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Im only aware of atheism, agnostism and theism

Are there any other "general" beliefs to round up peoples perspectives on the sensitive topic of religion?

What are your beliefs and Why?

BTW Im wondering what category would i fall into if I DO believe that a god exist but do not believe in worshiping him / her /it.


(PS I apologise if i used any incoherent or inconsistent words)

There's also a distinction between monotheism, polytheism, and dualism.

I think you would fall into the category of people with unusual definitions of "god" and/or "worship".

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I try to be open to other religons but personally I am a skeptic who goes through Christmas and Easter for the presents and candy and because everyone else does. I think the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus are odd considering they have nothing at all to do with the actual story. The 3 Kings celebrations held in other countries are much better as they directly relate to the story, I believe these are celebrated in Spanish speaking countries but I am curious about where exactly its celebrate anyone know? Thats just my thoughts on the subject.

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" Simpsons

I was born into catholicism and was brought up in a disciplined catholic school, as I grew older i just saw being a catholic as "a way of life" like it was what was considered "good", "right" and "moral".

However the reason for why I should follow Catholicism is currently being challenge because I believe by challenging what we value makes our value / belief system a lot stronger.

I always saw "my" religion as the ever omnipotent object which you don't dare to question like my father and his father and so on...

Also another thing which made me think the way i think is how many arguements are wieghted against it. One example would be hypocrisy within the sector.

I wasn't going to touch this with a 10 foot pole, but...

I think the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus are odd considering they have nothing at all to do with the actual story.

Actually, the "easter bunny" is an ancient symbol of fertility, as are eggs. "Easter" has very old word origins - I think it was an old word meaning "spring." In many variations, it was the name of various goddesses of fertility. For example: Saxon (Eostra), Norse (Ostara), and many others. Notice also such words as estrus, estrogen, can't think of others at the moment. Anyway, as with Christmas, pagan spring celebrations were folded into the Christian versions of the holiday. That's why they persist today.

As for Santa, there are many theories on his origin. The modern Santa as we know him was created by Coca Cola, purely as a marketing tool. There is certainly the possibility though, that inspiration was taken from old beliefs regarding elf/dwarf spirits. I can't speak for traditions in other cultures, but in Swedish tradition, there was the Tomten, a little creature that took up residence in houses and was believed to be a benevolent presence. At some point during the 1800's the tomten became a bearer of gifts during solstice celebration.

Both of these symbols represent the persistence of very old beliefs into modern culture. As for them having nothing to do with the actual story, it depends on which "story" you believe.

There's also a distinction between monotheism, polytheism, and dualism

BTW, there is also pantheism, the belief that:

"God is everything and everything is God … the world is either identical with God or in some way a self-expression of his nature" (Owen 1971: 74). Similarly, it is the view that (2) everything that exists constitutes a "unity" and this all-inclusive unity is in some sense divine." (from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

As the largest religion with many sections and interpretations of the same, christianity has gained a few things here and there that aren't entirely its own, but believers have bought with them from all over the globe and from past religions etc etc.

I believe that Easter (the celebration, not the story behind it) is based somewhat on Ostara/Eostar/Spring Equinox, the pagan spring celebration as it is at the correct time of year and many of the traditions are seemingly unrelated to the ressurection, but found their origins in the old pagan rituals. I must admit they fit together well.

I think modern day Santa Claus is a loooong way from its origins, which I believe are quite varied (which is a classy-sounding way of saying I can tell you about 4 stories that all seem historically accurate, but I couldn't tell you which came first or which is the most Santa-y ).

Almost all religions, or more the acts surrounding religions, are based somewhat on people and their environment. People change, so does the environment. Core beliefs stay pretty much the same but the way that people show belief seems to morph somewhat over time into whatever is most appropriate for the time and place.

And friedrice, I was having a discussion with a friend about this recently. Christianity is based on a book written about a happening from many perspectives by mere men who were trying to get the message to the masses. It is then translated and interpretted and explained by more mere men and so on and so forth down the line. Just like those games you used to play as a kid, things are added and subtracted and changed and by the end you may end up with a completely different veiw of the original than Joe Blogs down the road. Different viewpoints, diffrent ways of expressing the same thing, even in the original works. Are some writings metaphors that are more easily understood? are they out and out what happened?
My rather long-winded point being that maybe getting as close to the source as possible (which granted, is a teensy bit tricky) and bypassing some of the chain would be an interesting thing to do, if only to see how the same text can be interpretted in many different ways. Maybe not questioning so much as exploring with new eyes.

This is a baaaad topic to get me started on Belief is such a personal thing, so many influences. I have a hunch its like fingerprints, no two exactly the same.

I hope I have not offended. I just find it a fascinating topic



For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

The modern Santa as we know him was created by Coca Cola, purely as a marketing tool.

Claim: The modern image of Santa Claus — a jolly figure in a red-and-white suit — was created by Coca-Cola.

Status: False.
http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/santa.asp

All this isn't to say that Coca-Cola didn't have anything to do with cementing that image of Santa Claus in the public consciousness. The Santa image may have been standardized before Coca-Cola adopted it for their advertisements, but Coca-Cola had a great deal to do with establishing Santa Claus as a ubiquitous Christmas figure in America at a time when the holiday was still making the transition from a religious observance to a largely secular and highly commercial celebration. In an era before color television (or commercial television of any kind), color films, and the widespread use of color in newspapers, it was Coca-Cola's magazine advertisements, billboards, and point-of-sale store displays that exposed nearly everyone in America to the modern Santa Claus image. Coca-Cola certainly helped make Santa Claus one of the most popular men in America, but they didn't invent him.


I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

I belief in marshmallow peeps. Nuff said.

ok ok, so maybe "created" was too strong a word. I realize that Coke only took inspiration from what was already there, but they did create an image to serve their purposes. It was this image that stuck. And it remains that marketing is an extremely distasteful component of holidays today. Enough about Santa. Back to the important topic here:

I belief in marshmallow peeps. Nuff said.

Hey man, to each his own. I'll trade ya my marshmallow peeps for any chocolatey-type things.

pantheism is another one, yes, and you reminded me there's also animism.

><>

*believe.

I don't know what I believe about easter... but let's put it this way: this morning my parents dragged me out of bed and made me go to mass, and when I got there, I slept thru the whole thing

Reguarding Santa -
based on my own personal research, I've concluded that Adolf Hitler MURDERED the REAL Santa and took his place, merely faking his own suicide at the end of WWII (which I and Kurt Vonnegut both like to call 'civilization's 2nd sucide attempt'). I won't go into all of my reasoning, as it'd be like 2 pages long, but I will say that I've convinced other people that I'm right

Yes, I do know that I'm a poor demented little freak who needs to spend a few more weeks in the loony bin, you don't need to remind me... but if you feel the need to do so, please feel free

"ok ok, so maybe "created" was too strong a word. I realize that Coke only took inspiration from what was already there, but they did create an image to serve their purposes. It was this image that stuck."

Although some versions of the Santa Claus figure still had him attired in various colors of outfits past the beginning of the 20th century, the jolly, ruddy, sack-carrying Santa with a red suit and flowing white whiskers had become the standard image of Santa Claus by the 1920s, several years before Sundlom drew his first Santa illustration for Coca-Cola. As The New York Times reported on 27 November 1927:

A standardized Santa Claus appears to New York children. Height, weight, stature are almost exactly standardized, as are the red garments, the hood and the white whiskers. The pack full of toys, ruddy cheeks and nose, bushy eyebrows and a jolly, paunchy effect are also inevitable parts of the requisite make-up.


Sorry, urban myths are a pet peeve of mine

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

Cup, im with you, i am supposedly a catholic, in that i go to church because my family does, and i go to cathlic school, but i dont nesscessarily follow it all the way, i do my own thing with religion.

but as far as im concernd, peeps and chocolate, peeps and chocolate.

Nick
"Impossumable- unable to play dead"

I belief in marshmallow peeps.

I was raised Catholic but have considered myself agnostic for many years.

To each his/her own

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Im Catholic and Anti-Peep.

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

I'm Back-Row Southern Baptist and I firmly believe in hollow milk chocolate bunnies and malted milk eggs. /:'

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

Im agnostic, unless you count a mild sense of gaia worship, but I was wondering what satanists do for easter?

Eat everybodys eggs and carry shovels ?