I love the spiraling evolution towards New Age bullshit. Which color on the spiral are you?
was raised by a jewish mother and a father who considers himself an “orthodox indifferentist” (or he firmly believes in not giving a damn) but I myself drifted toward agnosticism and now atheism in recent years. I seriously dislike organized religion, but have nothing against most followers of religions (one of my good friends is a born-again christian and is still a virgin. I think she’s kinda stupid in that regards but i respect her decision). I don’t really argue religion in my personal life unless someone refuses to accept my polite requests to not preach to me or try and convert me, than I could care less about their feelings cause obviously they don’t care about mine
Um, I’m both a ‘‘moderate believer’’ Buddhist and an atheist.
Agnostic. No one knows if a god of any kind really exists.
I grew up in a strong Christian family but I’ve been on the fence for a very long time. When I’m asked about religion I just say I’m comfortably undecided. I chose Agnostic.
I’m open to the idea that there might be a god, higher power or something supernatural but there’s no way to know for sure and I can’t “just believe” as many Christians have told me.
I’m agnostic, leaning toward atheism.
I still go to midnight mass with family sometimes during the holidays, stand quietly when public invocations and such are said and perform the occasional religious song with a group or for hire.
I don’t say amen at the end of a public prayer or the “under god” during the pledge, nor do I waffle when someone asks me what my beliefs are.
Basically, you (general you) keep your religion to yourself and I’ll keep my non-belief to myself.
I believe strongly in G-d, say numerous blessing every day, and pray in times of trouble and wear a yarmulke.
BUT- I’m no fundie shoving my faith down people’s throats and I’m certainly not mainstream (I belong to a LiveJournal group called Weird Jews).
I will object if we’re ordering pizza together and you want a meat topping. If you ask me any question about Judaism, I will answer to the best of my ability. But, I don’t preach to people.
I always describe myself as a theist that follows Jesus. If the bones of Jesus were discovered tomorrow, I would not lose my faith in God nor stop listening to Jesus’ message of love one another. I also believe that God has been active with all people, not just one tribe or tradition. I just think Jesus had the best picture of what God wants.
For this poll, I chose strong believer because my faith in the existence of God is pretty secure even if I waffle a little on faith traditions and don’t fall under evangelical/ fundamentalist/ orthodox/ very devout subheading.
I’m surprised at two things. One, the sheer number of responses. Two, the number of religious believers.
Had there been an option for irreligious I would have ticked it.
Seconded, I’d go so far as to call myself strongly observant.
Put me down as another who does not acknowledge (or understand) the difference between “atheist” and “firm atheist.” I voted for the former, but I am firm in the sense that I do not think that there is much chance that anyone will convince me that there is a god. On the other hand, I do not like to be confrontational about it, I do not agree with those who think all religion is evil or harmful, and I do not think theists are necessarily idiots or self deluding. I am perfectly capable of respecting someone’s religious beliefs (but not any old religious beliefs - some are just silly).
I put myself as atheist.
Based on that scale, and in the absence of a definition, I took firm athiest to mean someone who actively seeks to engage others in conversation about athiesm and to convert others to athiesm and that’s definitely not me.
Even though I believe in God, go to church (yes, pun somewhat intended) religiously, etc., I still am ashamed to identify myself as a “Christian.” Mainly because that word has so much baggage in the world today - I say I’m a Christian and most people already think they know what I believe in, what I’m for, what I’m against, etc. etc. This thread has done a good job of showing it’s not that simple. Even though I think my views are pretty unique in Christendom (at least, outside the Dope), I can’t really think of a label for my particular beliefs (at least without getting far too esoteric for the average person).
“If Christ were to return to earth today, there is one thing He would not be - a Christian.” - Mark Twain(?)
Wow! That pretty much describes my beliefs to a tee! “A theist that follows Jesus” - I like that! (although, as I said, my friends, relatives, and acquaintances who call themselves “Christian” might immediately think I’ve “fallen away” if I’m anything but “Christian” :rolleyes:) We need a name for this movement. I know! I’m a Wolverine! Catchy, and has the right amount of geek cred (X-Men fandom is de rigueur for this religion, right? 
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I’m not a “serious atheist” but I don’t believe there are any gods out there; just stuff we call gods. I have been finding myself more and more attracted to Buddhism, but I’m not Buddhist.
I do feel somewhat anti-Christian these days. I hate it, but I can’t seem to help it. I want to recognize that not all Christians are fundamentalists, but the non-fundamentalists need to start being waaay more vocal. I just have too much trouble with the whole hell doctrine thing we non-Christians get assaulted with from birth until death. I really wish I’d never been exposed to the religion, damnation doctrine in particular… and believed it long enough to expose my daughter to it. It is a harmful, hateful belief to pass on to people.
Maybe I’m more serious about it than I thought.
I chose ‘agnostic’. I sometimes call myself a neo-pagan, but that’s more an artistic attitude. I like the idea of living as part of the world and the earth, rather then being separate from it and superior to it. However, I don’t actually believe in any gods, and I don’t have the kind of faith that such belief seems to accompany.
Somewhere between an agnostic and an atheist I guess, although I really have a problem with applying any label to myself. All of those categories require an explanation, which implies a belief system. Since I’m too lazy to follow the tenets of even an atheistic stance, I guess I’m a 'life-ist". We’re born, we live, we procreate, we die, like any other organism. We’re just like amoebas, only with organized closets.
Please no. The last thing we need is another label or splinter group. (Although Wolverine has a nice ring to it… 
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Hate to inform you that while I love me some comics (including the X-Men), the name derives more from the University of Michigan. My deep dark secret is that Cyclops is actually my favorite character.
I tend to identify as agnostic these days (I did spend some time attending a Unitarian Universalist church) mostly because I have seen things occur that are not currently explainable by science or other rational thought. I also have MAJOR issues with organized religion.
However, I exchange Christmas presents, and am fully respectful of others when they are expressing their beliefs…at least until (or if) they force it in my face.
Call it God, call it Allah, JC, the “Universal Spirit”, Fred, or whatever, it’s all a variation of the wizard-in-the-sky myth (or, at best, perhaps, a common need by sentient beings to believe there’s ‘a purpose to it all’).
So, yeah, you could call me an atheist. Or Fred.