Religion general

@Randomosaur  
Oh. Then neither. I don’t really identify as either. Not out of malice or spite or anything like it. Just don’t feel a need to.

@Princess♠Molestia
 
As long as you don’t believe the below, I’m fine.  

@Princess♠Molestia  

 
Dark matter is what causes the universe’s expanse and it’s far more powerful than gravity. As for the four forces of the universe they were all originally one force at the beginning of the big bang, but split from each other. There’s theories as to why, but that’s one of the questions CERN is trying to answer.
 
They’re still trying to find the graviton. They found the higgs a while back, but they still need to find the graviton, gluinos, winos, photinos, neautralinos, chameleon particle and the unparticle.
 
I’m personally interested in the chameleon particle due to it’s variable mass.

@uc9  
Makes sense. Though I’m still leaning toward creationist, in a sense. As I said, I’ve never bought the idea that said dark matter and gravitons, etc just showed up cause they felt like it.
 
Personally I think something created the rules and what is essentially the big bang and its components.

@Princess♠Molestia  
Space without matter or energy is massively unstable. Once our universe dies another universe will probably go through a big bang as well and take our place.
 
Chances are there isn’t just this one universe, but a unlimited number of universes; we just can’t prove it yet and even when we do we’ll probably never be able to visit them because they’d have a different laws of physics.

I hope this thread stays afloat. I want one good religion thread to survive.
 
It’s a needed thing to discuss, as only through discourse will we ever achieve something resembling harmony.
 
Anyway, Pagan here, Neo-druidic specifically. Piecing together the fragments of faith left behind by the ancient Celtics and Germanic tribes. No small feat, considering most of what we know about them came from cultures that observed them, or were influenced by they such as the Saxons, Nordics, and Goths. Sadly, much of the ancient tales got…“altered” by Christian monks. The old gods turned to “heroes” at best, demons at worst.
 
Now we’re left with fragments, fables, stories, and artifacts. Also, Stonehenge, not a Celtic monument. Stonehenge was built before the early Celtics migrated over from the mainland areas of modern day Germany and France. The Celtics likely used the site, but is was probably just as mysterious to them as it is to us.
 
I’m however, a man of science as well. Most specifically, a champion of evolution. I study it in detail, and hope to one day teach about it on the professional level.

@Zincy  
Neo-paganism is the fastest growing religion in Iceland.
 
I would be quite happy if Europeans became pagan again.
 
For evil reasons of course.

@Whatevs
 
Paganism is one of the fastest growing around the world.
 
And evil reasons are best reasons.

I’m a Christian who believes atheist and homosexuals aren’t evil people that want to devour my soul.
 
@uc9  
As a Christian, I hope this answer is good enough: In regards to treating other as how Christ treated others, I feel that would take a lot of work, especially in dealing with people who don’t share the same beliefs. Some people who follow Christ will believe things that I’m sure Christ would face-palm at such as atheist being soul-devouring demons, DnD players being evil wizards who cast fireballs, and homosexuals being lecherous deviants who want to spread AIDS.
 
@Whatevs  
For evil reasons you say? As in virgin sacrifices and such (I could be wrong about that though)

@Zincy  
Is it just me or are new religions or neo-religions growing the fastest? What I mean by this is paganism in the usa is growing at 145% a year. In the 90’s there was only a couple thousand pagans in the usa, now there’s well over a hundred thousand. So yeah, you do the math.

@uc9
 
 
From the data I’ve read it’s got a lot of reasons. A big one is a dissatisfaction with “the big 3”, so a lot of people are taking their spiritual ventures elsewhere.
 
One of the reason many people like that turn to Paganism is because of how personal and non-dogmatic it is. You’re not confined, or restricted by a codex. It’s also very broad, encompassing a large variety of faiths. Wicca, Nordic Heathenism, Revival Druidism, etc. And each has its own sub-sets. Of course there’s just good old Eclectic Paganism, for those who don’t want to subscribe to one of the more rigid titles.

@Zincy  
If that’s true then christianity will have a very big problem on their hands cause dissatisfaction with their churches for being not personal and too dogmatic is the main driving force behind the loss of adherents in the usa; that’s not mentioning that dissatisfaction within churches for this very reason is at a all time high.

@uc9
 
Christianity has been losing members in the US since the 80’s I believe. Not at any high rate, but it still represents a net loss.
 
Most don’t stop being “Christian” per se, they just either become non-denominational, stop attending church, or become “spiritual”.

@Zincy  
I’m one of the non-denominational spiritual ones.  
Many Christians like myself dislike TBS, Televangelists and frauds like Benny Hinn and the Mainstream churches.
 
Christianity has lost its grip on the west but has been growing in China, Middle East and 3rd world nations where these people are more christian than the rich millionaire pastors that make money off of mainstream denominationalists.
 
The biggest problem is that our faith has been misrepresented by televangelists such as Benny Hinn and the Charismatic movement as well as Pat Robertson and the Westboro Baptist Church.

@Background Pony
 
*Dislike TBN

@Background Pony  
Uhhh…. There’s only about 20 million christians in china.

@Background Pony  

 
It’s quite unfortunate. And these are the types of people, I believe, are the ones who perpetuate numerous religious conflicts in the past and now. I despise those who use religion as some sort of justification for malicious deeds.

@uc9  
But it’s growing.

@SeraphimDawn  
But only about 5% growth over the last decade though.

@Grieffon  
>a priest told my mother to pay for some ceremony to help him ascend to heaven
 
It’s disgusting to hear people bribe for someone’s faith.
 
There are power hungry people running the churches unfortunately and many just like to use the faith and God as a scapegoat for all the wrong these people do. Why take the blame when you pin it on a Higher Power?
 
If I remember Bible study, people who do evil, murder and profit in God’s name receive the worst treatment in the afterlife along with hypocrites.

@TommyWiseau  
Can I please eat your soul with pepper and a side of bacon/fig cookies?

@Background Pony  
Same here. Non-denominational Christian. The misrepresentation does hurt the name. Doesn’t help that there are power hungry people who want to try and make profit or control off the people that attend their churches.
 
 
@Randomosaur  
You can’t eat my soul but you can use it to gain more power. Just go to the nearest bonfire and raise whatever stats you have.

@SeraphimDawn
 
@Background Pony
 
The fringe crazies aren’t the only reason its lost touch. The main-line power structure of the “christian right’, who wield their faith like a club certainly don’t help matters. It’s bad for both Christians, and the non-insane conservatives.
 
Faith and politics don’t mix, no matter what the faith is. They merely take the worst aspects of each other and amplify them exponentially. Neither is inherently bad on their own, but mix them together, nothing good will come of it. The hunger for power and control will always lead people to use whatever means are at their disposal, that include the faiths people hold so dearly. They manipulate peoples faith, control it, seek to gain from it like leeches drinking blood.

For people that are religious I have a question; do you ever stop and think that the reason why your god/s other people’s god/s don’t show themselves is they know better than to?
 
What I mean by this is hypothetically let’s say they one day show himself/herself/themselves to everyone and it turns out a lot of of people were wrong; let’s say hypothetically you were wrong as well. What would be your reaction? In this hypothetical scenario they’re not evil or wanting to enslave humanity or anything of the sort, they’re just a different religion’s god/s; how would you react to that? Secondly how would the world react to that? And thirdly do you think people would react calmly and rationally? Or do you think everything would go to shit instantly and we’d have nuclear WWIII on our hands?
 
Call me crazy, but personally that’s one of the reasons why I think the world needs to chill the fuck out about the fact people have different religions or beliefs cause if this is the actual reason then if I were to go around spreading intolerance or intolerance towards people of other religions then that would mean that I personally would be directly harming them to the point that I would be forcing them into complete seclusion for our sake and that is the last thing I would ever want. Think about that for a second if you harm a person to the point they are forced into utter and complete seclusion do you really think that’s the right thing to do.
 
If they do exist then I would want to meet them and hang out with them on a regular basis, not cause “Ermagod the god/s are real! Look everyone! See! Call the news! Everyone on the planet needs to see!”, but cause the very least I could do as a human being is at least give them one friend in the world.

@uc9  
Some will abandon their religion to follow that god. Religion leaders will try to spread the idea that the god is actually evil. Some idiots will attempt to kill the god.
 
Fun random thought: Isn’t religion kinda like a fandom in a way? They follow a work of (or sound like) fiction, they discuss, argue, and fight for their headcanons (beliefs). And there are always rabid fans.