I'm a bit surprised to hear so many people talk about how atheism is depressing and stuff... I'd be more depressed by the traditional religious belief that the world is perfect and that mankind was the only thing to fuck it up, and how if something good happens it's because of god, but if something bad happens then it's because of man. I dunno, I think there's a weirdly comforting sense in the idea that there's no real hidden meaning to life, and that no matter how important we think we are we're basically just a miniscule fluke of chemistry on a floating rock and nothing we can do will ever make a difference to the universe at large. It kind of puts all problems and stuff into perspective for me... It's hard to get worked up about exams or whatever when you think about the sheer scale of the universe and how little we actually matter to it...

I don't know if it counts as agnostic or theostic, but I used to be almost completely atheist (the only thing I'll beleive with 100% certainty is uncertainty itself). It was basically becasue I was surrounded by all this stigma of what it actually meant to "beleive in God". After many failed attempts at "praying", and some introspection/meditating I started to gain new understanding in spirituality and began to realise that it is not only possible, but evident that a God would exist in such a framework. Although the only way I can accept that is by denying any person/religion/orginization's ability to define God or any "specific" purpose such an entity would have (purpose is there, and you can find it. But it all goes to shit when you try putting it to words or trying to tell other people what it is "supposed" to be.)

For all intensive purposes (at least when christians/etc ask), I just say I'm agnostic.

I went through a French Immersion elementary school (Catholic) and then just continued on with Catholic high school (I didn't live in a big town - there were only 2 high schools and the non-Catholic one sucked).

That being said, I never really believed in god.  Until I was about 10 I was off in my own little fantasy world (I was a weird kid)(nothing much has changed), but after that Christianity didn't make much sense.  I remember asking "How did Jesus dying help anything?" (I still don't know the answer to that one) and "Why can't we see god or angels or the devil or even detect them?". 

Then I started reading novels and writing my own fantasy stories and it struck me how easy it was to invent gods.  And then I got to thinking about all the Norse gods, and Greek gods, and Indian gods, and Roman gods.  That's when it clicked into place - that all gods are an invention of man's imagination.  I haven't changed my viewpoint since.  I was around 12 at the time.

I've come to view Religion for the vile thing it has become - a den for bigotry, out-group hate and intolerance, and baseless and dangerous conviction.  I am practically a militant atheist, and often get into arguments with my religious friends because of it (and my Mom).  Luckily, I am also very laid back and easygoing, so I'm never too serious.

Oh, and I got 108% in my grade 12 Christian Ethics class.  I rule.

I grew up in a fairly devout Catholic household. I guess at some point I decided I wanted to get more serious about it, and I got confirmed in the church. Shortly thereafter, however, I lost my virginity (because lust is a much stronger drive than that to be prim and proper and who am I to deny nature its course) and I couldnt just skip taking communion one week. Thats a red flag in families like mine. If you don't take communion, something is up and everyone knows it.

So... the moment I stopped buying the organized revealed religion shit was when I took communion after committing a cardinal sin and I wasn't struck down by lightning on the spot. It was then that I realized that the whole concept of sin was so flimsy and unnatural and more or less just pure bullshit.

so I still go to church because my mother makes me, and I have an obligation to play drums in the praise team at a very liberal methodist church that has several gay couples and is in general pretty cool about things. I mean I have been asked what I believe in front of a large group at the church and I told them how I feel about religion as well as my experience that I just shared with you guys and they were cool with it and just prayed for me. I don't believe in prayer in the same sense that they do but its a nice feeling to know that people do care about you enough to pray for you heh. A laying on of hands is a powerful experience regardless of whether or not you believe in a higher power.

but yeah I spend too much time listening to sufi devotional music while in various altered states of consciousness to be an athiest, but I dont really know exactly what it is I believe in. I'm just kind of chillin for now.

My parent's were never very religious people, as far as I know.  In fact, I've only been at a mass/sermon/whateverthefuckitscalled twice.

I believe my parents are Christian/Presbatarian (since that's the church my family went to those two times), however I haven't been too fond of the idea that one must follow the Bible to a T if you want to go to heaven (which 90% of my hometown is like, the Evangelistic Catholics that they are), but I am what is called a Deist.  Which means I believe in a God, but do not follow any given religion(my School's Definition), or that God created the physical universe but does not interfere with it.(Wiki Page)

After reading the Wiki, I think I am somewhere between a Deist and a Christian, as I do believe in God, and that miracles and act's of God do occur. (check my post in the death topic)

Also, Dada brings up a good point.  It doesn't matter what you believe in, as you should always follow the "golden rule": Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you

What is your history concerning your viewpoint on religion? It seems that a lot of people here are some kind of religous skeptic, so I felt this topic was appropriate.

lol college kids.

seriously, religion and ideology is something that changes constantly because people really don't know what to believe.  people who are like "DEVOUT ATHEIST ITS THE COOL THING" now will probably end up following some sort of monotheistic belief in the future and vice versa.  my mother has fluctuated from agnostic to christian to muslim and that's perfectly healthy.

me?  i never really cared until high school then some lame shit started happening, i started praying, lame shit stopped, i'm happier overall and that's all that really matters to me.  i couldn't care less if people don't believe what i believe because everyone has free will and it's their choice.  if someone is feeling shitty i might drop a "turn to god, dude" but i don't walk around and slap people in the face with bibles and curse their names to the depths of hell because, holy crap, they're free willed thinking individuals!

then he smacked them in the forehead and they were healed!!?!? *_*

So is there a god? It doesn't matter. If I die and see Petrus, I'll know that god can judge me if he wants to. I won't be afraid, because I won't have done anything wrong.

This is kind of how I am. If I died and suddenly I found myself standing before Yahweh or Wotan, I can't feel scared because I've spent my life figuring out how to be a good person. If they were mad that I didn't believe in them, well then it's their own fault they didn't provide any evidence for their own existence. I pretty much don't believe in anything that doesn't have evidence, so to me fairies and God exist in the same realm of human imagination.

polytheistic religions are where it's at.

you could call me agnostic, I suppose...

I was raised catholic and all, went to church every Sunday, also religious education and other such fun stuff
When I was young I didn't think much of it, it was mostly boring, and not much else.
I'm not sure what I believed at the time, but religion simply doesn't interest me.

Also, Dada brings up a good point.  It doesn't matter what you believe in, as you should always follow the "golden rule": Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you

I think that this sort of "diffuse Christian morality" that exists in Western Civilization is probably kept in mind nowadays by most people who have some awareness of thier own morals, weather they believe in anything or not. Maybe even the atheists ammongst us are inadvertenly Christians in thier ethical thinking because we live in a world spawned from Christianity?

Well I don't think the Golden Rule, or any other kind of moral rule is exclusively originated from Christianity. There are some fairly obvious ethical opinions that happen to be mentioned in Biblical doctrine, but if anyone actually reads the bible and considers the "moral" lessons it has to offer, it would become apparent that those lessons aren't moral at all and are in fact pretty disturbing. The moral zeitgeist defined by society has the ability to pick and choose which parts of the bible are moral, and which are not. If we know that STONING PEOPLE as a form of punishment is not moral, then there must be something else deciding why this is wrong.

Also, the ethic of reciprocity is apparent in at least 10 other religions, several of which are older than Christianity.

Heh, trust me, I'll never follow any sort of monotheistic religion.

I said I would never join the military or fall in love with a white woman but I guess I'm not good at keeping promises, eh?

True, Wil, but the ethic of reciprocity as the central ethical tenant which superceeds all others is exclusive to Christian theological thought, nescessitating the other "moral lessons" be subject to the scrutiny of compassion that the ethic nescessitates.