Summary of your religious beliefs

[Kleine Scheiße]

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)?

There are a number of different ways to address this. Jesus also said "I and the father are one." (John 10:30)

First, a distinction must be made between Brahman and God in this context; the Jewish God is an actor "in a heaven far above mundane existence... so high and separate from the world, so extra-cosmic, so great, so majestic and so transcendent, that no one could approach Him, no one could live after seeing Him face to face. Consequently, there was a wide gulf of separation between God and man, between the Creator in heaven and the creature on earth." This is a different modality from most interpretations of Brahman.

If one accepts this hard dualism and implied active-interference model between God and man, it is only logically consistent to save the "only begotten son" designation for whomever one recognizes as the Christ figure. Judging purely by internal textual logic, the claim is not inconsistent. The reason this hard exclusivity is not present in the Gita for Krishna or within Buddhism for Gautama is that it would be contradictory. It is not necessarily contradictory, however, within the Bible for Jesus. The answer to this question with regard to my personal belief, and not the soundness of any particular tradition, however, starts with controversy surrounding the definition of "only begotten son:"

The passages that have been quoted from the Old Testament like, ‘Ye are the children of God', meant nothing more than the fatherly goodness of the Creator and the implicit obedience of the creature, as that of a dutiful son to his father. They were never meant in the sense in which the Christians understand the divine sonship of Jesus the Christ. Through the paternal goodness of Yahveh, Abraham became the friend of God and Adam became the son of God, as described in the thirty eighth verse of the third chapter of Luke.

Furthermore:

...the word ‘Christ’, like the word ‘Logos’ of Philo, did not at first mean any particular individual or personality, but it referred to the universal ideal type of man, or the perfect man who dwells in the divine mind from eternity to eternity. In this sense the word ‘Christ’ is as universal as the Logos. It is not confined to any particular person or nationality. We must not confound this ideal impersonal Christ or the only begotten Son of God with the historical personality of Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Mary; but we must take it in its true spiritual sense, we must understand that each individual soul, being the expression of the first-born Son of God, is potentially the same as the only begotten Son of God, or the child of immortal Bliss as it is said in Vedanta. When we have realized this impersonal ideal Christ in our souls, from that very moment we have become Christ-like; and it is then that the impersonal Christ, the only begotten son, will be born within us.

In addition to this commentary and the associated questions about "fatherdom" in the biblical context, there are long-standing debates about the terms monogenes and unigenitum complicating discourse around the "only begotten son" topic, into which I'd prefer not to wade as the specifics of the material are a bit out of my wheelhouse. In general, though, I don't agree with the interpretation that "only begotten son" refers to Jesus of Nazareth being the one individual in all of history who was directly placed on earth by God for the specific purpose of manifesting divinity here, and I don't think Jesus would have intended to claim this, either. The new testament is the story of Jesus and his realization and actualization of his Christ-nature. This realization and actualization puts him into a higher class—joining there Krishna, Gautama, etc. in the oneness of divinity-in-motion. Much like the trinity—three aspects, one God—all of these teachers, awakened to their divine nature, comprise one body with many faces. Jesus (or Krishna, or Rama, or Gautama) does not have to have been born un-divine and become divine at some time on earth for this to be true. We have all always been and will always be divine, before birth as after death. It is acknowledgement of this state of being which brings one into oneness with Christ-nature—Christ-nature of which we all are already composed, but which the majority of us do not actualize.

In short: I don't believe that Jesus was claiming that his body and individual mortal identity was a specifically chosen blessed vessel, but instead that he was in his actualization of divinity one with the sonship-of-God, which is itself a state of being in total, conscious union with Brahman. Organism individuality ("Jesus," "Muhammad," etc.) is not a perceptible factor in this. "I am the only begotten son" does not mean that Jesus of Nazareth was the only manifestation of God, because "I" does not refer to Jesus' mortal being itself—Jesus did not actually have a mortal being to even call "I" in the first place. None of us do. The "I" in "I am the only begotten son" would refer to Jesus' recognition of and identification with the ultimate, the supreme consciousness.

In response to certain similarities between the teachings of Krishna, Gautama, and Jesus, William Jones theorized that in India, "the devil, foreseeing the advent of Christ, originated a system of religion in advance of His, and just like it." Frankly, as laughable as that may be, it contains within it the tacit admission from even an explicit opponent that Jesus exists as part of—if not one with—a lineage; Jones apparently believed that that it was an illegitimate, unholy lineage, and that Jesus was defined in opposition to it, but in relation to it still. I don't believe that any such "devil" intervened to do anything of the sort, should go without saying, but the point is that the very framing of the question about whether Jesus was the exclusive manifestation of God somewhat acknowledges that Jesus exists somewhere in relation to this category of holy teachers. This category is itself the "only begotten son," with no need for further qualification. Jesus is The Only Begotten Son just as much as Muhammad and Krishna are. One could possibly call "The Only Begotten Son" paramatman, in vedanta.

Most quotations are from Abhedananda's discourses "Churchianity" and "Son of God." Again, this is not a guide to vedanta beyond my personal approach, and I am a practitioner, not an expert.

[Dr. MB]

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.

Adding to this:

There's a realm beyond our own world where a lot of strange phenomena come from. I'm not sure where this place is, if it's consistent with some sort of second dimension, afterlife, or astral plane or parallel Earth, but there are many things in this world that we can't rationally explain. I think ghosts and spirits probably originate from this place and what people have described as "UFOs" or "aliens" also come from this same place.

It sounds a lot like what Olawakandi's said in the past about aliens existing in the astral plane but I do honestly believe he's on the right track. The weird properties they seem to have and similarity with a lot of folklore phenomena indicate they might not come from this universe but from another and I think it's a lot closer to Earth than we might realize.

I think a lot of the more evil spirits from a lot of different cultures such as the skinwalker or the Wendigo have plenty of similarities with other alleged beings from around the world and seem to exhibit a lot of the same traits as UFOs do. They just don't exist in the same reality that we do. Ghosts are the same.

[Utah Neolib]

Religion:
Denomination: (if applicable)

Why do you follow this religion (or lack thereof)?
My personal beliefs, and I swear we have a deeper connection to animals, there’s something inside you that loves nature

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?

Maybe?


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’s a good chance that it is eternal nothingness, however there must be something. We, live for some years, die, and than nothing happens? There might be an afterlife. We can’t just be born, live and die? There might be something after your life. We may live, but in our brains on our continued brain power that might still exist, or something

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 sometimes, though I’m not convinced god exists. I typically whisper them
Worship:
Do you go to church/mosque/synagogue/anything else? How often?

No

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

The earth, and the animals, plants, trees, and all things nature must have more of a connection with us. Mother Nature might be a real, being that exists. We, humans have a deeper connection to animals than just looking at them, and eating them.

Religious law: Do you follow religious law or morality codes? For example, fasting or abstinence until marriage? Is not doing so a sin?
If they are logical, and make sense, than yes.

Spreading the word: Should it be a mission by people of your religion to spread it to as many people as possible?
No

[LabourJersey]

Religion: Christianity
Denomination: Episcopalian (High Church/Anglo-Catholic sect)

Why do you follow this religion? I was baptized Episcopal. My parents were of different denomination (Dad was Presbyterian, Mom was Catholic) and so they "met in the middle" denominationally speaking.

Do you believe in God? Yes: I believe in a creator of the universe, the maker of all things visible and invisible. I'd say that God is all-knowing, but humans are endowed with free will, and the ability to accept or not accept what comes from God. In that sense I would not say God is all-powerful. God does not talk to me, but I find that religious rituals I take part in do give me a mental clarity and awareness of my self and place in the world.

Afterlife: I do believe in a human soul, and I believe that human consciousness contains something unique human and perhaps eternal--at the very least something that outlives our bodies. I don't think heaven or the afterlife is a physical place--I'm reminded of the book FLATLAND where the two-dimensional narrator believes "Up" is a place like a nation-state.

Prayer: Since the pandemic and since some family issues that I won't go into, I do pray much more often than I ever used to. Not quite daily but close to it.

Worship: Since Easter of this year I've actually gone to Sunday services most weeks. Mainly to a high church Episcopalian parish near me, though I have gone to two Catholic masses (partially out of curiosity, partially out of learning more about my family's original religion, and partially because of the beauty of that particular Church). 

Ghosts, spirits, angels, and demons: I'm pretty much skeptical of these things, but the universe is a weird place, I suppose.

One True Path: I believe that my religion is true, but I don't think I can be an objective judge of something like this. I do think that regardless of what is the one true path, beliefs and religions that are not my own are still valuable and productive components of other people's live, lineages and cultures.

Spiritual objects: I think any object can have religious meaning or significance, but I wouldn't say they have spiritual properties outside of that.

Religious law: I follow the standard morality code of modern-day Western society, which is obviously based in some part on the Ten Commandments. I'm definitely not a literalist on biblical law--otherwise I would opposed to wearing mixed fabrics, to say nothing of issues like homosexuality and abortion.

Spreading the word: I'm skeptical of converting already religious people in non-Christian faiths to Christianity--while I do certainly adhere to Christian beliefs. I do think there's a role for evangelism, especially for a church like the Episcopalian Church, among the non-religious and more specifically people who did not grow up with a church and long for more meaning.

[pbrower2a]

Inspired by the summary of political views thread.

Here's just a template. Feel free to add or remove things:

Religion: Protestant Christian, at least nominally.
Denomination: (if applicable)

Why do you follow this religion (or lack thereof)?
 I was brought up in it and conditioned to find anything else uncomfortable or unsettling.

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?

God is the Ultimate Reality, Creator of the Universe and the rules by which it operates. Thus mathematics, physics, and the dialectic. Obviously we cannot understand everything. Euclid's geometry is God's geometry. Newton's laws of motion are God's laws of motion. The laws of electromagnetism are His. Einstein only discovered God's laws on relativity.

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 can't be sure, but if God exists and Spirit that seems so real somehow arrives at some destination.

If Heaven and Hell are real, then the evil-doers of our world suffer indefinitely in a very nasty place made particularly horrible by the nastiness of the souls there. You certainly don't want to go where the Nazis are! Heaven is beyond easy understanding. Just think of how clear the Inferno is and how murky the rest of the Divine Comedy is.   

One of the horrors of Hell is that one is obliged to witness the delights denied one.

Who gets to Heaven? God decides what His theology is, and we likely can't get that right. We are thus forgiven. But we are not forgiven for criminal behavior. Murderers get to experience the pain of death; rapists are raped; drunks and addicts stumble over each others; exploiters are exploited...   

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?

When it seems necessary. 

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

Weddings and funerals, basically.

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. There are and have been evil people who are the demons.

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?

God is beyond understanding.

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

Absolutely not.

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

No.

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

It is best to witness through one's conduct.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

Religion:Agnostic

Why do you follow this religion (or lack thereof)?
I was brought up in a secular family. My mom was a total non practising Muslim who recently admitted to being an atheist after a particularly nasty terrorist attack. My father was a non-practising Jain who never once talked to me about religion. I attended an Anglican pre-school but don't remember anything religious from there and haven't had any contact with religion in the rest of my life.

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?

No I don't see any evidence for it's existence and given our sampel size of observations I see no way of proving one way or another of it's existence. I clearly do think that any sapient creator of the universe would have to be an actively malovene entity by our standards.

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?

Merciful Oblivion, anything else would eventually turn to torture over the eons .

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?

despite my non-belif, I do sometimes pray perhaps to reassure myself though it's alwasy to a vague unspecified deity.

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

Only as a tourist.

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 and I don't think so.

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?


I don't think there is any path to follow. We've just go to live our lives as we see fit.

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?

I do think that at the root one should avoid actively doing evil to other people and actively make an attempt to recompense any evil that we do. I'm against drinking and smoking on health grounds as well as illegal drugs but I don't have a religious objection to them.

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

Well no, because there is no message to spread.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Why do you follow this religion? I was baptized Episcopal. My parents were of different denomination (Dad was Presbyterian, Mom was Catholic) and so they "met in the middle" denominationally speaking.

I just came across this post as it was showed to me by Battista; it is crazy in that my parents were literally in the same situation, even though my dad was essentially an atheist, despite being baptized Presbyterian, until his NDE during heart surgery. I'll never forget the day he walked into my room and started crying (something he did on rare occasions) and told me "I believe in God now." I cried with him.

One Protestant and one Catholic make one Anglican. It's a proven fact!

[afleitch]

My dad was technically Presbyterian and my mum Catholic. The Church would only marry them if they both promised that their children were Catholic, which we were, though none of the four of us profess any faith today.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

My dad was technically Presbyterian and my mum Catholic. The Church would only marry them if they both promised that their children were Catholic, which we were, though none of the four of us profess any faith today.

The same rule applied for me, but the priest who married them (whom both my parents strongly suspected was gay, and he eventually left the priesthood) basically said "You know where the Church stands on this, but you do what you think is right for your kids."*

Ultimately I was baptized in a UCC church, because my mom didn't like any of the priests in our town. And she performed a baptism on me with my grandfather's help.

*This is sort of why I cringe at BRTD's Catholic-bashing. American Catholic churches are a good deal more progressive than your average Evangelical church, especially if you live in a liberal state.

[LabourJersey]

Why do you follow this religion? I was baptized Episcopal. My parents were of different denomination (Dad was Presbyterian, Mom was Catholic) and so they "met in the middle" denominationally speaking.

I just came across this post as it was showed to me by Battista; it is crazy in that my parents were literally in the same situation, even though my dad was essentially an atheist, despite being baptized Presbyterian, until his NDE during heart surgery. I'll never forget the day he walked into my room and started crying (something he did on rare occasions) and told me "I believe in God now." I cried with him.

One Protestant and one Catholic make one Anglican. It's a proven fact!

Interesting coincidence! Though neither of my parents had a religious experience nearly as dramatic as what your Dad had.

My parents were married in a Presbyterian church; My Dad didn't want to make the promise that afleitch mentions his parents did, which is the requirement in the US too if a Catholic and non-Catholic want to get married in a Catholic church. But I would say that I'm the way things worked out and feel satisfied in me being Epsicopalian/Anglican.

[SInNYC]

Religion: Atheist
Denomination: NA

Why do you follow this religion (or lack thereof)? I guess I was a deist once (as my parents professed to be), and then called myself agnostic. But then I went to a college where most religious people (protestants) in my dorm were the worst of people (though there were some good ones).

God: Atheism takes care of all the questions here.

Afterlife: Maggot food. But I once (long before college) was preached to by an evangelist who claimed that the kingdoms of the east referred to in Revelations were evil Hindus and Buddhists from India and China, which was when I stopped believing in the Christian afterlife though I was still open to reincarnation at that time.

Prayer: No. I prayed as a kid but always felt it somewhat sinful to be bribing a deity for personal desires. And the deity probably has far more important things to worry about than one of 7B humans + many times as more other beings.

Worship: No, but I love visiting ancient temples as a tourist. Kamakura (google it) hits me for some reason though its far from the biggest.

Ghosts, spirits, angels, and demons: No

One True Path: Whatever religion is your opiate is the sensible way. In extreme cases (eg, a criminal), I have no problems if you need religion to keep you going. But you hopefully dont need opiates.

Spiritual objects: No

Religious law: Well, many religious laws originated by thinking people and those are good to obey. But those about behavior to join some exclusive club are to be openly flouted and ridiculed.

Spreading the word: Science should be taught to all. Multiple religions should also be taught in a social studies course since you cant understand things like slavery and war if you dont understand religion.

[Fetterman my beloved]

Religion: Christian
Denomination: Quaker

Why do you follow this religion (or lack thereof)? Quakerism has always made sense to me, and being raised into it and having such a positive experience in the religion has made me want to continue participating in it.

God: God does exist, and he exists as a part of every human being. Therefore, if you kill or harm a human being, you are killing or harming a part of god. God does speak to people personally, and can help guide you on a personal path.

Afterlife: I do not know what happens in the afterlife, and frankly it does not matter. Every human should be more concerned on making the world a better place without regard of what happens after death.

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?

Worship: I went to my local Quaker church before the pandemic hit. After the pandemic hit, I often worship privately in my home, and seek the inner light of god. I don’t believe that a church or pastor is necessary for worship, but I’m not directly hostile towards, and still would go to a church when I’m ready.

Ghosts, spirits, angels, and demons: I personally do not believe in ghosts or spirits that roam the earth, Angels and demons do exist, but I have never seen one, and I do not believe they roam earth.

One True Path: I believe that as long as you do good things and try to make the world a better place, god will reward you, whether you are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Athiest, Buddhist, or of any other creed.

Spiritual objects: I cannot name anything specifically that has a specific spiritual property.

Religious law: I personally do not believe in abstinence before marriage, but some Quakers do. However, Quakers do not believe you will be punished specifically for having sex.

Spreading the word: Our primary goal is to make the world a better place through actions. Recruitment is secondary to that action.

[Del Tachi]

Religion:  Christian
Denomination:  Grew-up in the Restorationist tradition, have more recently been dabbling in Methodism. 

God:  One God in three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit who have existed co-eternally. 

Afterlife:  We go transcendent.  Heaven and hell are real places, but we cannot "go" there in a way that would be recognizable to our current physical selves. 

Prayer:  Important, but the content and form of our prayers are mostly inconsequential.  God knows our hearts.  Prayer is us actively admitting and yielding to God's lordship over our lives and the world around us, which is a type of salvation in-and-of itself.   

Worship:  I average going to church about once-a-week.  Should be "in spirit and truth."  I generally do not go for the flashy, incense-flinging pagan stuff.

Ghosts, spirits, angels and demons:  Angels and demons yes, ghosts no

One True Path:  John 14:6, basically.  There is no salvation to those who are not in Christ. 

Spiritual objects:  No.  I'm a Memorialist when it comes to communion. 

Religious laws:  We are under grace, not law.  There is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ.

Spreading the word:  The Gospel is not only a story to be told, but also a life to be lived.  Christians should show people both.

[James Monroe]

Religion: Anti-theist humanist

Why do you follow this religion (or lack thereof)?  It's logical.

God: One of the greatest BS man has created in the history of our species. Nothing has been a greater scam than the belief in a invisible man in the sky.
 
Afterlife: Blackness.

Prayer:  Nothing fails greater.

Worship: I worship steak.

Ghosts, spirits, angels, and demons: Silly things don't exist.

One True Path: Just make sure everything is commendable order while you are sitting on this forsaken planet. Connect with others and try building communities where we put our differences aside for the betterment of our species.

Spiritual objects: For bleep sakes, do I have to go there? You see why organized religion is such a farce?

Religious law: Ten Commandments? Shia Law? I'll say burn it all down. Repeal all blasphemy laws so fanatics don't control the narrative on church and government separation.

Spreading the word: Just push for better things by asking for equality for all living beings on this planet. Implant that into action, the government listens, we are all set and continue the cycle till the end of time.

[Spectator]

Religion: Atheist
Denomination: Internet Troll

Why do you follow this religion (or lack thereof)? I was never brainwashed as a child to believe anything else, so I remained at the default state of humanity, which is atheism.

God: Which one are you referring to? Be more specific.

Afterlife: Total nonexistence, of the same kind prior to our births. That which can be created can be destroyed, and human consciousness is no exception. This fact is the most terrifying element of the human experience, and we invented religion as a means of coping with it.

Prayer: Only sarcastically.

Worship: Performed every day by watching Christopher Hitchens Owns Christians Compilation #32 on YouTube.

Ghosts, spirits, angels, and demons: Lol.

One True Path: Nietzschean/Hobbesian Hierarchical Domination

Spiritual objects: 2% milk and good barbecue.

Religious law: Legislating morality is immoral.

Spreading the word: I do it on this forum every day.

Hard agree with everything here. I don’t even know if I would *want* there to be an afterlife, tbh. That’s more terrifying to me than the idea of returning to a state of non-existence.

[Aurelius]

Religion: syncretic, "spiritual but not religious"
Denomination: (if applicable) N/A

Why do you follow this religion (or lack thereof)? Raised Reform Jewish in an interfaith Jewish/Catholic family, closer to the Conservative side of the spectrum than the secular side. Found it spiritually hollow, despite its historical and cultural majesty. Dabbled with the idea of becoming Christian for a bit, esp Eastern Christianity (people in conservacord in the first half of 2019 will recall me agonizing over all this at great length), but since then I realized in retrospect this was driven by aesthetics and a Pascal's Wager-esque fear of a hell that I don't actually believe in, rather than by genuine belief and if you're gonna convert from Judaism to Christianity in this day and age, it'd better be out of genuine belief, not mere aesthetics, given the family s**tshow that will inevitably occur. Since then I've stopped trying to artifically impose external structure on my spiritual worldview. At the same time, I strongly reject atheism especially in its vulgar form.

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?
There is a higher power of some sort. The existence of the universe and of my conscious mind requires this. A mountain talked to me once.

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. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The soul dies when the body dies. For many people this is the most terrifying aspect of existence, and I think one of the strongest motivators behind organized religion. Myself, I find strange comfort in it. Existence brings both great happiness and great suffering. It is comforting to know that the suffering naturally comes to a close.

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? Yes, informally and in a variety of ways. A few times a month, usually in response to personal crisis or loss. I can personally attest that there are no atheists in foxholes high up on a knife-edge ridge with 2,000 feet exposure on each side of you where if you slip and fall, you die. I had a much more intensely spiritual/religious period in 2018-2019 after the loss of three close relatives in one year.

Worship: Do you go to church/mosque/synagogue/anything else? How often? Synagogue or private family services a few times a year. Very occasionally church when staying with religious friends on a Sunday, probably 3 or 4 times in the past decade.

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 do not believe in angels and demons, except metaphorically. I am agnostic about ghosts. Many things, both living and nonliving, carry spiritual force. Even if there are not ghosts, certain places can be haunted by the presence of negative spirit(s).

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? I do not believe in an afterlife, so the last question is irrelevant. A powerful measure of a person's religious way is whether it allows them to die at peace with the world and their loved ones. I am a bit of a soft monist, in a metaphorical but not theological sense. I believe that the great power of religion is to uplift people's mind and body, and many religious traditions do that very powerfully in a variety of ways. At the same time, I do not believe in the article of faith, especially common on the left, that all cultures or traditions are of equal worth or value. All religious traditions have their particular strengths and weaknesses.

Spiritual objects: Do certain things in the earth (for example, crystals or plants) have spiritual properties? Mountains, rivers, thunderstorms, great works of art and architecture, sacred religious objects, ancient places of worship, cemeteries, the night sky. Things which attest to the great force of nature and the highest heights of man.

Religious law: Do you follow religious law or morality codes? For example, fasting or abstinence until marriage? Is not doing so a sin? Not in any coherent or organized way. I do have a strong sense of sacred vs profane and believe sacred objects and places demand respect and (sometimes informal) ritual.


Spreading the word: Should it be a mission by people of your religion to spread it to as many people as possible? No.

[Zenobiyl]

Religion:
Denomination: Roman Catholic

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

Born into it, and never found reason to disbelieve. On the contrary, I found more reason to believe with time.

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 one all-good, all-true, all-powerful, and all-knowing God who is active in the world—albeit more indirectly than directly. I talk to God, he doesn’t talk to me (not in any direct way at least).

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?

This is an issue I grapple with philosophically. I believe in the heaven/hell dichotomy, though am troubled by the notion that people suffer eternally if they disbelieve, believe in the wrong religion, or sin. All of these actions are finite wrongs, and infinite punishment seems unjust to me. I don’t know how to answer questions on this issue, yet I trust there is an answer I am not yet able to understand.

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?

Yes, daily. Silently through thought, or out loud in private.

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

Weekly.

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?

Yes. I have never seen spirits, but I believe they do exist. I’m unsure how “present” is being used, so I will answer no to that. I can’t speak to the last part, though I would hope that isn’t the case.

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?

Yes, though other religions have elements of the truth nevertheless. I’m of the “take-it-as-you-see-it” opinion when it comes to other religions, but there is absolutely a spectrum from more true to more false among them. As for the last part, I hope not but cannot say for sure what will happen.

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

Yes, religious symbols and relics.

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

Yes. Yes.

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

Yes.

[Aurelius]

Spinoza-ism, I guess?

[Vosem]

The superstructure of my religious beliefs (...and this is something I've always kind of thought, although I was never able to name it until reading this piece) is sumurhe, or the idea that things can be true with respect to Truth and true with respect to Beauty. There is probably no God, with respect to Truth, but I believe there is one (and, if asked in a poll, will answer that there is one) with respect to Beauty.

I identify as Jewish, and observe some Jewish holidays (very reliably, I'll hike on Tu Bishvat, get drunk for Purim, do a seder for Passover -- which is the most formalized holiday for me, fast on Tisha B'Av, eat sweets for Rosh Hashanah, fast for Yom Kippur, give gifts for Hanukkah, and do some sort of remembrance of the 1940s conflicts, normally on May 9 but I'd like to transfer this tradition to Yom HaAtzmaut), but I'm very bad at many parts of Jewish observance, including some others find easy; I've never even remotely kept kosher and I'm pretty bad at following the commandment against idolatry, which most moderns do not find difficult.

I've never been part of any consistent Jewish congregation, but I have more than once been proselytized into being part of a church community by a friend (a Catholic one in my hometown, and an evangelical one at Ohio State), and I have traditions such as visiting a particular temple to Krishna on Election Day. (The last two E-Days I've taken the day off and driven from Ohio to visit my election-nerd friends in DC; I thought it'd be an odd place to stop at in 2018 and ended up saying a short prayer for success for the candidates I voted for. I repeated this in 2020 just because the roads in that part of West Virginia are so beautiful, and will likely do it again this year since I'm driving to DC again).

There are also some other religious traditions that I find sympathetic even if I would absolutely not identify as belonging to them (such as Mormonism), and I'm find with saying something like "the Book of Mormon is true with respect to Beauty" (or even sillier things like the Principia Discordia), even though this introduces contradictions since I don't think this about the New Testament, which the Book of Mormon itself endorses. Religion is not actually a topic on which man needs to perfectly consistent.

[If my soul was made of stone]

(or even sillier things like the Principia Discordia)

I've spent the past five years or so continuously falling through the recursive hole of "many tenets of Discordian thought as it were appeal to me on an unironic level, but then it's all intended as a joke, but then how many ironic layers are it really on, but then they encourage schisms that could theoretically include what I feel, but then how many ironic layers is that on, so I clearly cannot choose the wine in front of me, but how intentional is that reaction and however many layers of irony it's itself on..."

[Aurelius]

Increasingly converging on "Jewish, because my mother is Jewish and her mother is Jewish and her mother was Jewish and..." Very simple and satisfying. Feels like after 40 24 years in the wilderness I'm finally coming home. Throughout my whole Jewish education I felt like I was just going through the motions, but even though to this day I'm not sure what exactly HaShem is, but suddenly it all makes sense and feels right.

[Unpoisoned Chalice]

Je suis protestant, car je proteste contre toutes les religions.

Zapffe is my favorite philosopher. His message in "The Last Messiah" is the unavoidable result of a consistent deconstruction of religion, philosophy, and ideology.

[YoshiyaDayan]

Religion: Judaism
Denomination: Orthodox

Why do you follow this religion (or lack thereof)?
I follow this due to ancestry and a belief that my people must keep out religion to help the rest of the world.

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 one G-D, YHWH, and I also believe that Yeshua is our Messiah due to a lack of other options after 2,000 years.

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?
Heaven/Hell, Gentiles included.

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?
Yes I pray.

Worship: Do you go to church/mosque/synagogue/anything else? How often?
I go to a synagogue, and I have actually been to a mosque.

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, I haven't seen one, but angels and demons 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?
Gentiles just have to follow 7 laws to get into heaven, probably accepting Yeshua in the process. Jews have to follow our beliefs and keep our people in line.
Spiritual objects: Do certain things in the earth (for example, crystals or plants) have spiritual properties?
No wtf?
Religious law: Do you follow religious law or morality codes? For example, fasting or abstinence until marriage? Is not doing so a sin?
I follow Halacha.
Spreading the word: Should it be a mission by people of your religion to spread it to as many people as possible?
No, we generally don't try to convert.

[Aurelius2]

The superstructure of my religious beliefs (...and this is something I've always kind of thought, although I was never able to name it until reading this piece) is sumurhe, or the idea that things can be true with respect to Truth and true with respect to Beauty.

I'm going to take this concept and run with it. I'd grasped a bit in this direction from time to time but never thought about it this way. It is helping me make sense of a lot of things I've long thought about in confusing and contradictory ways.

Along these lines, I believe in all three of:

1. God as described in traditional Judaism,
2. Spinoza's conception of a transcendent, all-encompassing higher power, and
3. God as the ultimate realization of Plato's Form of the Good, or the ein sof of kabbalistic tradition

in overlapping and, yes, contradictory ways, leaning more in particular directions at different points in time, yet I refuse to see this as a logical contradiction or negation. Besides, us mortals are insufficient to know the true majesty of God any way we approach Him, and the best we can do is try to grasp at the threads.

[Irenaeus of Smyrna]

Religion: Judaism
Denomination: Orthodox


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 one G-D, YHWH, and I also believe that Yeshua is our Messiah due to a lack of other options after 2,000 years.

Does that not make you a Messianic jew? If you are willing to concede that jesus is the Messiah prophesied by the prophets, would you not take his word seriously? Like John 8:58 RSV "Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” " what would your reading of this be.