Love the thread.
I consider myself agnostic. My mother is a very devout Christian and my dad is....I really don't know. I think he may believe in God but he doesn't go to church or profess his beliefs openly.
I am very torn in this area. I am (or was) a student of anthropology, which teaches human evolution, with what I consider concrete evidence of the process in which homo sapiens were born. On the other hand, I have recently begun to think that there is some otherworldly influence keeping my family together. My sister was in a terrible car accident several years ago, one in which she probably should not have survived. Her back was crushed in two places, and the fellow who found her carried her out of the car by himself, yet she is alive and has no spinal cord damage at all. My parents were going through the beginning process of a divorce that had my mother all messed up on the head. I honestly think if my sister hadn't survived, she would have committed suicide. A few months ago, my brother committed suicide. He was schizophrenic. My mom has taken it ok though, because she revitalized her faith in God about a year before he died. It just seems so odd to me that had my sister died, I probably wouldn't really have a family to speak of. Coincidence? Perhaps. I really don't know. I guess I am open to the idea of a greater power, just not necessarily God, or the Christian idea of God.
One thing I DO know is that I have a hard time with a lot of organized religion, especially Christianity. So many horrible things have been done "in the name of God" or other gods for that matter, I just can't comprehend it. I am not trying to offend Christians or their faith, this is just a very personal issue with me. I grew up in a very religious area and my life was a living hell because I didn't fit in with the dominant religion, which was a Christian one.
Sorry to get off post, but I guess I had a lot to say. I guess it just boils down to a belief system. There are good people to be found in any religion or belief system, whether it be Christian, Pagan, Jewish, Buddhist, or whatever. And if that belief system comforts them and helps them to be a better person, then it's great in my book. Christianity just doesn't happen to be the one that I believe in.
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"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings; steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king"
Formerly Medusa
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