What Are Your Religious Beliefs?

[MineralMan]

That's a question I never ask anyone. I don't really care. It's really none of my business. I don't need to know what the people around me believe with regard to gods and the like. I can observe how they behave and treat others. That's all I need to understand about them.

Occasionally, someone asks me that question. I simply answer, "I have none." If they continue to question me, I'll tell them I'm an atheist. If they press further, I will simply walk away from the discussion.

I don't care what people choose to believe, unless they insist that I believe the same thing. Then, I will adamantly refuse to do that. If it continues, I will no longer have any truck with that person. Why would I?

Religion is OK with me, as long as it is a personal belief and doesn't get imposed on others. I won't ask. I don't care. It's what people do, not what they say, that matters. I do care about that.

[Glorfindel]

1. Why, Mineral Man, I believe you have perfectly expressed the Golden Rule!

"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you: do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."

Matthew 7:12

Good for you. It's almost exactly the way I feel myself.

[MineralMan]

4. That simple statement of reciprocity is common to virtually every

religion and philosophical system. Really, it's the only rule that needs to be followed. Always has been. That's why its so universally expressed.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. For example:

Buddhism: "Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful." Udana-Varga 5:18

Confucianism: "Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence." Mencius VII.A.4

Hinduism: "This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you." Mahabharata 5:1517

Islam: "None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." Number 13 of Imam "Al-Nawawi's Forty Hadiths."

Judaism: "What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is commentary." Talmud, Shabbat 31a.

[MineralMan]

9. Exactly. Anyone who thinks about interpersonal relations

would discover that rule. Sadly, too many people make the mistake of believing that religions are about what happens when you die, instead of looking within that religion for advice about what to do while you live. It's funny, really, but failing to do that has led to much sadness, despair and cruelty during human history.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Jefferson had it right:

"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."

[MineralMan]

5. Yes. A smart man, that Jefferson...

[Motley13]

3. I second the motion

[MaryMagdaline]

6. Atheist

With strong Catholic cultural leanings. Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is my prophet. Love Christian mythology and iconography.

[MineralMan]

7. Yes. What all religions have in common regarding human

interactions makes a pretty darned good basis for living. As I studied various religions on my path to atheism, that's what I learned. If you drop all of the deity nonsense and look at guidelines for living in society, they all pretty much cover the same ground.

That's all one needs, really.

[mitch96]

10. "Religion is OK with me, as long as it is a personal belief and doesn't get imposed on others"

Agreed..
I don't hang a moniker around my neck though.. Most people get confused with atheist,agnostic deist.
If they must know "what are you" I just say I believe in a personal god but not any organized religion.. That usually sends them away happy and off my back...
m

[edhopper]

11. "I have none"

is my answer as well.
I never start the conversation.

[MineralMan]

12. I don't volunteer the information either.

Unless, of course, I'm in a place where religion is the topic. I have friends who are ministers and pastors. We have discussions from time to time.

[Act_of_Reparation]

13. New York Pizza

Way better than that Chicago shit. "Ohhh, look at me, I found a way to eat lasagna with my hands and will call it pizza"... HERESY!

[MineralMan]

14. I'm ecumenical when it comes to pizza.

As long as the toppings are within sensible boundaries, I will eat them all.

[Act_of_Reparation]

15. And the LORD spake...

..."Thou shalt not top not thine pizza with more than three toppings, nor shalt thou top thine pizza with more than one meat. For the LORD favors quality over abundance. AMEN."

[MineralMan]

16. Thou Shalt Dress Thy Pizza with the Lord's Toppings

"Upon the base of tomato-based sauce shalt thou place only sausage, black olives and the blessed anchovy fish. Then, though mayest dine upon thy meal with the Lord's blessing." -Antonio 6:12

[Act_of_Reparation]

17. "Thou shalt not craft thine pizza from the dough of the freezer..."

"...for the dough of the freezer is an abomination in the eyes of the LORD." - Bufala 13:10

[MineralMan]

18. "And Lo! the Creator did expand the dough, tossing it artfully into the heavens."

"Go thou and do likewise."