Which part of your religion/faith/spirituality is the most important to you?

[More Than A Feeling]

I know its hard to choose, but if you had to rank them, which portion would come out on top?

[TRYPHO]

1. hmmmm...good question

I enjoy the ritual, I feel the ethics are a true method to live by, and, spookily I really do feel a comfort in knowing who I am, where I have come from, where my genes originate, so to speak. I'd love to do a DNA test to prove I am a Cohen, a priest from the line of aaron, and for my wife to show she is a Levi, from the priests assistants in the temple - its like saying "someone from the line of David is married to someone from the line of Sarah" - I just need to be annointed and I'm YouKnowWho!

Ok, enough nonsense, the day to day answer is ETHICS, The rituals/pray/festivals are only important when they are used, and the "nature of the world" comforts me spiritually, but I don't think it has any normal day-to-day relevence.

Final answer: Ethics.

TRYPHO

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. All of the above plus the sense of community, not only within

the individual parish but a connection with people throughout the world and through history.

[Hardrada]

12. You would have liked the Latin mass.

It was as universal as anything!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. In aeternam cantabo :-)

As a choir member at an Episcopal cathedral, I get to sing a lot of Latin anyway, both during festival services (when we might do the ordinary to a setting by Byrd or Tallis) and in the anthems during the regular services (I've become a fluent speaker of motet Latin.)

[Hardrada]

17. No wonder I often feel I am preaching to the choir here!

Surgare, illuminare Ierusalem!

[xchrom]

3. i'm an episcopalian -- and having come into the christmas season --

right now it's the ritual.

other times it's prayer and meditation.

it's ALWAYS the sermon on the mount.

however first and foremost -- i understand that my institution is made up of people and extremely fallible.

[Meshuga]

4. Ethics and Identity...

...are my two biggies. Faith is secondary.

[papau]

5. Religion is not about any of your choices - but I appreciate that you as a non-

religious person, posted this question in the Religion/Theology Forum - as that is where these posts belong, rather than in General Discussion - at least, in my opinion

Your choices are items that might help in a decision as to what parish/Church/storefront meeting to attend. They do affect the comfort factor

BUT they are not things that make one religious or spiritual.

Indeed what makes an atheist have faith in the non-existence of a God - is it the companionship of other atheists who he admires, or is it the removal of the feeling of being judged, or is it sleeping in on weekends?

[More Than A Feeling]

8. I love the R/T forum, and have made it my most-frequented forum for a long time

and I have seen you around, although I don't think we've actually talked before.

It's funny that you should call me a non-religious person. For awhile after I moved away from believing in Christianity, that would have been true. However, I have recently taken up Zen practice. Decide whether it is still true that I am non-religious for yourself.

I have come to know the joy that is asking the hard questions, and you may have seen some of mine in past months.

Of all the options that I could have added but did not (and therefore fall under "other"), the one I would have guessed to be the most popular would have been "the people". That is the answer to the question "Heaven and Earth, why do you still attend your Christian church, even as the beliefs have lost meaning for you?"

[papau]

14. The people" is a comfort factor - but is it a religious or spiritual factor - I don't

believe so. But debate/discussion is what we are as humans, and is pleasant to do

As to Zen, many, many Christians are also Buddhist as personal experience, humility, labor and service, prayer and gratitude; and a life of meditation fit well in the Christian world and indeed were part of it from the start.

Your prior question about "is it necessary for Jesus to have existed" now makes more sense - given where you are in your spiritual journey.

I only post rarely in this forum, as it is often hard to actually discuss religion here because other DU posters that post here want to add value by teaching everyone posting in a thread that they should not be religious or spiritual.

There are many excellent liberal Christian sites on the web, including the Unitarian discussion groups that have many that feel specific beliefs have lost meaning to them, but still feel they are on a spiritual journey (or not - as the Unitarian group also provides a home for atheists that are liberal socially and want to act on or at least discuss ethics and human rights).

Good luck in your posts - and in your journey.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. I chose "other"

because to me the most important part of my spiritual life is experiencing.

[papau]

7. I agree :-)

:-)

[mike_c]

9. other-- its absence....

:rofl:

[Hardrada]

10. The part where I consume chocolate covered marzipan.

I was a great Lutheran however for years!

[Berry Cool]

11. Hey, to be a great Lutheran, as far as I'm concerned

eating chocolate covered marizpan is a MUST.

[Hardrada]

13. A fellow believer!

[Danger Mouse]

16. Other...

...the feeling that someone up there is listening to my thoughts, concerns, and stupid internal monologues...bleh :P

[Hardrada]

20. I hear you!

:D

[kwassa]

18. Prayer is missing from your list.

It is the most important aspect to me.

Ritual invokes the prayer state, so do other religious activities to me. Doing it in community is very important, too.

[TechBear_Seattle]

19. "My religion is to do good"

Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.

-- Thomas Paine, American patriot and Founder
The Rights of Man, chapter 5

[jody]

21. I believe Society can be viewed as a system, i.e. a set of interrelated entities with common goals.

IMO morality is among the most important interrelations for society and it doesn’t matter whether the source is religious or irreligious. I also believe there are basic moral elements such as the ethic of reciprocity or Golden Rule, "treat others as you would like to be treated."

Definitions from Wikipedia

Morality refers to the concept of human ethics which pertains to matters of good and evil —also referred to as "right or wrong", used within three contexts: individual conscience; systems of principles and judgments — sometimes called moral values —shared within a cultural, religious, secular, Humanist, or philosophical community; and codes of behavior or conduct morality.

Personal morality defines and distinguishes among right and wrong intentions, motivations or actions, as these have been learned, engendered, or otherwise developed within each individual.

System (from the Latin (systēma), and this from the Greek σύστημα (sustēma)) is an assemblage of entity/objects, real or abstract, comprising a whole with each and every component/element interacting with or related to at least one other component/element. Any object which has no relationship with any other element of the system, is not a component of that system. A subsystem is then a set of elements, which is a system itself, and a part of the whole system.

A society is a grouping of individuals, which is characterized by common interest and may have distinctive culture and institutions. "Society" may refer to a particular people, such as the Nuer, to a nation state, such as Switzerland, or to a broader cultural group, such as Western society. Society can also be explained as an organized group of people associated together for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic, or other purposes.

Humanism is a broad category of active ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people, based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appeal to universal human qualities—particularly rationalism. Humanism is a component of a variety of more specific philosophical systems, and is also incorporated into some religious schools of thought. Humanism entails a commitment to the search for truth and morality through human means in support of human interests. In focusing on the capacity for self-determination, humanism rejects transcendental justifications, such as a dependence on faith, the supernatural, or divinely revealed texts. Humanists endorse universal morality based on the commonality of human nature, suggesting that solutions to human social and cultural problems cannot be parochial.