I said I had good reason to, and I do. It's personal though.

Now just because I have good reason doesn't mean that I'm saying "I have reason to so should you!", I'm basically saying "I have reason to believe in it" and that's it. I'm not here to convince people in things that they think is BS

I have no interest in making people believe in things that they themselves don't believe in. But I keep an open mind with a level of scepticism.

Why are you talking about it if you refuse to explain it?

She has a good reason not to.

Maybe she has a really good reason to talk about it.

Don't be dicks guys.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTT?!?!

What forum did you think you were on, young lady?

Damn it though this place is so quiet, we need new people!

STW is right, guys. Please don't scare off the new gal.

#girlpower


Also to stay on topic with a general spirituality theme. I actually used to dabble in atheist Buddhism now and again, it seems fairly interesting but very conflicting with any sort of modern hedonism which led me to ultimately dismiss it.

I typically dismiss all aspects of spirituality. I'm uninterested in all of them.

except the ones where rape is involved.

Spiritual rape? Do you mean... mind fuck?

LITERAL mind fuck. with a drill bit.

Ouch

Because people kept asking????

People asked because you talked about it, genius.

I thought the natural reaction to being asked about something is answering

No. That's wrong. I'd tell you to ask Kiyo how to do it properly, but, well, you know.

I'm chiefly agnostic as far as either religion or spiritual beliefs go.

I am an atheist. I don't believe in ghosts, but I'm still scared of them if I hear a noise in the night. In the sense of a fictional concept, like being scared of Freddy Krueger or something. I don't believe in an afterlife, or a big fella in the sky watching my every move, or anything to do with any organised religion because logic. Religion seems to have no place in our society other than causing conflict, however I will never judge someone who finds solace or comfort in religion. Each to their own, but when the killing starts I have a problem with religion.

It's like Ricky Gervais says; "Suggesting I hate people with religion because I hate religion is like suggesting I hate people with cancer because I hate cancer."

My girlfriend is an atheist who believes in ghosts. She sometimes tries to convince me that the spooky experiences she, and her father have had were definitely ghosts, and I feel bad, but I can't validate that. I don't tell her that she's wrong. Mostly I say, "Yes, that does sound spooky," but when she presses me to say more, I do have to admit that I can't believe that there are invisible entities making knocking noises, or moving suitcases around to amuse themselves. I don't ridicule her about it, or anything. I'm not stupid, and I'm still a fan of having sex, after all.

I'm exactly the same way with my girlfriend. She's not an atheist but something akin to a 'spiritual agnostic' if such a thing exists. She's sceptical about a god but believes in ghosts and genuinely feels that she saw ghosts in her last house or something. It's so hard to put forward that I think it's all bollocks, nicely.

I don't really know, I'm not part of any organized religion. I don't really think it matters if there is a God or not. I think it's nice to believe that there is a greater force behind everything, as it gives us hope that bad things happen for a reason (it's all part of God's path for you, etc) and that the darkness and injustice in the world is somehow all according to some divine plan.

Bottom line; I don't think it matters what anyone believes religiously. If you spend your life helping others and positively impacting the world around you, the worst case scenario is that when you die, you don't go to an afterlife, but you will have made a lasting impression on many people's lives, and will have left happiness in your wake.

Why is that nice though? If all the 'darkness and injustice' as you put, was part of gods plan, wouldn't that make any sort of god a vindictive, cruel and incompetent being? I much prefer the idea that we're here by accident, we have x amount of years to make the best of it that we can, maximise our enjoyment and then when we die that's it.

Obviously I don't want to die but I'm not afraid of death, I was dead for billions of years before I was alive and I wasn't too fussed about it then. So I don't feel like there's any need for an afterlife either.

Yeah, the "everything according to god's plan" idea is a terrifying one. That dude is a real fucking cunt if he's real. Which he isn't.

^ This.

Not this. I am shit scared of death. Which further pushes me to enjoy my time here.

I think a lot of religious people take comfort in believing that the bad things were supposed to happen, in order for good things to happen later. You'll hear people who've lost a son or daughter to an illness say "God needed another angel". It's a way to cope and make sense of the things that seem the most unfair.

Not that I agree with any of that, I can just understand people's desire to justify awful things happening.

I think if there is any kind of higher power, it's just a greater force that we don't understand yet.

There isn't one to understand.

It'll be great if all the Christians get up there and Allah is sat there like "Aaaaah wrong one guys! Don't worry, you get another shot."

I'm not talking about anything supernatural. More like the true nature of time, and how that could appear to be destiny, or fate from our limited perception of time.