginning of the end of my religious journey. Now I just make the best of it with my fellow normies.
Like siempastrophe, I was not blessed with belief. I remember finding out that the adults at the church really believed the stories they were telling were true, when I was 5 or so.
I wouldn’t say I am Atheist, with a capital A, either. No way to disprove, and the simple fact of physical existence is so mind-blowing, the universe existing at all, consciousness, time. But no I can’t believe enough to believe in any particular religion as true.
I was raised in a devout Christian family. It never felt right to me. It just never felt capital “T” True.
After expressing that feeling at an early age, I was scolded and made to feel afraid of expressing any dissenting opinions about it. I guess I kind of internalized that fear, more as a coping mechanism than an actual belief.
When I got older, I rejected it outright, and went searching for the TRUE religion. I didn’t find it, lol, and I began identifying as an atheist. Albeit, an atheist with a lot of knowledge of various religious and spiritual traditions.
Then, I read the Principia Discordia. That book changed my perspective on everything. It led me to Leary/Wilson’s concept of reality tunnels. A person who only views things from one perspective (be that perspective religious, philosophical, scientific, or whatever) has a very narrow reality tunnel; a person who views things from multiple perspectives has a wider one. Our perception of reality is based on the perspectives we bring to it.
I think that most religions are structurally unsound as a whole. They fall apart under their own weight. But some of the discrete pieces of those religions can stand on their own, and when I find those pieces, I add them to my reality tunnel.
I’m drawn to non-dual forms of spirituality, because that’s what feels true to me. I feel that way because of experiences I’ve had, or things that just feel true to me.
I don’t expect anyone to feel the same way I do about it though. We don’t have the same perspective, because we haven’t had the same experiences. Expecting others to see things the way I do would be unfair, and wildly irrational.
It’s funny you say this. After I became an apostate and left my faith, as I learned and grew behind that… I came to the conclusion that I knew what true salvation was now. Or at least perhaps one kind of salvation.
Salvation lies within ones ability to embrace different perspectives.
So much pain, struggling, and strife can be resolved by a change in perspective.
Not religious.
Because I was raised well enough to successfully avoid indoctrination into a cult.
There has been written a lot of fantasy the last 3000 years, but I prefer the more recent ones.
Honestly, the fiction that exists today has the capability of teaching incredibly valuable lessons with thousands of years of progress incorporated into it. I often find myself feeling all the warm and fuzzies when a fiction book of today touches important ethics amidst a simple sci-fi or fantasy story. 💜
There are certainly some good things to learn from ancient morality, like the Golden Rule, but it really cannot beat modern ethics. Many philosophies of long ago are still potent today, but many more (should) have become deprecated with the advent of modern science and ethics.
This is kind of why I’ve been gravitating towards Humanism. It’s much of the goodness of religion, but without God.
No. It’s a scam created by humans to control the behavior of other humans. And to steal their $$ with false hopes of a nonexistent “paradise”.
I find it mind boggling that people still get indoctrinated into the Cults. It’s sad and pathetic.
Do you think that religion as a whole is unproductive/useless? Maybe even borderline harmful?
Not the OP, but I believe religion, while having some positive aspects, is overall harmful. Lies always are.
Very harmful. Full of BS. Countless millions murdered in the name of religion. Trillions $$ stolen from people’s pockets. And more Trillions $$ in slave labor, either true slaves or fools that have volunteered many hours of their time.
Big religion should not be treated any differently than the truly rotten Cults .
Nope… I dont buy into modern mythology.
No. I convinced myself I was until I was 16 or 17. It wasn’t compatible with my worldview and it was completely unscientific.
What about your worldview was incompatible with religion? Secondarily, do you think there is any religion that might be compatible with your worldview?
Nah, catholic church was very boring and always seemed like a scam to me as long a I can remember. Also Occam’s razor. I’m not an evangelical atheist though: that seems like a waste of time and effort.
I’m not, but I kind of miss the community connection and discussion of life wisdom that religion serves.
I’ve thought about trying to go to a universalist Unitarian service sometime, since I’ve heard they dont really care if you are a more secular person, they’re not a Christian church, and welcome folks of all sorts of world views
What type of community were you a part of before you chose to walk away?
Oh eons ago I was raised nondenominationally christian. My missing those things is less a reflection of having had them in the past, and more a reflection of having much less access to community in the present. I dont think I really appreciated those things about church when I was a kid, and while it wasn’t a bad experience (except when I joined for adult service, which bored me to tears), I don’t really want back the same kind of church experience I has when I was little. It was lots of kids activities that snuck in ideals about how to be a good person and worship practices.
But I have a circadian rhythm disorder that limits my ability to get together with other people cause everyone’s asleep for the bulk of time I’m awake, so connection to other people is precious to me. I’d love to find a way to participate in that kind of fellowship and discuss how we strive to be people we can take pride in and build good lives and communities for ourselves
Religion is abuse.
Do you actually believe that all religion is abusive?
It’s mind rot
Indeed.
I’d like to think I’m a person of free will but… no, I’m not religious mainly because I was raised atheist. China was mostly folk religion (with a good bit of Buddhism) and in modern history it became aggressively atheist so… It’s probably quite fascinating for ppl interested in history/religion studies, because I don’t know any other country that is over 90% not religious
Obviously with scientific training & stuff I probably would have become an atheist or an agnostic anyways, but it’s not because of my education that I became not religious so I can’t really pitch it or anything…
I wouldn’t call weird spiritual stuff “atheist”, per se.
Does your family burn those fake heaven money thing? Burn incense? Put a chicken on a huge plate as a “sacrifice”, then like hold the fake heaven money in their hand then like pray to spirits or whatever while muttering weird 4 character phrases like 心想事成，快高長大, 學業進步。。。 etc… then throw the fake money into a metal container with burning fire… you know what I’m talking about, right?
Idk wtf they are even doing lmao… so weird, I just never participate since I was a teen because those traditions just felt silly.
That, to me, is religion, even though its not “officially” religious.
I don’t think I’m gonna be burning fake heaven money if I have kids… like… nah… kinda weird lol… I don’t really believe in the spirits stuff and feels like its adding more pollution for no reason. Maybe I’m just too westernized and don’t feel attached to Chinese culture anymore.
My family is from Guangdong btw, maybe your family is different, idk, does your family do those weird rituals?
I feel like a “banana” lmfao… (“asian on the outside, westerner on the inside”), the only attachment I have is that I can still read basic Chinese characters… and speak on a 2nd grade level, that’s about it…
Oh btw, my mom is very anti-mental-health care and constantly think my depression is just “鬼纏住你” and tells me to wear some necklace or some dumb shit that “wards off evil” lmfao…
And wasting food will “被雷公劈” lolol.
I threw away food I didn’t like (I was a kid okay lol) and I never got struck by the lightning god or whatever so… okay boomers.
My family is from Manchuria/Beijing where the communist party has a much stronger grip so… I’m not kidding, a lot of ppl literally practice no religion whatsoever; probably got stamped out by the CCP. I think there might be a rather strong North/South divide in China: the North unfortunately has always been under stricter supervision by the party so…
Like they separate it very clearly. My grandparents’ generation have old folk religion but ppl would call them “Mi Xin” so… my dad did burn the fake money things, but only during my grandparents’ tomb cleanings or anything to do with the older generation. One of my grandparents is Buddhist, but she does make it quite clear. Otherwise most ppl I know literally have nothing remotely resembling religious in their apartments
Wow, this is so interesting. I feel like the fact that the Communist Party “stamps out” all types of religion is simply a testament to how important it is for humans to share with eachother something higher than our mortal plane. Would you be willing to share more about your experience with your grandparents, and how the culture has now switched to a vast majority practicing no religion at all?
It’s not as interesting… three of my grandparents passed away before I started memorizing things so I don’t know that much stuff first-hand. But basically… At least where my parents grew up, old folk religions (again… just referred to Mi Xin now) used to be quite common. The last generation (starting 30-40 years ago) just don’t really practice them anymore, so my generation are full of complete non-religious people; not even any folk religion. Not sure if it has anything to do with that region being the manufacturing hub of China for a while… so maybe CCP had a much stronger influence there
Beijing is kinda duh, the government is there so… I mean it is the city that destroyed nearly all of its Hu Tongs and historical housing and stuff to build highrises/business districts, how would people imagine Beijing treat its less tangible cultural norms
There was a new religion purge that started sometime 10-15 years ago… but I think it was separate. I just remember there was a Christian family friend whose church was in a bit of a trouble
Nope. Wasn’t raised religious. It’s pretty common where I come from.
No, but I try hard not to be an asshole about it. People can believe what they want as long as it isn’t directly hurting someone.
Personally I find religious studies fascinating simply because of the influence it has had on culture both locally and worldwide.
No, I’m not religious. There’s no elevator pitch, because it doesn’t need one.
