<p>i grew up catholic, im baptised, and confirmed.... and i used to go to public school, and now that i go to a catholic (jesuit) prep school, and am forced to take a religion class, and learn about the religion, and study the bible, its made me not believe in god, and made me think that a lot of the catholic religion is just contradictory, and quite frankly ridiculous.... i dont mean to offend anyone, thats just my opinion.</p>
<p>Im Catholic. And I LOVE it.</p>
<p>I second that Moni. Wouldnt have it any other way. We should be proud. That being said, i have to respond to sf_student. i go to a Catholic HS too, and I feel that learning about my religion has stregnthened my faith.</p>
<p>I wish I went to a Catholic High School :(</p>
<p>sf_student - that is often the case. as they say, the best way to become atheist is to study the religion in-depth, then u will start seeing the flaws =P</p>
<p>Its just all about faith. Faith overcomes "flaws"</p>
<p>i just graduated from catholic high school. its been a great four years, i would say.
but im not as pious as some ppl are.</p>
<p>ive also noticed that among my peers, (who did not go to catholic school before coming to HS) alot of them feel it has strenthened their faith, but almost an equal number has said its made them lose their belief in the catholic religion.</p>
<p>catholicism is so complicated, dude, sometimes i wonder why cant the pope simply the whole thing for us...
i dont really care what ppl believe in cuz at the end, everyone is entitled to their opinion and beliefs.
just dont twist the things like the terrorists have... thats really bad and we have seen teh result of it.</p>
<p>The facts: God exists. Evolution is BS. End of story.</p>
<p>I'd like to hear your definition of a "fact". "Empty assertion with no basis in reality"?</p>
<p>Nice one thisyearsgirl!! At least evolution has some support. I am sorry to all the religious people out there but how can you believe that something exists because a book just tells you that he/she/it exists without any support? But I'm not really trying to turn against religion or anything. It is just something i could never figure out.</p>
<p>Religion is an intangible, facts or no facts, it's not something that can be disproved by scientific data and such. Although personally I'm somewhat of a scientific pundit, I often find myself preaching my own religion. Religion is not necessarily the belief that we were created by some superior being. It can be the notion that we are a species taht didn't spontaneously emerge by some accident in nature. Frankly i feel sorry for people who cling to the emptiness of secularism. Religion(though many of its facts are rather implausible) is attached to faith, those who defy religion defy faith. Just a quick comment.</p>
<p>Strong atheist. My outlook is based on secular humanism.</p>
<p>Our purpose in life is the one we make for ourselves. I choose to embrace humanity and make the world a better place (not to fail like the religions of the world and allow disaster in the hopes that all will be fine in the afterlife).</p>
<p>Although, I don't see why people put down evolution. We are refined through thousands of years of trials, and I like to think that I come from life, life begets life. And not to mention, we can still progress, we can still evolve! Although, more as a race then as individuals. We aren't in a static state. What truly separates us from apes is our minds(souls), our ability to see the world and God for what it is and to destroy our ignorance.</p>
<p>So, did that just come off as cheesy? I'm sure it sounds kinda cheesy, but I'm not quite sure how to put it in text. Well, I tried :)</p>
<p>Oh, and the big bang. That's just beautiful, so symbolic of unity. We really are all one and the same.</p>
<p>Wow... i'd just like to say i'm from a small, pretty narrow-minded town, and it is SOOOO good... i mean you have no idea how exhilarating it is for me... to see the intellectual conversations behind faith/religion/theology. </p>
<p>my personal beliefs? I believe there is some kind of divine force, which, we may call God. However, i cannot fathom degrading this force into a somewhat human manifestation... and I cannot understand the basis on which humans try to dissect and analyze this force. I've seen things happen in my life which, if no greater power existed, would not have happened. Therefore, I am a believer in God. It is religion... boxed up dogmas and doctrines, the intertwining of historical mortals with this divinity that I cannot believe.</p>
<p>i believe in harry potter more than god, sorry. its mostly because church bores me, i cant hear anything (i am deaf). so when i was little i always used to associate religion with boredom. btw i am lutheran, my church has like 15 people in the congregation, and our pastor is british but he just left anyway
but seriously i always thought religion was like a magic club that grown-ups happened to be involved with. the world of harry potter is the same, only more fun!
yeah i know this post will make me seem shallow... oh well</p>
<p>I'm a new age practitioner. I believe that god is the world and everything in it, if it comes down to that, but I think about it more in terms of life and each person's growth rather than god. I don't know if I believe in God as an entity.</p>
<p>Sounds like hindustanichik and silverpebble believe less in the God of Christianity, Islam, or Jeudiasm and more of something that resembles Star War's "The Force."</p>