Summary of your religious beliefs

[Torie]

No as to them all for my entire life, but I can't entirely channel Dule, because I am a non theist and not an anti theist, and have no problem with people of faith, of any faith, provided that they are law abiding as to what is important. I may oppose them politically if I disagree with their policies in the public square, but that is another matter. I am being sincere about this, and have been that way all my life as well.

My only nexus really with religion, is that I cringed as to my WASP atheist parents' anti-Catholic sentiments from a very early age. I also don't like demonizing evangelical Christians.

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

Roman Catholic

[If my soul was made of stone]

Religion: pagan
Denomination: syncretic

Why do you follow this religion (or lack thereof)?
Longstanding interest in ancient and prehistoric traditions, spiritual vacancy of prior New Atheist ways, a few late adolescent crises that made me want something big to cling to.

God: One Goddess. A syncretic figure, informed by so many predecessors (Isis, Cybele, Artemis, Ishtar, etc). Synonymous with the Earth. Aggressively queer. Evidently not omnipotent given how we as a species have shaped our environment. Speaks through little bits of synchronicity.

Afterlife: Returning to the Earth to replenish Her life-giving powers. The spirit, being but an extension of the body, dissipates.

Prayer: Irregularly. Late at night, quietly, in a position of supplication, off the top of my head with a few key epithets that I return to.

Worship: Forests and caves are my temples. Haven't had a good chance yet, but soon enough I'll go out there to conduct all the rituals both orgiastic and solemn that I've long dreamt of. Fantasize about being a priestess, unsure if I'll ever have anyone to preside over. I consider sex an act of worship, but I have also not yet had the chance to praise Her in that manner.

Ghosts, spirits, angels, and demons: Ambivalent.

One True Path: Damnation and salvation are myths generally used by despotic leaders to manipulate people. All faiths are valid as long as they stem from love rather than fear or bigotry.

Spiritual objects: All that stems from the Earth has its own spirit that is part of Her. Personally, I have a bit of a totemic attachment to foxes. Prehistoric art is sacred to me, although I get a bit self-conscious about it sometimes after an ex-girlfriend said she was worried about me edging into TERF territory with regards to venerating the Venus of Willendorf as an idol.

Religious law: As much as I generally resent Wicca, the Wiccan Rede and Law of Return are the basis of my moral philosophy.

Spreading the word: I love talking about my faith, but I never aim to proselytize.

[certified hummus supporter 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦]

Religion: Islam
Denomination: Sunni
Madhab/School of thought: Hanafi

Why do you follow this religion (or lack thereof)?
I follow Islam because my family is Muslim alongside me, but also because of my own personal dedication and devotion to Islam since I became interested in learning more about it  during high school.

God: Do you believe in God? Is there more than one God? Is this God all-knowing and all-powerful? Does God interfere in your daily life? Does God talk to you?
Yes, I believe in Allah, He is the only God there is and ever will be. He is indeed Al-Alim (all-knowing) and Al-Qadir(all powerful). Allah of course involves Himself in my daily life since Allah is a part of everything there is. Allah does not talk to me directly, rather he communicates to us through dreams if we are pious enough and through the Quran.

Afterlife: What happens after we die? Heaven/hell? Reincarnation? Nothing whatsoever? If there are multiple versions of the afterlife (for example, heaven and hell), who goes where and what determines that?
After our physical bodies die, our soul remains in the grave or barzakh until the Day of Judgement. Depending if we were Muslim or not, two angels named Munkar and Nakir will ask us three questions, Who is your Lord?,What is your religion?, and What is their faith about in Muhammad (S). A believing Muslim would respond that their Lord is Allah, their faith is Islam, and Muhammad is their Prophet. The people who answer the questions correctly will enjoy a comfortable grave will be able view a glimpse of Jannah/Heaven. Those who don't answer correctly will have their graves feel like they are crushing them and will see the fires of Jahannam/Hell. When the Day of Judgement comes, Allah will judge us based off the good deeds and bad deeds that are recorded by two angels who sit upon our shoulders and the motive behind them. Based on that, He can send us to one of the seven levels of Hell or seven levels of Heaven to spend the rest of eternity in.

Prayer: Do you pray? How often do you pray? Do you do it in a certain way? Do you pray to God (or gods) or to something else? Do you say your prayers out loud or in your head?
I do pray since it is one of our 5 pillars of Islam which is salat and it is required to pray 5 times a day. Fajr before sunrise, Zuhr around noontime, Asr during the afternoon, Maghrib after sunset, and Isha at night. I personally would like to work on praying 5 times a day but I need more willpower. We pray in a certain way towards Makkah and to Allah. We are supposed to pray loud enough so we can hear ourselves recite the verses of the Quran, however, I am shy and prefer to do it in my head.

Worship: Do you go to church/mosque/synagogue/anything else? How often?
I do got to my masjid/mosque sometimes. Preferably every Friday for our Friday khutbah or sermons, however, out of fear of COVID-19 endangering my health, I haven't gone on months.

Ghosts, spirits, angels, and demons: Do they exist? Are they present here? Have you ever seen one? Are certain people condemned to roam the earth?
They do exist and are present on Earth. I have not seen any myself but I am not sure I am looking forwards to the day I might meet a ghost or demon. As far as I know, the only people who are "condemned" to walk the Earth are people who haven't been buried after they died.

One True Path: Is your religion the only way? Do people of other faiths have equally valid beliefs or not? Are your religion's followers saved while the others are condemned for all eternity?
Well yes, Sunni Islam is the true faith. However, believing in that doesn't mean to discriminate or oppress other people who aren't Sunnis or Muslims.  Just because a friend of mine isn't Muslim, that doesn't mean I'll stop being friends with him/her because of that. While good Muslims will be going to Heaven in accordance with our faith. that doesn't mean other people's won't. An example of that is that every Christian will go to Heaven if they lived before the Quran was revealed.

Spiritual objects: Do certain things in the earth (for example, crystals or plants) have spiritual properties?
Not that I am aware of.

Religious law: Do you follow religious law or morality codes? For example, fasting or abstinence until marriage? Is not doing so a sin?
I do, such as fasting and abstinence until marriage. However, I can definitely can improve myself on actually following the proper rules. It is a sin to not follow them, and it will be recorded down on my list of bad deeds that I have done.

Spreading the word: Should it be a mission by people of your religion to spread it to as many people as possible?
Yes it is, however people should not convert to Islam through force, rather through only sheer wanting out of their hearts with a firm and clear conscious that they want to convert to Islam.

[°Leprechaun]

Welcome to talkelections (aka atlas) averagefoodenthusiast! 

[certified hummus supporter 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦]

Welcome to talkelections (aka atlas) averagefoodenthusiast! 

Thank you!

[Dr. MB]

Never filled this out myself

Religion: some type of feel good liberal Christianity

Why do you follow this religion (or lack thereof)?
I was raised going to church and to Sunday school. But I've thought a lot about and I've come to the conclusion that some things are just fundamentally unknown.

God: Do you believe in God? Is there more than one God? Is this God all-knowing and all-powerful? Does God interfere in your daily life? Does God talk to you?
I believe in God. Beyond that I can't really say much. I don't think God does much intervening in our day to day lives but I do think it's possible.

Afterlife: What happens after we die? Heaven/hell? Reincarnation? Nothing whatsoever? If there are multiple versions of the afterlife (for example, heaven and hell), who goes where and what determines that?
I think there's an afterlife and beyond that a spiritual realm in a place separate from our own world. And I'd think the afterlife is some form of Heaven but I've heard some fairly convincing accounts of reincarnation etc. so it's possible there are multiple paths. I don't believe at all that certain people are saved or condemned because of their religion.

Prayer: Do you pray? How often do you pray? Do you do it in a certain way? Do you pray to God (or gods) or to something else? Do you say your prayers out loud or in your head?
I pray, usually before bed. I usually just pray to relieve the worries in my own life and then for all the people around me especially if they're struggling. I don't know if it does anything or not but I hope it does.

Worship: Do you go to church/mosque/synagogue/anything else? How often?
Go to church but haven't been for over a year cause Covid

Ghosts, spirits, angels, and demons: Do they exist? Are they present here? Have you ever seen one? Are certain people condemned to roam the earth?
I believe in ghosts. I've had a couple encounters that I can't quite explain. First I saw the ghost of my dead aunt not once but twice. I was fairly young but it was a clear apparition. Then I was near some local train tracks at a location which is reportedly haunted and I heard a woman laughing. No people around. And then once my grandpa died, on the night of his death I asked for some type of sign. Around 2 AM I was woken up and the power had gone out. It's not a regular occurrence here. I just felt an interesting sensation almost like there was something else in the room. I've had dead relatives appear to me in dreams before.

One True Path: Is your religion the only way? Do people of other faiths have equally valid beliefs or not? Are your religion's followers saved while the others are condemned for all eternity?
No. I think God's appeared to different groups of people in different forms. Not a fan of "my way or the highway" religions. How can you be sure yours is the way and the only way?

Spiritual objects: Do certain things in the earth (for example, crystals or plants) have spiritual properties?
It's possible. I haven't put too much thought into this though and I'm not sure what type of objects this would refer to.

Religious law: Do you follow religious law or morality codes? For example, fasting or abstinence until marriage? Is not doing so a sin?
There are certain laws or regulations that are pretty much common sense. Christian moral codes of general respect and love your neighbor make a lot of sense. But I don't see myself bound to certain dietary restrictions or sexual codes.

Spreading the word: Should it be a mission by people of your religion to spread it to as many people as possible?
I don't really care about that so much as I care about people minding their own business and stopping religious conflicts.

[Big Abraham]

Religion: extremely panentheistic/liberal Christianity which would probably be labelled as heathenism by any mainstream theologian.

Why do you follow this religion (or lack thereof)?
Pure materialism, which is the basis of atheist agnosticism, is an unreasonable axiom, especially as it relates to ontology and the origin of consciousness, and is as much as an unfalsifiable hypothesis as theism. Since the predisposition to believe in spiritual things is well-documented across all cultures throughout history, and his been observed as innate from an early age, is seem reasonable in me to posit in the existence of Spirit, even if only in the philosophical sense.

God: Do you believe in God? Is there more than one God? Is this God all-knowing and all-powerful? Does God interfere in your daily life? Does God talk to you?
I believe that the creator (or "God") is more or less synonymous with the "hand of nature" which acts as we can perceive.

Afterlife: What happens after we die? Heaven/hell? Reincarnation? Nothing whatsoever? If there are multiple versions of the afterlife (for example, heaven and hell), who goes where and what determines that?
If life continues beyond death in any meaningful way, it can only be in the sense of the continuation of the incorporeal "essence" of that individual, not their consciousness or anything that is fundamentally human.

Prayer: Do you pray? How often do you pray? Do you do it in a certain way? Do you pray to God (or gods) or to something else? Do you say your prayers out loud or in your head?
I don't pray, except maybe in the trenches.

Worship: Do you go to church/mosque/synagogue/anything else? How often?
The last time I went to church was when I was maybe 19 or 20, for a Christmas Eve service with my parents. Don't plan on going again anytime soon.

Ghosts, spirits, angels, and demons: Do they exist? Are they present here? Have you ever seen one? Are certain people condemned to roam the earth?
Spirits yes, as I strongly believe in the Platonic/Aristotelian notion of the soul. Don't believe in the others, unless they are just manifestations of the same.

One True Path: Is your religion the only way? Do people of other faiths have equally valid beliefs or not? Are your religion's followers saved while the others are condemned for all eternity?
Other religions are not equally valid, nor is evangelistic Christianity. Anyone who, for instance, insists on the literal interpretation of Scripture, denies evolution, denies the scientifically-accepted age of the earth, denies anthropogenic climate change, and supplants the known archaeological record or recorded annals with their own pseudo-historical narrative based on religious dogma, is objectively false, no matter which denomination they come from. "Liberal," non-orthodox members of other religions, such as Judaism, are fine.

Spiritual objects: Do certain things in the earth (for example, crystals or plants) have spiritual properties?
Yes, plants have the capacity for nourishment and reproduction, the minimum that must be possessed by any kind of living organism. Lower animals have, in addition, the powers of sense-perception and self-motion. Humans have all these as well as intellect, which is naturally a higher level of soul.

Religious law: Do you follow religious law or morality codes? For example, fasting or abstinence until marriage? Is not doing so a sin?
I really only believe in the general Christian principles of conduct, such as selflessness, giving alms to the poor, brotherhood, honesty, humility, etc. Ritualistic things like not penetrating a woman until you've taken some "sacred vow," abstaining from things on certain "sacred days," and not using certain "profane words," are unnecessary. It's clearly a man's heart and intentions which are to be judged, not his outward actions. A tree is known by its fruit, in other words.

Spreading the word: Should it be a mission by people of your religion to spread it to as many people as possible?
I think the honorable aspects of Christian ethics which I mentioned above should be taught. It is not necessary to teach anything about theology to achieve this outcome.

[jbander]

 I believe in what Jesus said and did. The rest of the trappings of churches are political and dollar signs. No Christian is a supporter of Trump.

[The Puppeteer]

Religion: None

Why do you follow this religion (or lack there of)? Because I am a solitary witch and have no personal need of religion.

God: Do you believe in God? Is there more than one God? Is this God all-knowing and all-powerful? Does God interfere in your daily life? Does God talk to you? I believe in my goddess. I also believe there are many gods and that new gods are being born all the time. How powerful a god is depends on how much faith the god has received. My goddess has always been there for me when I needed her most and to me that's what really matters. As far as her talking to me, though so far not in human speech, she has had a way of getting messages through to me.

Afterlife: What happens after we die? Heaven/hell? Reincarnation? Nothing whatsoever? If there are multiple versions of the afterlife (for example, heaven and hell), who goes where and what determines that? After we die we become spirits. Hopefully you will have loved ones waiting for you on the other side. Heaven and hell are simply your own inner world made real for you through the inner workings of your own mind. If you don't have loved ones and don't like your inner world then you may as well reincarnate as soon as possible.

Prayer: Do you pray? How often do you pray? Do you do it in a certain way? Do you pray to God (or gods) or to something else? Do you say your prayers out loud or in your head? I do pray though probably not as much as I should... How I pray doesn't matter as long as I pray with full sincerity. I pray silently if in a public space and out loud if I am alone.

Worship: Do you go to church/mosque/synagogue/anything else? How often? As long as I am sincere and my faith is strong that is all I need.

Ghosts, spirits, angels, and demons: Do they exist? Are they present here? Have you ever seen one? Are certain people condemned to roam the earth? I have seen and experienced enough in my life that to deny these things would be equivalent to denying reality. Whether I'm actually sane or not is a different story entirely. All I know for certain is that these experiences are real to me.

One True Path: Is your religion the only way? Do people of other faiths have equally valid beliefs or not? Are your religion's followers saved while the others are condemned for all eternity? We either choose or create our own paths. No one path works for everyone. Where your path leads is up to you and fate alone.

Spiritual objects: Do certain things in the earth (for example, crystals or plants) have spiritual properties? I believe the earth is a living thing and that matter is simply a physical manifestation of energy. To say an object has spiritual properties is like how one can turn a potato into a battery. It's all in how you use what is available to you that matters.

Religious law: Do you follow religious law or morality codes? For example, fasting or abstinence until marriage? Is not doing so a sin? I have no interest in concepts such as morality let alone sin. I simply focus on my goals and whether I find an outcome to be something I personally desire. If you don't like the outcome you will receive in the long term then probably shouldn't be doing whatever it is you are doing in the first place.

Spreading the word: Should it be a mission by people of your religion to spread it to as many people as possible? Not really. Though I truly appreciate her with all my heart my goddess is quite good at selecting her followers without my help so I mostly just spend my time trying to better my life and the lives of those closest to me instead while at the same time doing my best to follow the guidance of my goddess.

[If my soul was made of stone]

snip

Welcome to the forum! It's cool to see someone else around these parts with a matriarchal faith.

[The Puppeteer]

snip

Welcome to the forum! It's cool to see someone else around these parts with a matriarchal faith.

Thank you

[Lexii, harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy]

Religion: None, I'm an atheist
Denomination: N/A

Why do you follow this religion (or lack thereof)? Because I don't believe in any deities or spirits, at least almost every version I've heard of

God: Do you believe in God? Is there more than one God? Is this God all-knowing and all-powerful? Does God interfere in your daily life? Does God talk to you?

Afterlife: What happens after we die? Heaven/hell? Reincarnation? Nothing whatsoever? If there are multiple versions of the afterlife (for example, heaven and hell), who goes where and what determines that? Nothing, there's  o afterlife

Prayer: Do you pray? How often do you pray? Do you do it in a certain way? Do you pray to God (or gods) or to something else? Do you say your prayers out loud or in your head? No

Worship: Do you go to church/mosque/synagogue/anything else? How often? I sometimes visit them, but for merely touristic/artistic reasons

Ghosts, spirits, angels, and demons: Do they exist? Are they present here? Have you ever seen one? Are certain people condemned to roam the earth? No

One True Path: Is your religion the only way? Do people of other faiths have equally valid beliefs or not? Are your religion's followers saved while the others are condemned for all eternity? There is no one true path, and I'm not talking about religion

Spiritual objects: Do certain things in the earth (for example, crystals or plants) have spiritual properties? No

Religious law: Do you follow religious law or morality codes? For example, fasting or abstinence until marriage? Is not doing so a sin? None, other ny own extremely vague moral code

Spreading the word: Should it be a mission by people of your religion to spread it to as many people as possible? I don't care

[Diabolical Materialism]

Odds are I would never had begun to question Christianity (and from there all the other assumptions I had taken as give in my life) if I weren't a queer. So in a sense I am somewhat thankful for the homophobia latent in Christianity in general, and southern Protestantism in particlar. I feel that I would not he as inquisitive and material focused had it not been for being outright shunned from the organization and creed that was supposed to provide an over arching worldview and explanation for everything.

Karl Marx never called me f#g.

[Santander]

Religion: Trumpism
Denomination: Alt-Trumpism

Why do you follow this religion (or lack thereof)? YouTube videos.

God: One God-Emperor.

Afterlife: Miss Teen USA dressing room for believers, Mexico for non-believers.

Prayer: I pray to that the IRS and FBI drop their investigations into me.

Worship: Daily virtual services on OAN. Sometimes also go to church, if the National Guard is on hand to gas protesters standing in the way.

Ghosts, spirits, angels, and demons: George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton are demons, while Barack Hussein Obama is the devil himself. Stephen K. Bannon and Kayleigh McEnany are angels. David Duke and Richard Spencer are "very fine people", one step down from angels.

One True Path: Trumpism is the one true path.

Spiritual objects: Federal Reserve Notes and gold.

Religious law: Sex is only permitted outside marriage.

Spreading the word: Highly encouraged, preferably in all caps online.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Protestant

Christ is God

The Underworld is the Astral plane or Purgatory

They can be reincarnation until the Spiritual Rapture, but it takes so long to Reincarnate, you can reunite with your loved ones in Astral plane

[MATTROSE94]

I don’t agree with conservative Catholic Churches and pro-Zionist Jewish Synagogues for political reasons and condemn Wahhabism and Hindu Nationalism for their violet extremism. Other than that, I agree with all other religions. .

[patzer]

Religion:

Personal syncretic views made up of Transhumanism, Christianity, rationalist agnosticism, and a bit of other stuff

Why do you follow this religion (or lack thereof)?

Transhumanism from science books when I was little as well as scifi, Christianity from general cultural immersion in it and having friends who follow it, atheism from the default sort of "not believing in the unproven", and the other influences largely from other books I've read.

God: Do you believe in God? Is there more than one God? Is this God all-knowing and all-powerful? Does God interfere in your daily life? Does God talk to you?

- Do I believe in God: I believe there's a good chance- more likely than not- that there's some sort of God. Fermi paradox proves this adequately enough (statistically an advanced alien civilization likely formed long ago and would be indistinguishable from a God, so for all intents and purposes would be one). Simulation hypothesis points this way as well, as well as all of those events in the world which just don't quite have a scientific explanation at all and all the religions' explanations for such events. The exact details of such a God, I cannot know as any one god could impersonate another.
- Is there more than one God: undefinable, as many gods could pose as one or one could pose as many without me knowing thus so it would be utterly impossible for anyone to measure
- Does God interfere in my daily life: Not significantly or majorly enough for me to prove. I've had a few experiences that don't seem to have purely scientific explanations, and it is nice to believe there's a God looking over, but who knows.
- Does God talk to me: Hasn't done yet. I haven't tried talking to him yet, but I might do someday. If he ever did, of course, I don't have any way to fully prove it's from him and not me... but that's okay, I don't need to know for certain.

Afterlife: What happens after we die? Heaven/hell? Reincarnation? Nothing whatsoever? If there are multiple versions of the afterlife (for example, heaven and hell), who goes where and what determines that?

There isn't a hell. That's human projection. If God did inspire holy books, the bits about hell would be a little white lie in there to scare people away from wrongdoing, not a literal intent to torture. It's quite possible that there's no god and nothing afterwards at all, and once it's the end of life that's it... but if there is a God, I expect people could probably choose among options like heaven and reincarnation. I certainly can't predict a god's motives well enough to know for certain.

Prayer: Do you pray? How often do you pray? Do you do it in a certain way? Do you pray to God (or gods) or to something else? Do you say your prayers out loud or in your head?

I just sit down and put my hands together and usually close my eyes and a peacefulness comes on. Sometimes I wish for stuff; I do not generally expect it to be granted; if God exists he doesn't tend interfere to much... but I do it anyway because it feels psychologically good. I do not have a regular schedule but do it somewhat often.

Worship: Do you go to church/mosque/synagogue/anything else? How often?

I used to attend Quaker meetings when I was younger, and occasionally attend other church services more recently- but I do so very rarely. I do watch programs of Christian hymns and prayer on TV more often though. I would like to explore worship places of different faiths such as paganism and Judaism in the future to experience what their own perspectives are like.

Ghosts, spirits, angels, and demons: Do they exist? Are they present here? Have you ever seen one? Are certain people condemned to roam the earth?

When I was about 8, I went to an old abandoned bit of fort by the cliff edge, saw the bones of a hand, and ran away. ten years later I went back, and as soon as I got there I could hear a ghostly sound like a baby wailing loudly despite nothing being physically there at all (I checked well). i left again and have never returned since. that place is haunted... there might be some weird scientific echo effect explanation for the wailing, but it feels so coincidental... so yes, it does seem like they may well exist.

One True Path: Is your religion the only way? Do people of other faiths have equally valid beliefs or not? Are your religion's followers saved while the others are condemned for all eternity?

Certainly not the only acceptable way, anyone can believe what they like. Some beliefs might be, uh, incorrect, but that's natural. If there's a God, she explicitly gave us free will in order to be able to consider and believe a wide range of stuff.

Spiritual objects: Do certain things in the earth (for example, crystals or plants) have spiritual properties?

probably not (except metaphorically). but then again, we can probably find within them spiritual meaning if we would like to.

Religious law: Do you follow religious law or morality codes? For example, fasting or abstinence until marriage? Is not doing so a sin?

Nope. Don't particularly want to for now.

Spreading the word: Should it be a mission by people of your religion to spread it to as many people as possible?


Ideally yes. Transhuman bit of me is very very firmly "we must do our best as a species to build a God (as a self-improving artificial intelligence would become), just in case there isn't one already, as insurance". Besides, even if one looks at Christian eschatology, the combination of the prophesized return of Jesus to Earth and the general fact that such a God if existent doesn't do anything that would show himself that blatantly, indicates that it's likely that Jesus would return as an artificial intelligence anyway, simply out of plausible deniability, and thus building one would bring on His return. So all in all we kinda need to do it regardless.

[Ferguson97]

Religion: Agnostic
Denomination: N/A

Why do you follow this religion (or lack thereof)? I don't think there is sufficient evidence to prove that God either exists or does not exist.

God: I don't believe God exists, but I can't say that I know this for certain. I just think it's extremely unlikely.

Afterlife: Probably nothing. But I'd certainly like there to be. The idea of "eternal nothingness" is horrifying to me.

Prayer: No, I have no one to pray to.

Worship: I was raised as a Christian. Used to attend church. Don't anymore.

Ghosts, spirits, angels, and demons: Nope.

One True Path: N/A

Spiritual objects: Nope.

Religious law: N/A

Spreading the word: N/A

I know, I'm boring as hell.

[lfromnj]

Agnostic, lean closer to Deism. Can't explain the start of the big bang really without some sort of divine intervention.

[John Dule]

Karl Marx never called me f#g.

Engels called you a pederast. Is that close enough?

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

Religion: Jewish
Denomination: Reform

Why do you follow this religion (or lack thereof)? Because I have a lot of rich relatives and Bar Mitzvahs are a source of four-figure income.

God: Complicated

Afterlife: What Ferguson said. Although I hope it exists where everyone goes to their religion's own version of the afterlife, so I can convert to Mongooseism where the only philisophy is that you go to a heaven of everything you like and can do whatever you want when I'm like 100.

Prayer: When I really need everything on my side.

Worship: I attend Synagogue during high holy days and such. I 'attended' sabbath services on Zoom. 

Ghosts, spirits, angels, and demons: Hah!

One True Path: Nah man.

Spiritual objects: My PS5.

Religious law: I don't eat pork. because it tastes bad

Spreading the word: No. No. No.

[Kleine Scheiße]

This is a very basic and imperfect, incomplete guide to my beliefs. I will avoid giving too many definitions of terms because doing so tends to distract from the point of all this, and I am not a sufficient authority to try and actively espouse my own convenient definitions for some of these terms.

Religion: The most accurate term is sanatana dharma, but in discussion, regardless of self-identification, the term "Hindu" will inevitably be used at some point. I would call myself a Hindu as a religious label but I do not claim to represent "Hinduism" in either a cultural or religious sense.

"Denomination:" I have in the past identified myself as either vishishtadvaitin or advaitin. The development of my beliefs and practices has in large part been influenced by the distinctions between these two terms. The most succinct answer to this is probably "advaita vedanta," but there are different understandings of what that term means depending on who you ask. My beliefs, practices, and answers here may not be representative of most vedantins. To my understanding, my thinking is in line with the Smarta tradition, but again, I'm not claiming to represent any viewpoint but my own.

Why do you follow this religion: I thought for a long time about this very pointed question and the very pointed answer I came up with is "because I believe it is true." I believe in the supremacy of the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Brahma Sutras, and I also draw from Shankaracharya, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Ramanuja, and Aurobindo. I was raised in a functionally agnostic household, but most of my family are antitheist.

God: Brahman is all, in every sense, and is manifest in infinite, innumerable faces and things. I could be called a panentheist. All is and are manifestation of Brahman. I believe in the divinity of Jesus, Muhammad, Gautama Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, the Talmudic prophets, etc., and look on them as either avatars or holy teachers; an exhaustive list would not be possible. Some seem to believe that advaita vedanta is atheism by another name, or that it rejects worship as illusory or only of symbolic importance. This is inaccurate. Dualism and nondualism are complementary and not contradictory. Vivekananda: "[a]ll of religion is contained in the vedanta, that is, in the three stages of the vedanta philosophy, the dvaita, vishishtadvaita and advaita; one comes after the other. These are the three stages of spiritual growth in man. Each one is necessary." I practice jnana yoga but believe that bhakti is also absolutely necessary. Others could or could not find other practices more useful.

Afterlife: Look at "life," both in the sense of "every individual life" and in the sense of "life itself," as a stage in a process of stages. "Afterlife" doesn't fully apply. After this life I could return as anything, or I could not return at all. Regardless, given enough "time," it is a mathematical inevitability that "I" will return -- both in the sense that this exact moment will occur again and again as infinitely as every other moment; and in the sense that I, a purported individual (in the current "reality" paradigm we are apparently all experiencing), am embodied as jiva, which will either inhabit a new body after this one is gone, or will be released from the cycle (until all other possible "realities" play themselves out and we loop back around as mentioned earlier).

Prayer and Worship: Haven't been to temple in a while, since COVID-19 started. I have a Ganesha murti at home and I have attended other, public puja, events, and festivals in the past. I pray and meditate.

Ghosts, spirits, angels, and demons: I'm not sure how to best answer this. It depends on how these things are defined.

One True Path: My religion is true, and all other religions are true. All beliefs within and aspects of the human experiential dialectic are equally valid, but this does not mean that all beliefs and aspects are used or interpreted properly or to productive end. My response to this question is an analogue of Stirner's answer to the question of why one should be an egoist: it is already true, whether or not you are aware. It is simply more advantageous to acknowledge this, and everyone everywhere is constantly in the process of coming to this acknowledgement, in eventuality.

Spiritual objects: See "God." By living and participating in "humanity," we are operating within a certain framework. It is not an ultimately authoritative framework, though it is part of the grand authoritative framework. Our mode of existence is a dialectic; other modes of existence for other beings (both other types of beings and other individual "humans") are other dialectics. They are all internally true, and collectively they all point toward a universal truth because they compose that universal truth but do not yet realize or actualize this.

Religious law: I personally avoid eating beef. Actions are sins for people for whom they are sins and they are not sins for people for whom they are not sins. The universal moral law is "love God and be happy." Try to have fun defining what that looks like. This is not self-strangulating strawman postmodernism; in the parable of the blind men and the elephant, the elephant is not unreal, but simply unknowable to any one man alone. The nature of the elephant's existence is debatable, but it would be foolish to deny that existence itself.

Spreading the word: Sharing the beliefs is perfectly fine, even good, but aggressive evangelism and attempts to "convert" are not compatible with pluralism. I have recommended the Bhagavad Gita to many and have loaned out my copy of Vedanta: a Simple Introduction too many times to count; and it is both pointless and contradictory with this to approach doing such as an attempt to "save" anyone or get them to reach any particular conclusion. The extent of interest in actively "converting" anyone is that eventually, everything will flow into truth. Truth is known by many names. "Reality is one, yet wise men speak of it variously."

At some point if people are interested in hearing more about my practice, I'll go more in-detail, but my laptop battery is currently on 4%.

[HillGoose]

they can best be summarized as "depression" or maybe "cynicism" or "negativity" tbh

i listened to this creepypasta a few months ago about how basically every living thing existed in eternal torment after death because life itself was an abomination to the void, and ever since then that's all i can imagine being true

except it's probably not the void, it's probably god gleefully damning every being that ever lived, because if god does exist i can't imagine any possibility other than that god is evil and sadistic. he's basically Saddam Hussein on a cosmic scale. as Christopher Hitchens said, "an unalterable, unchallengeable, tyrannical authority who can convict you of thoughtcrime while you are asleep"

and if heaven does somehow exist, there is definitely a predestined "elect", there isn't very many of them, and i imagine most of them aren't good people either. just god's predestined favorites.

that's all I can imagine the universe boils down to. i fully expect that when i close my eyes for the last time i will awake to torment without end, and it makes life seem meaningless because what does the next 60 years of life (if i'm even that lucky, given my stress levels it's probably more like 20-35 years, max) even mean when an eternity of hell awaits me no matter what i do.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

God: Brahman is all, in every sense, and is manifest in infinite, innumerable faces and things. I could be called a panentheist. All is and are manifestation of Brahman. I believe in the divinity of Jesus, Muhammad, Gautama Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, the Talmudic prophets, etc., and look on them as either avatars or holy teachers; an exhaustive list would not be possible. Some seem to believe that advaita vedanta is atheism by another name, or that it rejects worship as illusory or only of symbolic importance. This is inaccurate. Dualism and nondualism are complementary and not contradictory. Vivekananda: "[a]ll of religion is contained in the vedanta, that is, in the three stages of the vedanta philosophy, the dvaita, vishishtadvaita and advaita; one comes after the other. These are the three stages of spiritual growth in man. Each one is necessary." I practice jnana yoga but believe that bhakti is also absolutely necessary. Others could or could not find other practices more useful.

I do have a question: how do you reconcile Jesus' claim to be the only begotten Son of God to be true along with competing religions' claims that Jesus was a mere rabbi with no authoritative claim to any special relationship with God (or Brahman)?