What most closely describes your religious belief system?

[Quixote1818]

1. Deist (rational)
2. New Age
3. Liberal Christian (Unity Church, metaphysical Christian)
4. Hindu
5. Buddhist
6. Existentialist (it's an oxymoron to claim to be an Existentialist you know!)
7. Transcendentalist
8. Spiritual But Not Religious (A little bit of everything up here)
9. Muslim
10. Mormon
11. Jewish
12. Fundamentalist Christian (You never know!)
13. Amway Cult
14. I am in my own sect as far as I know
15. Apathetic (Who the hell cares)
16. Agnostic (who the hell knows)
17. Pagan (includes Native American religions)
18. Unitarian
19. Atheist
20. Other (specify)

[ulysses]

1. agnostic

[Catch22Dem]

2. 19

Although, I'm thinking of switching to Amway for the free shit. :evilgrin:

[HEyHEY]

3. Me

[SheepyMcSheepster]

4. agnostic

[Chovexani]

5. Pagan.

Specifically, I am a Wiccan who follows a Hellenist path (meaning I work with the Greek pantheon).

I am also heavily influenced by Taoism though, largely due to my martial arts studies. My mentor in the Craft also taught me Qi Gong and I have incorporated a lot of that into my spiritual work.

[tibbir]

6. I go to a Unitarian church

but my spiritual belief system is something from agnostic to pagan.

[HEyHEY]

7. Get him!

Sorry old Simpsons joke - it's a reflex

[Chovexani]

12. LOL

Here's a Unitarian joke that never gets old...

Q. How do you scare a Unitarian family out of the neighborhood?
A. Burn a question mark on their lawn.

:evilgrin:

Unitarians are great though. I really respect a belief system that essentially says "I don't know". Maybe we'd be better off as a species if everyone wasn't so hell bent on proving how right they are.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

17. LOL!

That's funny!

And while I'm not officially affiliated with them, I feel like I relate to U.U. more than many religions, just because it's all about the individual experience rather than the collective body telling the individual what they should experience.

[Chovexani]

22. I feel the same way.

I was actually thinking about joining a UU church, since I know people in CUUPS (Pagan UUs), or at least getting married in one (my mom would never come to a Pagan handfasting, she's a born again Christian), but I don't know much about the local ones.

Their whole approach to spirituality really appeals to me.

[WoodrowFan]

58. heh heh

how does a Unitarian start a prayer.."To whom it many concern..."

[whistle]

8. Boy, how can this be set up as a poll to tally the responses?

[Quixote1818]

30. Feel free to set this up as a poll if you like

[LastKnight]

9. Spiritual But Not Religious. nt

[NJCher]

10. 2, 8, or 14

Cher

[Quixote1818]

11. Fundamentalist Christian

Just kidding!:evilgrin:

[Doohickie]

13. Put me down as a 3.

But I am a member of the Presbyterian Church (USA). I notice you have "metaphysical Christian" and "Fundamentalist Christian". There's a lot of territory in between those two, you know....

[WoodrowFan]

59. really

chosing between "metaphysical Christian" and "Fundamentalist Christian" is like a Presidential poll asking you to chose between Nadar and Judge Moore.

[freetobegay]

14. Lutheran

[Wapsie B]

35. Lutheran, with

agnostic, deistic leanings. I like the structure of the worship and I believe in some kind of divine creator even incorporated with the big bang thingy. However I just don't know if its a Christian God behind all this. To paraphrase the Apostle Rufus in "Dogma," I've got an idea.

[BlueJazz]

15. Number 19 n/t

[Poiuyt]

16. Secular Humanist

I believe our purpose on Earth is to make it a better place for everyone else.

[Quixote1818]

18. I am a little bit of all these: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,7,8,14,16,17,18,19

1. Deist
2. New Age
3. Liberal Christian (Unity Church, metaphysical Christian)
4. Hindu
5. Buddhist
6. Existentialist (it's an oxymoron to claim to be an Existentialist you know!)
7. Transcendentalist
8. Spiritual But Not Religious (A little bit of everything up here)
14. I am in my own sect as far as I know
16. Agnostic (who the hell knows)
17. Pagan (includes Native American religions)
18. Unitarian
19. Atheist (some days)

In a nutshell I am an Existentialist I suppose

[still_one]

19. Why this sounds like a question from the Republicans

[freetobegay]

20. Why?

They only own the Christian right wing.

[Quixote1818]

21. You won't get answers like this on the Republican Underground

[Chovexani]

25. That's for damn sure

You'd probably be banned for even uttering religious stuff without JAY-ZUS.

[Darranar]

23. Atheist. n/t

[Lydia Leftcoast]

24. I wouldn't count Unity as "liberal Christian"

It's sort of its own thing.

When I think of "liberal Christian," I think of the liberal wings of the mainstream groups, such as Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, United Methodists, United Church of Christ, and others like that.

I'm a liberal Episcopalian, although not quite at the Bishop Spong level of liberality.

[BigMcLargehuge]

26. atheist

[kestrel91316]

27. Neopagan ecofeminist w/ Anabaptist leanings n/t

[drhilarius]

28. #19

[schultzee]

29. I like Unity Church and I meditate Hindu style. so???

[DemWitch]

31. Ecclectic Witch

[bookfreak]

32. Atheist explorer

I am an atheist, currently exploring Buddhism. I have no idea if I will follow that path but it has some intriguing ideas so far.

[puerco-bellies]

33. Native, belief in the Grandfather, and the connectiveness of all things.

Pagan is for ~(FLAME BAIT ALERT)~ euro-trash, and is separate from, though similar to, native belief systems.

[Chovexani]

36. Way to be tolerant

I agree that Neo-Paganism is separate and distinct from Native belief systems, and they should not be lumped together. I know there is bad blood and issues about white co-opting of native traditions. But that was completely and totally uncalled for. I know many, many Pagans and not one of them would fit the "euro-trash" slur. Most aren't even of European descent to begin with.

Why even post such a derogatory statement if you know it's flame bait? It does nothing to further the conversation and injects a nasty tone into a thread that was otherwise positive.

[Dr Fate]

34. #8 : A tiny bit of all of those.

n/t

[Sufi Marmot]

37. Agnostic with sufi and Unitarian sympathies..

Why isn't that a category? ;-)

-SM

[Chovexani]

38. I've been fascinated with sufism for some time

I'd love to learn more about it. Have any good books or websites to recommend as a starting point?

[Sufi Marmot]

41. Sufi stuff I've read thus far...

Disclaimer: I'm not a Sufi by any reasonable definition of the term - I've done a lot of reading, but not much else. Real Sufis would probably say that such an academic approach is useless as a vehicle for really understanding Sufism (or any form of mysticism). I'm not a marmot either. :-)

Anything by Idries Shah, who packaged Sufism for a contemporary, western, and not-necessarily Muslim audience:

The Sufis is a sprawling introduction to Sufism - it delves into a lot of esoterica, history, and lore, most of which is interesting but probably not relevant to modern sufism. Perhaps more relevant are The Commanding Self and Knowing How to Know (also Learning How to Learn, which I haven't read yet). These books deal with Sufic thought in a westernized context - they're more like psychology than religion. The collections of Mulla Nasrudin tales are entertaining and enlightening. The Way of the Sufi is also worth reading, as are his other collections of teaching stories.

The poetry of Rumi: Impossible to completely translate from Classical Persian but Coleman Barks' reworkings of early translations seem to capture their original spirit.

Essential Sufism by James Fadiman and Robert Frager is a survey of Sufi thought and wisdom from renowned Sufis.

The Conference of the Birds by Farid-ud-din Attar is an epic Sufi allegory about the quest for the divine.

This website is a good source of information about Sufism.

This article might also be useful.

I haven't delved into al-Ghazzali or Ibn Arabi yet.

If I had to recommend where to start, I might suggest The Essential Rumi by Barks and either The Sufis or The Way of the Sufi by Shah.

Hope this is helpful! -SM

[Baja Margie]

39. I'm still a member

of Flip Wilson's The Church That's Happening Now.:crazy:

[dancing kali]

40. "A heathen, possibly;

but, I would certainly hope, not an unenlightened one."

[Guy Fawkes]

42. 11 (But I'm a priest of the ULC...)

[VOX]

43. Somewhere between "Liberal Christian" and "Spiritual But Not Religious"...

With a healthy dose of "Buddhist" tossed in for good measure.

:kick:

[Rhiannon12866]

44. Agnostic

Though I would like to feel otherwise. My Dad was quite religious, but I lost him to cancer. He went through so much, that I felt that no benevolent being would have stood by and let him go through that.;(

[Gothic Sponge]

45. 19

[Briarius]

46. Taoist/Biddhist

Which I suppose puts me in the Zen camp...I've been reading more Buddhist stuff lately and it makes so much more sense to me than Christianity did, and it fits well with the taoist philosophy

[LDS Jock]

47. 10... Mormon

It is who I am, not only what I believe. Even if I never set foot in a Mormon chapel again, I'll always be Mormon til the day I die.

[lil-petunia]

48. agnostic, and proud of it

I wear gnostics on my sleeve, baptist slogans on my underwear, evangelical socks (they are holy) and stinky shoes which represent pentacostals. Their souls have worn out.

[enigmatic]

49. 14. I am in my own sect as far as I know

Of course..

[T_i_B]

50. Christian

[truthspeaker]

51. 19 - atheist

Since 7 years old (with a short relapse in my early teens).

[jonnyblitz]

52. 19, no gods, no masters. n/t

[dolo amber]

53. Other - Anti-theist

I not only don't believe, I wish no one else did either. Biggest buncha trouble-making crap this world's ever seen. x(

[mrboba1]

54. Liberal Christian.

[JohnKleeb]

55. 20 other Catholic

Sorry if its there, I didnt see it, but I am a non-praticing Catholic, but I plan to attend when I get older.

[WoodrowFan]

56. 20-orthodox mainstream Presbyterian

the "frozen chosen". that'd be between 3 and 12, but closer to 3.

[Magrittes Pipe]

57. Apathetic.

I don't fucking care. Is there something in the universe better than humans? Shit, I hope so, we suck. But do we know about it, can we perceive it?

I respect the full range of theistic and atheistic beliefs, but I can't share in any of them. I can only believe in what I can experience -- and as I can neither experience a deity, nor can I experience the lack thereof, I simply disregard the matter entirely.

Sincerely,
The Knight of Infinite Resignation

[WoodrowFan]

60. If you don't beleive in God

How do you explain the Big Red Machine???

if you don't believe in Satan how do you explain the Yankees???

[Magrittes Pipe]

61. Ah, but that flies in the face of the idea of an eternal god.

In '75 and '76, Joe Morgan was God. Now, he is a blubbering fool.

[WoodrowFan]

62. he built on sand

besides, Tony Perez is still God!

[Magrittes Pipe]

63. Nah, Perez is just a nice guy with big shoulders.

He's a cheap William Blake caricature of God.

[WoodrowFan]

64. BLASPHMER!!!!!!

sput, sput, spuutter, STONE HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ProfessorGAC]

65. 15

That's the closest to my position.
The Professor

[eyesroll]

66. Food Jew.

I make a mean chicken-noodle soup.

[truthspeaker]

67. you order Chinese take-out a lot?

[eyesroll]

68. Every Christmas!

[skippysmom]

69. Deist

Much like many of our founding fathers, contrary to the religious right's belief.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

70. cat /dev/null (nt)

[hyphenate]

71. I dunno where I fit in

I was raised in Catholicism, but I reject everything about it now. I don't like organized religion at all--going back through history, I find too many fingers in the bowl, using religion and faith to control people. As a result, I think organized religion is filled with way too many contradictions. On the other hand, while I don't believe in a "god" per se, I do believe that there is an existence after death. You could call it a ghostly realm, a parallel dimension where our consciousnesses go when our body dies. As a result of that, I believe in reincarnation, where that energy returns to earth as a new person.

If there is some sort of "intelligent design" to the universe, I don't see it. I firmly believe in evolution, and can never place any faith at all in creationism. As I believe we're not alone in the universe, it begs the question of which species of life in the universe would a single "god" create based on his own image?

Spiritually, I think that our forefathers and those who pass before us watch us protectively. I don't call them "guardian angels" because that's a religious connotation. But I do believe that with a decidedly open mind, we can "hear" them on a level that most people don't have the patience to deal with. It's never so clear cut as psychics like to pretend, but more of a flash of insight or imagery. And I don't equate that belief with religion, more of something that just exists. I think it's true that children and animals are able to "see" that existence better than adults, because they haven't been told repeatedly that it's impossible, so their minds are more open to the possibilities.

I do believe that there is a stream of consciousness between all humans. Our minds are made up of electrical energy, and there is a link between all in that area. It's how we're able to "pick up" signals from people we're close to.

I don't look at new age materials as being particular religious. I've worked with the Tarot, numerology, I Ching and other divination methods, and just look at them as tools to interpret that stream of consciousness we're all part of.

[SarahB]

72. Everytime I have taken this, I end with with the top ones being...

Unitarian, Liberal Christian, Quaker, and Buddhist. I've taken it about three or four times and depending on when I take it, different ones are on top.