I will not hide my true self to be a part of any group..

I would love to post in the progressive people of faith forum.. but I am not a member now, and can't post there.

I got put in this forum in another thread by the mods. I did not even know this place existed.

I will not debate my beliefs..they are what shapes me.

Just as I do not demand a person justify their belief system, or make snide comments about their belief system to try and score points.

But I will debate issues.

Why not rejoin?

If you won't debate your beliefs, there's not much point being in a forum that exists to debate beliefs (religion and theology are of course beliefs)is there?

Posting here is not mandatory, or martyrdom.

that costs bucks are not on the table for me right now.. I have not Social Security, pension or anything I can collect on at this point in time.

Sometimes those dollars makes martyrs out of the best of us.

I just got a star.. bottom of my heart.. thanks.. I am sitting here bubbling like a baby..:hi:

n/t

You can discuss any aspect of the topic here. Groups are quite a different thing. Welcome.

but I think looking at issues from a belief system what ever it is.. is interesting .. and we all have prejudices that guide us whether we realize it or not.

Includes me

Are mod issues supposed to be played out on the boards?

Welcome to LGBT community within the Democratic Party.

Oh, wait...

:)

but a fair warning. We don't have any exemptions here. When someone says they believe in a cause or agenda based on their faith, it's a good bet their ideology will be questioned. We welcome you here, but we don't give people a pass. It's the R/T forum and we discuss R/T. If you want to discuss a topic, even if it is important to you because of your faith, you may want to post in a forum pertinent to that topic rather than here. The issues we debate here are mostly, God, faith and religion.
Just lurk awhile and see if you are okay with the discussions.

I will be more than okay with the discussion..not so sure if others will be so okay with me..

What I find kind of interesting, is for a forum about general religion and theology.. there are not a lot of people of faith posting.

many of the atheist here (myself included) don't let them state their belief and leave it at that. We question what they believe and why, and if there is any real basis for that belief.
It's tough to be reminded with reason and facts when you want to believe in something there is no evidence for.

You get into the

Prove to me there is a God.. debate

which gets answered with

Prove to me there is not a God.. debate

Neither one can be proved in the final analysis..

No matter how strongly we individually think our arguments are one way or the other.. no one can prove the other incorrect.

So at some point, we stop and accept people have valid reasons for believing the way they do and it does not diminish our belief system.

Basically, it is those who offer the claim that need to offer evidence. Atheist don't see the need to disprove something for which there is no rational evidence.
But it gets deeper than that.
If you say, "I believe as a person of faith we should do this." We would ask what you base that on.
Political and social issues are discussed all over DU. Here we discuss Religion and Theology, no question is not allowed and nobody gets a pass because of their faith. Religion does not have a special dispensation in our debates. Just as we can challenged some one's views on other topics, so too can we with religion.
We don't demand you defend your faith, we just don't give it a free pass.

I am not asking anyone to defend what they believe.. I accept them at face value.

I can discuss religious issues and theological issues.. they are what drive me .. but I am not going to make a person defend their system of belief if it is different than mine.

I might challenge someone on their knowledge of the issues..

But that is about it. The fact that someone cannot prove there is no God..is not a non starter for me to have a conversation with them'

When we say faith is a driving factor..there is no way to prove that.

So the idea of proving God exists or does not exist is a pointless exercise.

I mean that in a friendly, tongue and cheek way.
Just post what you want to discuss, it may work out, or it may not. No big deal either way.

:hi: take it easy ..

:shrug:

he'll be posting here. If you want to discuss aspects of faith in general or different interpretations of theology in various faith traditions there are a few that may be worth engaging some quite thoughtful people here of different viewpoints both believers and nonbelievers in God.

I ask anyone to justify why they believe or don't believe.

I am very interested in my own religion and its history, the good, bad and the ugly.. and the same for other and for non believers.

Religion/Theology is a very basis of philosophy.

I may have said it clumsily but the justification of faith is I believe between each of us and God, no one else, that was what I meant.

You said it perfectly, I read it crookedly. :)

what you want to discuss.
Why don't you go ahead and start a thread on the subject. The worse that will happen is it goes off in a direction you don't like. No big deal.

It is hardly sucking its breath. I didn't realize you had to be a paying member to post there. I post there (look under ("thats my opinion") and there is hardly ever any response. Just keep doing what you do in r/t. This is where the action is. Don't worry about the negative slammers at you. They have a right to say what they feel, and we can even learn something from them. We just need to keep at it, and to encourage liberal religionists to get in the water with us.

You just can't help yourself, can you?

:rofl:

to slam people from R/T in the Liberal Christians group, I guess it's only fair that you slam people from that group in here. But keep that up and you'll run out of forums to badmouth.

and that's all it has to be.

The debate (and ensuing acrimony) revolve around the impact of faith on others and why. What you believe is nobody else's business until you make it so. The methods and results of your relationship with others and your reasons for doing so because of your faith define it for others. They will invariably ask why your faith should be of any use to them or anybody else especially if you profess the same attachment to doctrine that has continues to be used to cause so much misery in the world.

Unfortunately, the usual tools used in debate are useless to believers here. Faith is not a rational thing so empiracal proof of its existence or quality are not possible. But we can use faith to inspire others. That's what it's for. Of course when it comes to inspiring others this is a pretty tough room.

It surprises me that a forum intended for the discussion of how our feelings are expressed has so few legitimate attempts to inspire others to share feelings. I think that tells us a lot about the state of religion and those who practice it today.

why you are unable to post in the Progressive People of Faith forum.....I don't remember having to become a "member" of the forum in order to post....Is my memory failing me? :shrug:

I saw a "donation star" next to the poster's name. I just now read all of the posts and see that the star was just received yesterday from another poster. Thank you for your quichk response!!! :hi:

Otherwise, I agree. I am not going to pay lip service to the supposed validity of all beliefs just to fit in. Being polite without disclosing my disagreement is one thing, but living a lie is something I just cannot do without hating myself.