interesting....i'd say even if i'm wrong...even if i'm suffering from illusions...my life in the here and now is infinitely richer and deeper with Christ than it is without him. but i feel i have enough personal experience to solidify my faith. to me, anyway.
None. Probably closest representation of my beliefs would be somewhere between Unitarian and Taoist. Couple of links for reference: http://www.uua.org/aboutuu/ http://dmoz.org/Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Taoism/desc.html
Raised Catholic. Moving away from it as my faith has decreased and looking into other types of spirituality such as Taoism. I think I crossed over when a priest asked me if I was going to raise my children as Catholics, and I lied to him and said yes, knowing full well I had no such intentions. I was married in a non-denominational church a few years ago just so I wouldn't have to go through precana. I tend to question the credibility of a priest who talks to me about the merits of marriage and I would've probably gone nuts listening to other couples yapping about how great their life commitment is to each other.
Christian - Protestant - Nondenominational/Interdenominational I grew up in the Episcopal Church. I currently attend a Baptist(First) Church.
If I had to choose, I guess I would say Agnostic. Although Agnostics generally believe that there is not enough evidence currently to say whetether there is or isn't a god. Personally, I do believe in some form of a higher power, though I'm not sure in what capacity. I've been to various churchs in my life, and my family was methodist growing up. Since I've become an adult though, I've realized that I get nothing out of going to church, and don't feel I need it in my life to be a decent person. My beliefs are definetly not Christian, though I'm not sure what you would classify them as.
Roman Catholic, agree with Oski that there needs to be a Vatican III for one sole purpose: married priests.
Secular Humanism # A conviction that dogmas, ideologies and traditions, whether religious, political or social, must be weighed and tested by each individual and not simply accepted on faith. # Commitment to the use of critical reason, factual evidence, and scientific methods of inquiry, rather than faith and mysticism, in seeking solutions to human problems and answers to important human questions. # A primary concern with fulfillment, growth, and creativity for both the individual and humankind in general. # A constant search for objective truth, with the understanding that new knowledge and experience constantly alter our imperfect perception of it. # A concern for this life and a commitment to making it meaningful through better understanding of ourselves, our history, our intellectual and artistic achievements, and the outlooks of those who differ from us. # A search for viable individual, social and political principles of ethical conduct, judging them on their ability to enhance human well-being and individual responsibility. # A conviction that with reason, an open marketplace of ideas, good will, and tolerance, progress can be made in building a better world for ourselves and our children. http://www.secularhumanism.org
Depends on my mood. I like them all so I dabble a little in each. I had my children baptised in the Catholic church mostly for my wife's family who are catholic. My dad was 7th day adventist. I went to baptist churches growing up. I like to read about any religion. I have major doubts and confilts in my beliefs. I dig the budists and the taoists. I just made a friend (coworker) who is hindu so now I'm dabbling in that. I figure I'll cover all my bases.
Raised Catholic (I even was a ministrant), but left the church last year. In Germany, you have to pay between 8 or 9 % of your income tax in addition to what you already pay in income tax as church tax. I think that is a pretty unique thing worldwide and consequently, the Vatican is largely funded by German taxpayers. I have come to the conclusion that I would rather use that significant amount of money (8-9 % of your taxes is like 4-5 % of your total income, depending on your tax rate which is up to about 50 % in Germany) in a manner in which I see a better use for the money and have decided to take on a sponsorship for a child. http://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/ I hope that less money will be lost in a bureaucratic system. Maybe it is a bit egoistic, too, because by doing this, you probably have a stronger feeling of a personal reward when the specific child you support grows up and you even hear from them. My decision is a consequence of having become more and more critical towards the Catholic church over time for various reasons. However, I do think that the Catholic church also does many good things (charity) and therefore the decision was not that easy to make. I also think that many of the values promoted by Christianity are very good ones. However, the same could probably be said about Islam and most other religions. I am interested in some of the wisdom from Buddhism and Confucianism as well. Overall, I am still struggling with the whole topic.
I don't believe Mark Cohen grew up in Houston, let alone Meyerland, and I know for a fact he wouldn't know the blues if it bit him on his boo-boo!
