# How do you feel about religions other than your own? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 18, 2015, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869 "2015-11-18T04:19:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/21 "2015-11-18T14:24:05Z")
Meh, everyone (with the possible exception of a ‘perfect’ agnostic) believes something that is unprovable. Religious/spiritual people believe in the existence of God(s), higher power(s), and/or spiritual force(s) beyond our realm. Athiests believe that none of the preceding exist. Neither position is provable. Personally, I like Godel’s Theorem mentioned by **Nava**. I believe that there are incorrect understandings of the nature of God, but no one has a complete understanding. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/22 "2015-11-18T15:09:02Z")
I’m an atheist, or more accurately, an apatheist; I find the whole question of religion really boring. I’m leery of religious people in general, but don’t give it too much thought until they get rowdy with it. Saying ‘bless you’ after I sneeze, fine; but anything more than that makes me nervous. The next thing you know, someone’s telling me not to eat bacon, or blowing themselves up in a cafe, or banning liquor sales on Sundays. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/23 "2015-11-18T15:11:36Z")
Active/devout ELCA Lutheran here; worship leader and rostered laity. I actually like and really appreciate different religions and when I get the chance to join them in worship or talk with them I take it. Not just other Christian denominations but a lot of the non-Christian ones (and atheistic ones like the Uniterian Universalists) as well. Maybe I’m an odd duck but I tend to see how much we are alike more than how we are different from each other. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/24 "2015-11-18T15:13:42Z")
This MB is not the type of place to get a broad response on this subject. I doubt if there are more than one or two regular posters here who are going to claim that all religions other then theirs are wrong or evil. And yet many people in the world do hold that view. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/25 "2015-11-18T15:17:24Z")
People have a right to their own opinions, and religion is a matter of opinion. If there was “one true religion” wouldn’t we be there? I cringe when I hear “I know there’s a God.” No, you believe God exists. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/26 "2015-11-18T15:33:22Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > This MB is not the type of place to get a broad response on this subject. Yeah, you’re probly right, but these sorta questions go over SO WELL IRL! 😉 I often feel so marginalized in the circles in which I lead my life, I appreciate receiveing views from a group in which I am not so much of a minority, and where honest expression of my views won’t risk me becoming an outcast. Sure Jews, Christians, and Muslims all profess to worship the same god, but they obviously think the others are doing it wrong. And there is no end to historical examples of them trying to kill each other, rather than celebrate their common delusion. That’s one thing that always struck me as hypocritical abut religions. On the surface they claim to be all about love and tolerance, whereas to this outsider religion (at least from my limited American perspective) seems to be one of the last permitted bastions of prejudice and bigotry. Hard to believe any religion more or less silly than any other. Sure Scientology is all bullshit, but I suspect that is largely due to its recency. L. Ron was no more or less of a huckster than John Smith, and look where a century or so has gotten his followers. Repeat as you wish as far back as you wish to go. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/27 "2015-11-18T15:35:28Z")
I’m a last Thursdayist. I have no truck with the rest of your week old religions. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/28 "2015-11-18T15:36:59Z")
I’m an agnostic I guess. I think all religions are pretty much nonsense just to control people. I have close friends who are religious though. As long as they don’t throw it in my face I am fine with it. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/29 "2015-11-18T16:15:13Z")
As a reasonably devout pantheistic hedonist, I find most religions to be misguided and wrong, and some of them to be downright silly. But most of my problems with the various religions aren’t with their beliefs but with their believers. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/30 "2015-11-18T16:19:46Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I cringe when I hear “I know there’s a God.” No, you believe God exists. I just wish more of them would admit that. That they are a believer because they “like” being a believer. That they never really took the time to think rationally, or logically, or reasonably about religion in general and instead just kept going to church every Sunday because that’s what mom & pop did, the people there are nice, and believing in what they are saying gets them through the day. That thinking for themselves about heavy philosophical topics makes their head hurt so they rather just hear where their church stands on the subject and go with that. That being able to say that life holds a lot of mysteries that nobody knows the answers to is unacceptable to them and they need something more to cling to even if it’s writings from the imaginations of men centuries ago. That religion is a powerful placebo that works for them. Like a boy’s teddy bear or a girl’s dolly they cling to for protection during a thunder storm. Some fabric and stuffing but it really does help them sleep at night. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/31 "2015-11-18T16:30:50Z")
I think the OP raises a deep question. If I’m Jewish, for example, I don’t for one minute believe Jesus was the son of God or was resurrected after three days (etc etc). In my mind, it just didn’t happen that way. If it did, I’d be a Christian and not a Jew, I suppose. But there are hundreds of millions of people who believe something that I am firmly convinced is wrong. They’re not bad people, but they are fundamentally misguided on a very important subject. Once I realize t that, how can I then not wonder about the myths I have accepted, equally without any evidence? In other words, once I reject religion X, how can I not reject my own religion for exactly the same reasons? So I guess I agree with this: > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by \*\*even sven \*\* > I’m not convinced that many “true believers” actually exist. I think most people secretly recognize that religion is more metaphorical than literal. Religion is nice (I suppose) for fellowship and philosophical musings, but I just can’t wrap my head about the idea that many people actually believe much of it literally. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/32 "2015-11-18T16:45:55Z")
I’m an atheist. I generally don’t pay much attention to other peoples’ religions unless they are bothering me about mine (or my lack thereof) and I try to judge people as individuals rather than members of a group. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/33 "2015-11-18T16:50:48Z")
I was raised Catholic, and I remember the nuns telling us that only Catholics went to heaven. Then I watched the teachings change to be more inclusive, with swings thither and yon over the years. After I married a Baptist, we tried several different churches together but in the last 25 years or so, we just haven’t bothered. I no longer subscribe to any particular religion. I was never a Biblical literalist - I always took it to be a simplistic way of explaining the complexities of the world to a far less technological society than ours. But most of all, I consider matters of belief, or lack thereof, to be extremely personal, and few things bother me more than someone preaching at me, trying to “save” me. Share with like-minded folks if you want, but leave the rest of us alone. So, to address the OP’s question - your beliefs are your business. The moment you try to force them on me or anyone else, my tolerance starts to fade. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/34 "2015-11-18T16:52:07Z")
I dislike the three great Western monotheisms, because they don’t respect girls so much. I like girls. The Catholic arm of Christianity produced some excellent art and music, though. I like art and music, too. And Bach (Protestant). ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/35 "2015-11-18T16:57:58Z")
About a year ago I finally got around to reading Hofstadter’s well-known Pulitzer-prize-winning 1963 book, _Anti-Intellectualism in American Life_. A fine alternative title could have been _Mainstream Religion in American Life_. 'Nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/36 "2015-11-18T17:02:58Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I cringe when I hear “I know there’s a God.” No, you believe God exists. I know God exists because I am part of God, my innerbeing is of God and is God, and that allows access to the fullness of God and knowing God. Everyone likewise is also of God in their inner being, and one with God. So the saying I believe in God does not make any sense, God exists because I am, Saying I beleive in God only really has the meaning to me that I believe that God’s plan will come to fruition. Now take the statement ‘There is no God’ well that’s only what you believe. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/37 "2015-11-18T17:16:06Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > I know God exists because I am part of God, my innerbeing is of God and is God, and that allows access to the fullness of God and knowing God. Everyone likewise is also of God in their inner being, and one with God. > > So the saying I believe in God does not make any sense, God exists because I am, Saying I beleive in God only really has the meaning to me that I believe that God’s plan will come to fruition. > > Now take the statement ‘There is no God’ well that’s only what you believe. uh, what? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/38 "2015-11-18T17:36:41Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > uh, what? It’s God stuff. Let it be. I consider myself an Agnostic A-Religionist (there may be a God-Central Purpose to the Universe, but if that is so, no religion past/present/future has anything in the least to do with He/She/It/They). That said, I work around a lot of religious folks and lived in the Middle East for four years, and most people (I would say the vast majority) are just smucks like the rest of us, trying to get through the day without disaster and doing the best they can for themselves and their family. I rather like people. Their religions…not so much. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/39 "2015-11-18T17:37:42Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > uh, what? Careful. Plagues of locusts and whatnot. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869/40 "2015-11-18T17:47:24Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > People have a right to their own opinions, and religion is a matter of opinion. If there was “one true religion” wouldn’t we be there? > > I cringe when I hear “I know there’s a God.” No, you believe God exists. But that’s what faith is, and religions are built on faith. I don’t judge those who are religious because I was brought up in a big ol’ Catholic family and I get what it’s all about. But I never had that faith. So it’s almost like a genetic difference for me in that you can’t control it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-religions-other-than-your-own/737869.md?page=3)