Hey, so I believe in a higher power but I’m not on board with any particular religion. Anyone else think it’s cool to just fly solo as a good human, no religion attached?
Anyone else think it’s cool to just fly solo as a good human, no religion attached?
Religion does not have a monopoly on morality, despite what many preach. Be kind, and believe what you want.
Whatever floats your boat, mate. Having a religion is not a bad thing per se. It’s only bad if you try to use it to control other peoples’ lives.
Thanks mate! I’ve been studying Islam, Christianity (my family is religious but tolerates different beliefs, so I have a mix of both worlds), as well as Buddhism. However, none of these religions really grabbed my attention.
Metaphysics is a blind man in a dark room, looking for a black cat that isn’t there. Religion is the blind man shouting “I found it!”
Got it
I don’t see anything wrong with having faith in a higher power. Plenty of higher powers exist. Like the sun, quasars, super massive black holes, etc.
What you are describing sounds like Deism, which is a philosophy that most of the framers of the US Constitution shared
Deism is a great reference. It’s awesome tho think that some leaders and thinkers from the past also shared similar ideas. The idea of a higher power that doesn’t meddle in the day-to-day but set the universe in motion definitely resonates with my thoughts. It’s like being part of a grand design, but having the freedom to navigate it in our own unique ways. It’s always enlightening to link personal beliefs with historical philosophies. Makes you feel part of a bigger conversation, doesn’t it?
I personally start with the idea that I’m part of something much, much bigger than myself; that’s the basis of my concept of a “higher power”. Like the Ancient One told Doctor Strange, “It’s not about you.”
I was raised Mormon, and after breaking free I have a strong distaste for organized religion. You know how people like to say that if they had a time machine, they’d go back and kill Hitler? I would take out Abraham. The Abrahamic Covenant made religion all about one man’s ego; the cult he formed has splintered and spread over so much of our planet.
Gathering with like minded folk to exchange ideas about life, the universe, everything was once an organic, grass roots sorta thing (or so it seems). Religion is manufactured as a system of control.
Celebrate making your journey your own! I hope you find people who have the courage to make their own path as well; it is a huge comfort to at least just speak freely with like minded folk.
Man, that’s some deep stuff you’re sharing. The whole ‘tiny part of something huge’ vibe really puts things in a new light, doesn’t it? Kinda like realizing you’re just one pixel in a giant picture.
Reading about your journey away from Mormonism and your take on organized religion is super interesting. It’s wild to think how one person’s ideas can snowball into something that affects so many. And your point about the Abrahamic Covenant? it’s really a mind-bender!
Totally agree on the whole making-your-own-path thing. It’s awesome to bump into others carving out their own routes too. It’s like a big, messy, beautiful DIY project where everyone’s figuring it out as they go along.
Sounds kinda like deists. Most of the founding fathers were, plus a lot of enlightenment thinkers. So you’re in good company.
Organized religion is corruptible to the point of uselessness.
Corruptible assumes they weren’t started for that purpose in the first place.
I wish there was a way to know what the mix of true believers and opportunists involved in each of the religions’ founding. Like the story of Constantine includes elements of both (he wanted a way to increase the unity across the Empire because it was getting hard to convince Iberian Romans to take up arms for wars in the middle East, but there’s also a story that he dreamed about having a cross on this shield leading to winning a battle). That wasn’t the founding of Christianity, but it is the reason Europe adopted it.
Or looking at the old testament, it seems to be a combination of general living advice/laws, events based on actual historic things (like David and Solomon were probably real), and stuff likely made up after the fact (like Genesis). I’d say the ones who made up Genesis weren’t likely true believers (of what they were writing), but it’s hard to say if they believed in the rest of it and just wanted to fill the gaps in good faith, or enjoyed the clerical power and filled in those blanks because not filling them in would have threatened that power. Or some combination of the two.
Well let me ask you this: how specifically would it not be okay?
Well let me ask you this: how specifically would it not be okay?
Great question! For me, it’s not about it being okay or not in the traditional sense. I just feel that spirituality can be a personal journey that doesn’t necessarily require the framework of an organized religion. It’s like taking a road trip without a map - sometimes the discoveries you make on your own are the most meaningful. I believe in being a good human, guided by my own understanding of a higher power, morals, and the world around me. It’s about finding my own path and respecting others’ paths too. What’s your take on this?
I feel pretty neutral about it. It seems like a pretty harmless approach to faith.
That’s basically agnosticism. And it’s pretty common among intellectuals, historically speaking at least
It’s an Agnostic Theist (Don’t claim the knowledge but have the belief).
Rather than an Agnostic Atheist (Don’t claim the knowledge but don’t have the belief)
Gnostic Theist (Claim the knowledge and have the belief)
And
Gnostic Atheist (Claim the knowledge but don’t have the belief)
Are the other two
That’s interesting, do you have some reading/listening recommendations about it? I would love that. (Trying to figure shit out)
Sorry, I don’t know of any good resources off the top of my head
Agnostic Theist
Or
Agnostic Atheist
Are what the majority of people are.
Agnostic makes the most sense because there is no “proof” a God or gods exists or doesn’t exist.
If I walk up to a Theist or Atheist and ask for “proof,” neither side will have any.
When you ask a Gnostic Theist that practices Christianity (but could be any religion). They will say that the Bible is “proof” and that they know that to be the truth. They claim to have the knowledge that their belief is correct.
A Gnostic Atheist doesn’t really exist. Because they would have to believe in some knowledge that is “proof” for their belief that no God or gods could ever exist. There is no knowledge out there that proves that.
It becomes a semantic battle of what do you call the God or gods and that “Anything is possible”
So you can assume anyone that calls themselves Atheist is an Agnostic Atheist.
As an example, no Atheist is going to lay down their life to die on a hill that no God or gods has ever existed. They believe that no God or gods existed, but they realize that the knowledge to prove it doesn’t exist yet.
A Gnostic Theist will die on the hill for what they believe because they truly believe that they have the knowledge to prove it.
Plato has a lot of good stuff to read up about religion
But unless you want to pick a religion and roll with it on faith, agnostic is what it is.
It’s nice to hope for a nice God or gods. That would make you Agnostic Theist.
But if you feel like a God or gods don’t exist then you’d just be Agnostic Atheist.
But to become religious, you’d have to read about all the different ones and see what speaks to you and decide yourself if you want to buy in or not.
Thanks for this. I’ve read some Plato but it was so long ago, I have to look into it again.
I’m hoping for a nice overall entity, so that makes me an Agnostic theist for now.
I severed myself completely from a major religion. Never again for me.
It’s cool. I come from a religious background that I questioned all the time, even when my family focused only on teaching us the wholesome beautiful stuff, it’s still hard to be on board with the rest or how other people interpret it.
So I’ve decided to quit. It’s still hard, but I do still believe in a higher power. All the rest… I don’t think God cares about head scarves or sex or alcohol,… Just live your life the way you want to and you’ll be okay.
This is kind of where I’m at in life at 40. I grew up in the Christian church but as an adult, I see so much hate, intolerance, oppression and exploitation. I’m a lover of science to my core and I also believe in a higher power. I just choose to keep that mostly to myself in my day-to-day life.
Same, 44, but Muslim background :) I don’t know why but your view makes me so happy, like I’m not the only one… Let’s just live our lives in peace and I agree. We have to figure out who we are and what we stand for as a ‘human’ without interference, so keeping that to ourselves (offline) makes it easier in this timeline. Let’s figure it out first and then we can go from there.
When I turned forty, I decided Jesus fasting for forty days and nights was just an allegory for how you don’t really find out who you really are until you’re over the hill! ;-)
I very much doubt you’ll find anyone here who discourages you from stepping away from organized religion.
I’m a former Christian pastor on a hiatus from church life, but in no way done with being a Christian in my private life.
I believe the Bible boils religion down to three basic life roles for every individual person to follow: priest, steward, and keeper.
- As a priest, every person is meant to determine how they ought best to live.
- As steward they are to take care of the world around them in accordance with their beliefs.
- As their “brother’s keeper” they should work to ensure everyone else is free from coercion to believe and live how they think is best.
When people function in all three roles they are revealing the “image of God”.
Live your best life and help others do the same to the best of your ability. Or, as James the brother of Jesus, said, true religion is this: “to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
I was raised in a very religious family. It’s very hard to break free but I have decided to go on my own path.
I trust you’ll find it a healing process. Most importantly, be patient with yourself.
What do you mean by healing process?
According to my perspective, having autonomy is core to being human and most religious structures actively work to squash autonomy and force conformity. I think that is harmful for everyone.
For me, it’s taken time to even recognize how hurt I was and I’m still going through a healing process.
I wish you well
Thank you, the same to you as well.
Because I’ve been playing the audiobook of Eiji Yoshikawa’s Musashi for my wife, here’s a line from Musashi’s Dokkōdō, the “way of walking alone”:
Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.
I’m a strong atheist, which means I have a positive belief that no gods exist, just for the record. The way I would put it is that I have never heard of nor have been able to come up with a god concept that I believe is an actual being.
I prefer to use the term “god concept” rather than god to make it clear that we’re talking about a specific idea of a god rather than an actual being. So Odin is a god concept, as is Minerva. Multiple god concepts exist in the bible, including the original regional father-deity El, El’s wife Ashera, their children including Yahweh, and so on. When the Israelites started to move from polytheism to henotheism (many gods exist but you should only worship one), and then to “monotheism” (in scare quotes because there are enough different god concepts as well as divine beings who would be counted as gods in any other pantheon).
In any case, I don’t think having a god concept which you believe refers to an actual being in itself is an indication of anything, good or bad. In my opinion, there’s a feedback loop between the disposition of people and their religions. The problems come in when the religions around the god concepts become extreme. The Amish have a fairly strong god concept, and while I’m not Amish (thank god), I don’t think they do harm unless you think of their actions within their community. 90% of UUs are great people. Sponoza’s Watchmaker would suggest we have to study ourselves to discover what constitutes good. And so on.
So I’d say that your belief is absolutely fine, but you also might be interested in the neurophysiological, social, and anthropological bases of humans so often having god concepts.
Yes. Had religion shoved down my throat as a kid. Learned early on being a religious believer meant nothing, people are shitty no matter what.
Had to decide who I wanted to be, what rules to live by. Realized I don’t enjoy hurting people, try to learn from mistakes, random acts of kindness, to always try for the evolved, educated non violent option. That’s enough for me. If there’s a god who has a problem with that, oh well.
