Why do you reject Religion?

[Missileman]

people reject religion because they lack personal experience with God. They dont do what it takes to get to know Him. So they dont.

That's a nicely formulated circular argument. Feel free to substitute "religion" and "God" with "Christmas" and "Santa Claus", "Easter" and "The Easter Bunny", "Science Fiction" and "aliens"...also substitute "them" for "Him", or "porn" and "Jenna Jameson"...also sustitute "her" for "Him". Any of those will keep you going in a similar circle and make as little sense as your original argument.

[diuretic]

i was young....my family believed....when a half a dozen family members around me all died ..... all the nice kind ones......dad, grandpa, uncle, young cousin, aunt, grandma's.....

i was told it was god's will / plan ....

in my opinion god took all the good ones and left all the assholes ....

didn't seem like a very nice god ..... i moved on ....

Understandable for a child to respond in that way when what effectively happened is that God was blamed for their deaths. I know it's easy for me to say but if you (the child, not you as an adult) had it explained to you that people die and sometimes they die unexpectedly and nice people as well as not so nice people die unexpectedly and that's part of life, maybe your faith wouldn't have been tested so unreasonably.

[Guernicaa]

people reject religion because they lack personal experience with God. They dont do what it takes to get to know Him. So they dont.

lol thats bull.

[Guernicaa]

Avatars argument is that you can't develop a personal relationship with god without religion. Which is again, complete bull shit.

There are a lot of people who believe in a higher being, quite similar to the Christian form of what a higher being is, but don't believe that practicing all the other stuff that a book of stories says is necessary.

[manu1959]

Understandable for a child to respond in that way when what effectively happened is that God was blamed for their deaths. I know it's easy for me to say but if you (the child, not you as an adult) had it explained to you that people die and sometimes they die unexpectedly and nice people as well as not so nice people die unexpectedly and that's part of life, maybe your faith wouldn't have been tested so unreasonably.

i have been recently told the whole thing was a test and i failed.....i told that person that i had no idea the the meaning of life was a test and that i was unaware it was pass fail.....

it will interesting to see what happens when i die......til then....i will live my life as best i can and leave it up to my wife kids and the people i meet to determine if i did a good job.....if there is a god and if i fail god's test.....then so be it.....but i will leave it for god to decide that not some church or some christian or a book .....

[darin]

Avatars argument is that you can't develop a personal relationship with god without religion. Which is again, complete bull shit.

There are a lot of people who believe in a higher being, quite similar to the Christian form of what a higher being is, but don't believe that practicing all the other stuff that a book of stories says is necessary.

Christians believe "all the other stuff" is necessary. Christians believe they alone have access to God. In fact, I'd wager ANY faith worth it's nuts thinks the same.

[diuretic]

i have been recently told the whole thing was a test and i failed.....i told that person that i had no idea the the meaning of life was a test and that i was unaware it was pass fail.....

it will interesting to see what happens when i die......til then....i will live my life as best i can and leave it up to my wife kids and the people i meet to determine if i did a good job.....if there is a god and if i fail god's test.....then so be it.....but i will leave it for god to decide that not some church or some christian or a book .....

You've had some mean bastards interfering in your life, if I may say so. I don't understand the theology that lies behind those assertions.

I'll stick my nose in and suggest that some wider reading might be useful. Have a read of this - http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm - and see how it goes, it's the Catechism of the Roman Catholic church so if you're vehemently anti-Catholic you should give it a miss.

But if you think that you may get something out of reading a theogically sound and well-crafted view of the relation between humans and God then it might have something for you.

[JackDaniels]

I dno't make value judgements about people who profess religion and act outside the tenets of their religion, that's between them and their conscience. I'm not religious because I don't believe in a deity, simple as that.

I completely agree with you. My atheism is built on the simple foundation that it is not logical to believe in God.

[manu1959]

You've had some mean bastards interfering in your life, if I may say so. I don't understand the theology that lies behind those assertions.

I'll stick my nose in and suggest that some wider reading might be useful. Have a read of this - http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm - and see how it goes, it's the Catechism of the Roman Catholic church so if you're vehemently anti-Catholic you should give it a miss.

But if you think that you may get something out of reading a theogically sound and well-crafted view of the relation between humans and God then it might have something for you.

yes there are mean bastards on both sides......i enjoy the philosphy part of religon....the hardcore dogmatic part leaves me cold ..... i belive one can have a relationship with god and live the life without a church......one of my favourite discussions with.....two of my three closest friends are very "christian" or so they claim .... and two other aquaintenaces are pastors.....i get plenty of information ...... wife is into it .... she started a bible study for dummies....people loved it....

we shall see what happens.....an open mind creates endless possibilities...

[Yurt]

i have been recently told the whole thing was a test and i failed.....i told that person that i had no idea the the meaning of life was a test and that i was unaware it was pass fail.....

it will interesting to see what happens when i die......til then....i will live my life as best i can and leave it up to my wife kids and the people i meet to determine if i did a good job.....if there is a god and if i fail god's test.....then so be it.....but i will leave it for god to decide that not some church or some christian or a book .....

Good point, because the book says only God knows our ultimate fate. Can't even buy your way into heaven....

[SpidermanTUba]

Without trying to stump for my particular faith, I'm curious why those of you who don't have a particular belief tend to reject religion? I've heard it from friends a lot: "...because look at all those hypocrites!"

I try to explain the fact that somebody is a hypocrite does not mean what they are saying is wrong.

Look at me - Some of you would call me a fornicator, a liar, a thief, and more - yet I claim Christ and Christianity. Those things about me 'were' true of me. Indeed. Yet my past does not mean what I'm saying now is invalid, ya know?

I'm curious if we can see replies from people who state their reasons without simply insulting the faithful or the religious. I know there are VERY smart folk who'd be able to state their reasons without ad hominem, etc.

So - anybody care to discuss? I won't preach to you or try to get you to convert, and hope OTHERS do the same. I'm genuinely interested in your reasons,
though.

Anything which attempts to prevent individual thought is no good.

[avatar4321]

That's not a defensible statement, that's a meaningless cliche.

What's to defend? Are you saying truth is somehow less true because it comes from a source you dont like or says something you disagree with?

The fact is peopel disbelieve because they havent had experience with God. People can believe without such experiences. But once youve had such experiences its impossible to not believe because you know that there is a God.

[avatar4321]

That's a nicely formulated circular argument. Feel free to substitute "religion" and "God" with "Christmas" and "Santa Claus", "Easter" and "The Easter Bunny", "Science Fiction" and "aliens"...also substitute "them" for "Him", or "porn" and "Jenna Jameson"...also sustitute "her" for "Him". Any of those will keep you going in a similar circle and make as little sense as your original argument.

There is nothing circular about what I said. Just as there is nothing rational about what you said.

[avatar4321]

Anything which attempts to prevent individual thought is no good.

The point of individual thought is to propel people to learn and discover the truth. Individual thought is a means and not an ends.

[diuretic]

What's to defend? Are you saying truth is somehow less true because it comes from a source you dont like or says something you disagree with?

No.

The fact is peopel disbelieve because they havent had experience with God. People can believe without such experiences. But once youve had such experiences its impossible to not believe because you know that there is a God.

I don't meant to be difficult but simply because someone says they have had an experience with God doesn't mean they have. The only truth in that statement is that someone is saying that they have had an experience with God.

The fact is - that speaking for myself, it just occurred to me that there was no deity. So that sort of tosses out your claim that "people disbelieve because they haven't had experience with God".

See what I mean? This is all totally subjective, there is no objective "truth" in this discussion.