[Zster]

I consider myself to be a trascendental spiritualist. I have grown past the need for the human construct of religion to explain the big scary questions in this life, and yet think that the universe is MUCH bigger and more grand than a mere human mind can comprehend. Thus, I do not limit my belief to what we can explain or understand - be it scientifically or otherwise.

I am a fan of infinite possibilities.

[La Petite Sirène]

All of my life I have been 'aware' of God's existence. He was some huge dude sitting on a throne in the sky, looking down upon us with love (or hate?) with his angel pals in tow. He's the guy that regulates everything, who works in mysterious ways, who carries our burdens for us, etc etc. Suffice it to say, there came a point where I stopped and said to myself: "How do I know that 'God' exists? I don't. I've only ever been told that he does, and that doesn't really mean anything to me."

My outlook is a lot more spiritual than religious. I don't follow any doctrines, and I don't believe in God in the same way that most people do. The closest thing I have found to describe my outlook on life is Pantheism, and even that doesn't encompass all of my beliefs. I hate labels, so I don't call myself a Pantheist. But if anyone ever asks, it's just easier to say "Pantheism" than it is to go on a tangent about how we're all made of energy, and I think 'God' is a giant ball of collective consciousness that all life is created from, and when we die we go back to this collective consciousness, and then repeat the cycle etc etc.

I have a lot of religious friends, though. We agree to disagree, and that's okay with me. :) I respect their beliefs - have even argued their side of things when someone else has challenged their religion - and as long as people respect my beliefs, we're all fine and dandy. :)

[Paradox1987]

I'm an atheist and an igtheist.

Until there is an objective definition put forth about God, I don't think the God debate is remotely fruitful. As for the currently prevalent definitions of God, I'm not too eager on them (with maybe a slight exception for Spinoza's nature/God ideas). In short organised religion is not for me. I don't want to start seeing this world of many colours in purely black and white.

[BuckeyeENFP]

I was raised Methodist, and around middle school age started questioning things that people in my church didn't agree with. I argued during a Bible study once that how could Jews go to Hell because they didn't believe in Jesus - a) they don't believe in Hell, and b) Jesus was a Jew!! I also argued that all religions, but especially the Abrahamic religions, all share the same God and "our God" couldn't possibly condemn his own people (Jews and Muslims) to eternal damnation, since he is also their God. It makes absolutely NO SENSE!!

What bothered me most was the "good Christian behavior" that I saw practiced, hypocrisy, intolerance, etc. Definitely not what Jesus taught.

I have considered myself a secular humanistic agnostic now since high school. Part of me wants to believe there is a higher order to things, and that there is some sense of cohesion in our universe. Many things have happened to me that in some ways are beyond luck (I've survived 2 near-death car accidents - and in one I had my pet rats with me and the woman who came to help after, turns out she also had pet rats and eagerly was holding on while I tried to find the other since their cage had been broken.....things like that I can't help but wonder that there is someone up there looking out for me). But scientifically speaking, I don't have any proof. So I want to believe, but perhaps I don't have what religious folks call faith, to actually take the next step.

I HATE the idea that people can only be good and moral beings if they have religion (and mind you, it's usually only a very specific type of religion based on that individual's belief system....), and that if you don't believe in God you must be inherently bad and immoral. I think that's what upsets me the most about religion is it preaches hatred and intolerance.....the exact opposite of what it set out to do in the first place.

[Wellsy]

I would think the environment a person is raised strongly influences of course and then the person's own thought process and what's readily available to them. There's plenty of religions but you mostly hear only of the major ones.
Im INFP but I would think myself atheist, I leave open the potential there to be a God and im ignorant and it'll be pretty awe inspiring if I find out he's real.
My father was raised catholic and his dad had to leave the protestant faith to marry his mother. My mother, im not sure but she associates with the Jehovah's witnesses. I think they believe in God/Jehovah/Divine Creator, they often do the cliche look at all the beauty and how complex things are this is beyond a mistake and I sometimes do the cliche well you have to include bad things within the creation and not all can be attributed to Lucifer/Diablo/Satan.
But we certainly dont live God fearing I dont think, we dont do bad things but it's not as if we go to a Church congregation or have prayers before meals anymore.
I do admire people's faith as its something I certainly lack, but I think i'll do alright for better or for worse.
My spirituality is more about a dreamy ideal of natural processes in which we are inclined to cooperate and be empathetic. I do understand though theres natural occurring things that create disorder and problems in a potential paradise.
But I really do hope that i'm naive/ignorant and there is this forgiving loving God. Because I do get confused with the portrayal of any God described in any religion for my own personal reasons and thoughts.

[Risen from Ashes]

To me, he's responsible for all of the incredible and beautiful things in the world.. No, seriously, think of the way the clouds make those dreamy shapes, music, babies' innocent eyes and smiles, mouth-wateringly good food, those moments when you feel perfectly warm, loved and secure; rippling water, the stars at night, your favourite people in the whole world, the shimmering petals on brilliantly-coloured flowers!! ♥ There are way too many perfect 'coincidences' around us for it to have not been planned by God all along... Does that make sense?

That was beautiful <3 :)

[KateMarie999]

I was raised Christian. I've chosen to remain Christian, not because of my upbringing, which was pretty awful actually, but because I love the message my church was TRYING to convey. I love knowing that there's a God in heaven who loves me enough to send someone to die for me. I feel like more Christians should be loving with each other but I can't make them all any better. All I can do is try to live the way God wants me to live and hope others will follow my lead.

[Undoubtedly]

I am a Christian.
I was raised in it, and I've experienced many sides of it.
I've been to AG, Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal, Pentecostal, etc, churches.. But somehow, in spite of all of this, I have remained a Christian. I currently go to a non-denominational church, and I really like it. We're not about half-hearted chants, we're not a pews and hymnals church, we don't preach fire and brimstone. Although there are a few VERY religious people that go, I know that you'll find hypocrites no matter where you go, so it's best to just ignore them. I was just talking to this one woman the other day, and she was informing me that during services, I'm not supposed to hang out by the coffee shop tables. I informed her that the church leadership know that I do that, and I do it because I'm at the church for three tellings of that ONE message. I'd go crazy at hearing a message three times in one weekend. I explained this, and she stuck up her nose and said "Well, I go to all three, because I get something out of all three". Truth be told, I mainly go to church to socialize with a small group of intelligent intuitives. I rarely get something out of the messages, because often enough, the messages aren't that profound, and I know most of what they speak of.
Anyway, I'm rambling on..

And again, if you're an atheist, I don't hate you. I really don't hate anyone.. (Okay, I'll admit.. I wouldn't be too torn if the Westboro Baptist church decided to leave the world behind. But I'm trying not to be so mean about a few things. :P)
I know rational empiricists, secular humanist, atheists, agnostics, whatever. People are people, and if we disagree, we can at least agree to disagree. If you're going through something, I might pray for you.. But I'm not going to preach at you, or protest you in public forums. I have things I struggle with.. I'm not going to pretend like we're perfect. We're still human.
But, at least I am trying to be the greatest man I can possibly be.

I love you all, and now I'm going to sleep.

[AyaSullivan]

I was rised under no religion.

Both my parents are into logic and Mathematics.

I cannot understand how someone believes in a God. I believe in the Universe only. And Chulthu. He's my friend, you know?

[Gypsy]

I am far to weary to debate this so I'll just simply state, a society as messed up as ours are in no condition to say what is and what is not. They love to bring the entire universe down to their level. When you try to challenge them on their views they manipulate science to their advantage. Well "science" is just a name man has given to the laws of the universe. What they don't understand is magic & the supernatural is levels of "science" yet to be uncovered in this infinte universe of wonders. We exist on a lower dimention, & we are therefore not entitled to say what is & what is not.

Yes I do believe that there is a creator God, who created us & is still busy shaping this wild universe. There are a million stories & wonders happening at this very moment to which we are completely oblivious.

The Bible is a limiting perspective that aims at giving insight into our begginings, it contains much truth however it is tainted by human opinion & various cultural influences that cloud the truth. God creates man, man creates religion to define God.

I believe to challenge everything with reason & fairness, observing both points of view, analysing both sides of the argument without any bias bofore coming to set opinions. Don't let the opinion of the majority taint your personal views. Sometimes theories are romanticized & downplay the opposing theory by evoking emotions which cloud our judgment in order to persuade numbers to their side. This takes care of the majority of people who are to busy, lazy, ego-centred to dig for the truth.