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I believe a lot of people are agnostic, but say they are religious out of

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ej510 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-11 06:14 PM
Original message
I believe a lot of people are agnostic, but say they are religious out of
Edited on Thu Jun-30-11 06:17 PM by ej510
fear of being wrong. People worry if they won't believe they will end up in hell burning for eternity.
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HockeyMom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-11 06:16 PM
Response to Original message
1. A lot of polls don't give that agnostic option
They list all sorts of religions, or none.
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ej510 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-11 06:18 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. My sister told me today that she believes in God, and I told her the Bible is
Edited on Thu Jun-30-11 06:42 PM by ej510
all over the place and she agreed, but said I believe just in case. I've heard this statement from quite a bit of people.
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Dumak Donating Member (397 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-11 06:25 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. Of course, if your sister picked the wrong one,
then she may get extra punishment.
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pnwmom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-11 06:25 PM
Response to Original message
4. Works the other way, too. Some people think they are agnostic,
but when push comes to shove, they end up landing on the faith and hope side.
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Ozymanithrax Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-11 06:33 PM
Response to Original message
5. I'm an agnostic...
which is defined as "A person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God."

I am comfortable with that. Now, when I get old and my mind starts to decay like an apple left out in the sun, I may seek god, but it will only happen because the brain wears out and loses its abilities as we age. Which, if you think about it, is a natural phenomenon. Until such a time, I neither believe nor disbelieve. I I should suddenly claim belief or atheism, bury me in the back yard.
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ej510 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-11 06:42 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. I am agnostic to, but I tend to lean atheist a lot lately.
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skepticscott Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-01-11 04:58 AM
Response to Reply #5
16. The fact that you use
the word "God" as a capitalized singular, and characterize it as something outside the realm of material phenomenon, would seem to indicate that you do presume something about it, despite what you say. And any "god" that is capable of influencing and being influenced by events in the physical world is, at least in principle, amenable to having its nature and the likelihood of its existence evaluated.

Are you also agnostic about Santa Claus?
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Ozymanithrax Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-01-11 09:24 AM
Response to Reply #16
20. I use those little quoty things to show that I was quoting a text which I did not write.
Now, perhaps the writers of the dictionary definition have some bias as to the existence of deity, or thy may have been using a style guide that insisted upon capitalizing the word.
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skepticscott Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-01-11 11:55 AM
Response to Reply #20
22. The real point is that
your intellectual position is fundamentally flawed. To say that "god" is such that nothing can possibly be known of its nature IS making a statement about the nature of "god". In some people's conception of "god", it IS possible to find evidence of his/her/its existence. You're saying that you're convinced "god" is not like that, but something different. Do you not see the inherent contradiction?
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edhopper Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-11 06:48 PM
Response to Original message
7. I have often heard this from friends
with children going through some religious ceremony or other.

"I don't really believe this stuff, but I want my children to have the experience."

So, in other words, "I want to indoctrinate my children into something I don't believe."

Silly, illogical and probably harmful. But hey what harm has religion ever done.
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ej510 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-11 06:53 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. Religion has been beaten into the soul of the global society, people are
afraid of what happens when the lights go out. The answer is nothing. When the lights go out. That is it.
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Odin2005 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-11 10:31 PM
Response to Reply #7
13. Most people care more about being seen as "socially respectable" over anything else.
Such people will claim to be religious and will go to religious services not out of real conviction, but because it's the "socially respectable" thing to do.
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ej510 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-01-11 01:24 AM
Response to Reply #13
14. If you do not believe fully, isn't it kind of redundant?
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Odin2005 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-01-11 07:22 AM
Response to Reply #14
19. I don't think I'm understanding the question.
Edited on Fri Jul-01-11 07:22 AM by Odin2005
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ej510 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-01-11 11:04 AM
Response to Reply #19
21. If you don't have true faith, isn't going to church a waste of time?
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Odin2005 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-01-11 06:43 PM
Response to Reply #21
23. Not if your main concern is "looking respectable"
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skepticscott Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-01-11 05:01 AM
Response to Reply #13
17. I tend to agree
In my world of middle and upper-middle class white suburbia, going to church Sunday is simply the respectable thing to do, no matter how seriously you take it all. You volunteer to usher, you sing in the choir, you celebrate little Susie's first communion or Johnny's confirmation, just to give you that veneer of religious normalcy.
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raccoon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-01-11 06:30 AM
Response to Reply #17
18. I'd guess at least 50% of people who go to church are like that. nt
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monmouth Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-11 07:14 PM
Response to Original message
9. Many people go to church just to "be seen." .n/t
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The Magistrate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-11 07:18 PM
Response to Original message
10. There Is A Fairly Common Pattern, Sir
It is widely felt in our culture that religion, and Christianity in particular, are more or less synonymous with good and moral, and therefor people asked whether they are religious, or Christian, hear the question as 'are you a good and moral person?' and answer accordingly. Whether they actually have any appreciable degree of faith, or even subscribe loosely to any essential dogmas, is actually a separate question. A number of persons who say they are Christian if asked will also, for instance say that good people of any religion, or even of no religion, will go to heaven, or say that they believe in re-incarnation, or that persons who go to heaven become angels.
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laconicsax Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-11 07:34 PM
Response to Original message
11. That's religious morality for you.
Don't do it because it's the right thing to do, do it out of fear.
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ej510 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-30-11 08:03 PM
Response to Reply #11
12. Religion is based on fear, at least most religions.
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Commie Pinko Dirtbag Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-01-11 01:30 AM
Response to Original message
15. Or to be able to retain their jobs.
If I worked in a place with THOSE demographics (and were not successful in getting the fuck away to somewhere nice like the Northeast), you can be sure as hell I'd be telling everybody, if asked, that I was a Christian. With a straight face.
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