Forums → WEPR → What Do You Believe In, And Why?

What made you come to this conclusion? Not trying to start anything, just curious.

Buddhism, or at least the one I was raised believing, doesn't have a Creation story, or beliefs that God(s) directed the course of the world. I only went to religious practices mainly for a sense of security and comfort, and after some time, I realised that I didn't need a spiritual being for that. I had myself, my family and friends. You could say that my being born into such a family had a part in the matter.

I can see your reasoning there. Do you ever think about when you used to be involved with the Buddhist god(s)? Have you ever though about going back to it?

I do still think about it, as I have some books written by Buddhist monks, as well as some Buddhist/Chinese folk religion charms. Sometimes, when I am afraid or apprehensive, I have an urge to take those charms out as spiritual comfort, then I chide myself. I occasionally visit the temples, with my family, but I do not pray. I'm not one for superstition or religion, because it stifles personal determination, human imagination and forces us into our well thread comfort zones. But old childhood habits die hard.

I do still appreciate Buddha's teachings on inner peace and self-improvement however, at least those that are non-religious. Whatever today's various forms Buddhism made of him, he was against the idea of a Creator deity, and it is argued that Buddhism is not compatible with the idea of divinity.

Have you done any in-depth research on any other religions/faiths?

Yes. I went to a Christian kindergarten as it was near my house, so I did grow up listening to Christian parables. I have read the Bible, bits of the Quran, have friends from a myriad range of religions.

have friends from a myriad range of religions.

That is always good I guess, thinking and mulling such personal issues over.

If I were to stop being a Christian (God forbid) I do not think that I would join another religious group. Seems like it would be extremely difficult to get used to the new customs, traditions, etc.

Not to break up this little conversation but I do wish to post here. I was born and raised in Ireland, a country known for it's christian beliefs and followings. But after looking into it there are to many things that are unexplained or simply impossible to happen. I just couldn't bring myself to believe in something with so many holes in it's story. I haven't really studied other religions but I will at some stage, I'll see what they have to say before I cast my final vote .Not much to say but hay that's me.

@JACKinbigletters

You will definitely have a different view on the world after doing real in-depth studies on the other faiths. The diversity in each culture is so amazing and interesting. Even though I don't agree with everything they believe, I still enjoy expanding my knowledge.

@liquidvenom13 knowledge and understanding are power and all that. But ya I'll be reading into those soon... Hopefully...

I believe in reason and the ability of man to do for himself.

I believe in responsibility toward yourself and others to do one's utmost to improve the human condition.

I believe in what I've been given reason to, through evidence and study.

I believe that religion, though a wonderful civilizing influence through our nascent years as societies, has overstayed its welcome.

I believe that tools which no longer serve their purpose should be discarded.

What do i believe or what am I?

I'm a Naturalist. This means I believe that natural forces operate in this world and supernatural forces do not.

I'm a Secular Humanist. This means I believe in embracing human reasoning, ethics, social justice, and philosophical naturalism and reject super-naturalism, pseudoscience and other forms of "woo" as basis for morality. I think moral judgements should be based on the analysis of consequences and the use of evidence based reasoning rather than dogmas.

I'm a Skeptic (or Sceptic if you prefer that spelling). I doubt and question claims and require evidence in order to accept a claim as true. The more incredible the claim is the more evidence I require to accept it. In short I try to critically examine a claim before accepting it.

I'm a Free Thinker. I believe opinions should be based on logic, reason and empiricism rather than dogma and authority and should not accept a claim as true without reason. (as you can probably work out from my position mentioned previously.) I strive to base my opinions on logical, facts and scientific inquiry.

I'm an Apistevist. This means I lack and reject faith (especially the religious kind) and am against it as defined as, "The belief in something without evidence."

On Logical Positivism, I do tend to see claims that are not verifiable as meaningless. I diverge from the position in it's absolutist stance of labeling statements as either true, false or meaningless.

The reason I tend to use the label atheist is because calling myself a naturalistic, secular humanistic, skeptical freethinking logical positivistic apistievist is a bit long winded and there can be utility in describing myself as what I am not in a world that is about 90% holding to a belief that I do not. It would be like if I were to live in an area of the world where the population were predominately Asian and I called myself non-Asian.

@liquidvenom13

I've been thinking a lot about God, and sometimes having deep intellectual debates with myself. I discover something new almost every time.

I hope you share some of this with us. It can really help to step out of your head and get different perspectives at times.

It's not just what you think; it's what you think of others. I can put up with moderates, but radicality makes me genuinely angry.

I'm about on the same line as MageGrayWolf on this; I think that without using too many redundant terms, a 'free-thinking, skeptic, naturalistic, secular humanist' can describe myself rather well. Additionally I also tend to be a causal determinist.