Just a little informal poll to gauge opinion here on the forum.

I've tried to include most of the relevant belief categories, I think. Sorry if I missed yours.

The "non-theistic religious" category is stretching it a bit because no one really agrees on whether these religions qualify as non-theistic, but there you go...

Interesting poll, hope the ensuing comments will be tolerable.

Somewhat related: The spread of "religions"

Heh, I can see this being a nice and relaxed thread.

I'm an atheist. I toyed with antitheism for a bit, mainly after reading Dawkins, but I'm not really against religion. So long as the government is secular and schools teach (actual) science, people can believe what they want so long as they don't hurt other people.

Monotheist and/or Christian Trinity (one god)

One God. My belief is in Christianity (Maronite to be specific), though ill never rule out anyone else's faith as I respect their ways and beliefs in life completely.

Atheist.

I was, and well, still am a catholic though. Dont see the need to change it... Its for me and me only. Dont think it really matters what it says on some piece of paper...

I have nothing against religious people though! Its their choice. I am completely fine with it. However, I do believe religion is what is causing most of the conflicts.

I have to see something myself to believe in it. (eg God). And if thats not possible, I need enough evidence that such thing exists. Since there is none, (atleast proper evidence, not some bed time book), I choose to live my life how I think it should be lived, and not go by someone who is supposedly sitting on a cloud having a pint.

For the record, I voted atheist as well.

i dont believe in any gods.

Been brought up believing that there is no god and finding it more understandable as i get older, But who knows :color:

Lando's not a system he's a man.

(I put agnostic)

atheist. God doesn't exist.


BUT CHUCK NORRIS DOES

Atheist, anti-theist (for theism's influence on supposedly secular governments and world events).

I honestly believe there isn't a god... everything I know of science seems to refute the possibility, but on the other hand there's lots that's beyond our knowledge at the moment.

At times I come close to agnosticism. But the thing is, agnosticism applied to deism makes perfect sense to me, even though I'm not one. Agnosticism applied to theism though is ludicrous and just absolutely ridiculous.

god doesn't exist, christianity - biggest business in world for about 2k years

end.

Atheist.

In fact I've always been attracted by the agnostics' position. I belive that there might be a possibility for a god/superior divinity to exist, even if I don't give any credit to any of the current or past religious institutions. But in the end I prefer to stick with atheism simply because I think the chances for having no divinity are way higher from my point of vue.

Overall I'm still quite tolerant with religions as long as the institutions won't try to get a strong influence... They should be treated like any single association IMO.

Oh and BTW I live in a region where 80/85% of the population are monotheist(mainly catholics), and my parents had the fabulous idea to sign me up in a private christian school. I recall of being slightly bullied at school while being 11/12 as I didn't know Ave Maria and was pretending to not belive in anything A great moment though: while being 15, asking a missionary what he thought about Darwin's theories while he was preaching something close to creationism in a conference at school

Oh, and btw, there's also a common misconception that being an atheist means not only do you not believe in any gods but that you know none exist. The real definition of atheism is just that you don't believe any gods exist. Agnosticism and Gnosticism deal in knowing things. If you say you are an gnostic atheist it means that you don't believe in any gods and you know no gods exist. If you say you are 'just' an atheist it means you don't believe in any gods but you can't say for certain none exist.

edit: edited small mistake that had a large difference in meaning.

Um...define god.

Entity that exists in forms beyond our comprehension - that I believe. But one creator and ruler of the universe over everything else i.e. the Christan definition of god - no.

If anything I think it will be a society or organization than one entity.

Officially I'm not a member of any Religion, but I guess Syncretist comes pretty close.

Quote from amp88 :

Oh, and btw, there's also a common misconception that being an atheist means not only do you not believe in any gods but that you know none exist. The real definition of atheism is just that you don't believe any gods exist. Agnosticism and Gnosticism deal in knowing things. If you say you are an agnostic atheist it means that you don't believe in any gods and you know no gods exist. If you say you are 'just' an atheist it means you don't believe in any gods but you can't say for certain none exist.

What are your sources for this? Everything I've ever read has it the other way around.

Atheism = active disbelief in the existence of god; supposition that there is no god/are no gods.
Agnosticism = the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable.

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

What are your sources for this? Everything I've ever read has it the other way around.

Atheism = active disbelief in the existence of god
Agnosticism = don't know

Yeah, mass media and organised religions are somehow stuck to these beliefs and won't change (hehe!). This is a good starting article, there are many more here. There is also an interesting TV programme called The Atheist Experience which is available here and often deals with definitions.

edit: I made a large mistake in the post above...I should have said if you say you are a "gnostic atheist" then you know know gods exist, rather than the "agnostic atheist". Small typo, large difference in meaning.

In summary: (a)theism - (not)believing in things, (a)gnostic - (not)knowing things.

Christian, but more from the moral/how-to-live-your-life side than the worship/true-faith one.

Quote from amp88 :

Yeah, mass media and organised religions are somehow stuck to these beliefs and won't change (hehe!). This is a good starting article, there are many more here. There is also an interesting TV programme called The Atheist Experience which is available here and often deals with definitions.

edit: I made a large mistake in the post above...I should have said if you say you are a "gnostic atheist" then you know know gods exist, rather than the "agnostic atheist". Small typo, large difference in meaning.

In summary: (a)theism - (not)believing in things, (a)gnostic - (not)knowing things.

Thanks for the clarification.

More reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_and_positive_atheism

where's the option for "I'm god"?

Athiest

I hope im not proved wrong, otherwise theres going to be a special layer of hell reserved for me.

Quote from JJ72 :

Um...define god.

Entity that exists in forms beyond our comprehension - that I believe. But one creator and ruler of the universe over everything else i.e. the Christan definition of god - no.

If anything I think it will be a society or organization than one entity.

I would tend to go with something like this. As far as things existing beyond our comprehension... we prove that to ourselves all the time through 'mundane' processes like scientific discoveries, human invention etc. I bet if you could show a television set to someone living in prehistory, they would sign you up as a god on the spot.

We can't find God(s), because we can't comprehend what what one would be like. Add to that the fact that human history hasn't shown any signs that we've neared any kind of limits to knowledge/experience. That's a good enough recipe for agnosticism for me.

Keep watching the skis!

<ahem> skies...

Quote from hyntty :

where's the option for "I'm god"?

Yeah ok, Ayn Rand.