xepherys

A little bit of education, and my feelings:

First of all, the word Pagan needs to clarified. Of it's own accord, it doesn't strictly mean non-Christian. Pagan is a word used to describe followers of polytheistic religions. This would be seen as most non-Abrahimic religions from the time the word came to be. Jews, Christians and Muslims are certianly not pagans. However, I cannot consider myself a pagan do to it's etymology. It's a Middle English word that was created by the church (who else was so literate as to create new words at the time) or the nobility in support of the curch to describe, in a negative way, those that had beliefs structures that were entirely foreign to Christianity, Judaism and Islam. How is taking a word with negative meaning a healthy way to look at your spirituality? I view it much like black teens calling each other Nigger. While it's great to not let the word get you down, it's also ridiculous to take a word with negative meanings and just pretend it isn't that way (situationally speaking).

So, onto my beliefs. I agree with the OP and the following posts about why a non-organized religious/spiritual faith is best. Personally, I consider myself a non-denominational spiritualist. There are parts of MANY religions that I find intriguing, from Judaism and Islam to Roman and Greek Pantheons to Druidic practices and Wicca. Having beliefs, but also having room to grow, learn and change those beliefs allows for a very strong sense of self and understanding of your surroundings. Having a set book to guide you forces you to take many large parts of life on faith alone. Faith, as it has been said, cannot shield you from reality. And for those who say "there's no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole"... well, there's not much difference between luck and divine intervention. *shrug*

Edit: Willravel, I somehow didn't see your post about my first point. Hopefully it won't be seen as a duplicate point. *sigh*