Believers:

Would you prefer others in the world to be of a faith (any other than yours) or would you prefer them to be atheists or agnostics?

Sometimes in life I have picked up that believers don't really care what your faith is. What is important is that you have a religion.

To give an example: Your daughter brings home a new boyfriend. Of course you would prefer him to be of your faith. Unfortunately he is not. Would you prefer him to be atheist or of another faith, for example Muslim.

Or another example. Would you prefer your President/Prime minister to be an atheist or of a faith (other than yours)

I do not care,really.

I just wish that politicians would leave their religious affiliations out of politics.

1 - They themselves rely heavily on their support network and social groups...it boggles their minds that someone can live without one. So, naturally, they do not trust those kinds of people.

2 - I think world leaders should be unbiased and should prove themselves to be agnostic with no religious affiliation.

I am going to be naughty and necropost myself! I still want an answer to this question, but if nobody is interested it can just sink back into oblivion, where all boring threads go.

I hereby resurrect this thread!

Well you start a thread off with "Believers" thereby cutting off 95% of the readership of this particular forum.

There's far too much of this type of posting going on in the skeptics forum.

Please put it in the forum above and you might get a discussion going.

BTW needless thread bumping is a heinous sin deserving of the utmost punishment, especially when you're trying to get the words Jesus, God and Christian always in the top threads. Don't say I haven't noticed. You have been warned.

Well I had actually thought believers made up a lot more of the population. Actually, the post was a little strange.

In so far as the population consists mainly of those who believe they are believers and those who believe they are not believers you are correct.*

Actually, nearly all the threads in the UM forums are a little strange. Some more than others.








*not to mention a small minority of those totally confused.

Well Serpentine, perhaps you could resurrect your "Does a soul have eyeballs?" thread. I feel more of a need to head to my grave knowing the answer to that particular question that this, to be honest


Yup I have checked up on you Mister

Thats made my day.

Good question, Belgis. I really wouldn't care. what would matter is that he (or she) be honest about their belief or lack of it. I believe the majority of politicians are "Christians" only in public and really do not have a personal relationship with God, they just use it as a way to gain votes.

Neither one would really bother me, in most cases. However there are a couple situations I can think of that would really bother me. For instance, I love the Egyptian culture, but I would never live in that country in its current state, for a few reasons. One of the significant ones is that the Egyptian government (last time I checked) only recognizes Judaism, Christianity and Islam as existing religions. People of other belief systems are often discriminated against in the public eye. As a pagan that just wouldn't work for me.
So living in a country where one specific belief system dictated the laws just wouldn't do it for me. Even if it was my own. I really like the fact that everybody on the planet has a different view on spirituality. It's one of those things that, to drag out an ancient, stupid adage, "makes the world go 'round."

Good point. I agree, its not about the actual faith, but about their honesty and sincerity. However, I would prefer they were a moderate. That way, while they are able to hold their own beliefs, they will be able to do a better job of talking to other politicians of other faiths than a more conservative of fundamental style faith.


Edit: Horrendous grammar... unforgivable.

To be completely honest, since my belief (well, not really a belief, just something I would like to believe in ;P) is purely that a higher power is watching us and judging us, but giving us many chances to correct our own sins since He doesn't want to see any of us go to hell, I would have to say that it really wouldn't matter to me what religion other people are. Or if they have no religion at all. As long as they are good people and treat others with respect and kindness, they can believe or disbelieve in any religion they want to. ...Unless it's something that sacrifices people to present to their God or something. XP But again there you have it with the respect and kindness. ;P Since I don't really believe that there's ONE set religion that people HAVE to follow in order to get into Heaven, I just believe that people... well, level up, I guess we could say. ;P Spiritually wise, I mean.

So let's say I have a son or daughter, what religion would I want them to be in? :\ ...It doesn't matter to me. If they are good hearted, they can believe in anything they want. I would like to believe that God will judge people based on their heart and how they treat other people rather than the sole reason of if they worship Him or not. ;P Perhaps God gave that testament to mankind as a means to test us. Think about it. People have slaughtered other men/women/children for their own beliefs in order to be seen in the good graces of God. Perhaps this was just the thing that God is repellent about, and wanted to test to see who would do evil among fellow mankind just for the sake of His name. ...Of course not a lot of people go to the extremes of that ;P, but there are people who still judge others based on religion and perhaps treat them indifferently or coldly because of it.

Thanks Iams, I don't care what faith they are - I voted for an atheist this time - but have voted for Christians before. At least in the past I am sure it would be very difficult to be elected if you didn't fit the mold of a Christian, family man with a couple of kids. So ambitious people would be compelled to overstate their religiosity. Happens in Aus as well, but perhaps not to the same extent.



Same. I can't imagine wanting to live in a country that oppressed peoples rights to worship what they wanted, even if it was my belief or lack of that was sanctioned.



I have never observed that one culture/religion/belief or lack of belief has a monopoly on kindness/morality or respect. I just get puzzled when people would prefer someone of any religion over no religion.

But I think that stems from believing that religion is the only source of morality IMO.

This is true, but not only to politicians. I'm sure there are many people who claim to be of a certain religion but only do so for their image...whether it be for personal gain or a way to avoid persecution or hate.

For example about 75% of the people I know are Christian ye few go to church(I know this because sunday morning is when we nurse the hangover). Nor do they read the Bible(I am not christian but know more about the Bible then them) and show no real attempt to follow Christ(quick to fight, overindulgence of food or alcohol, materialism, etc.) It is also note worthy that most of them are incapable of defending their faith, for example few of them would be able to reply to a UM thread in defensive of faith and their religion as you do.

the easy way to see this is in our 'religious' holidays...as in how much does Jesus have to with Christmas these days?

Out of every Christian I know I'd guess and say maybe 25% of them can be concindered 'real' christians and maybe 5% of them 'good' christians.

Most of us here live in places where Christianity is the majority religion...if the majority of people where good practicing Christians then the world would be a better place but its not. So obviously the majority of christians aren't good or real christians.


I don't think it has much to do with faith as it does with culture. If I were to bring a muslim girlfriend home to my christian family they would be more uneasy because "she's not one of us" and not so much because she's muslim. Its a trust thing and people don't trust what they don't understand...let it be religion, race, etc.

To answer the question...it doesn't matter to me. If I where to have a daughter and she brought home a boyfriend I would kind of want him to be of the same belief system, culture, etc just for the fact I could relate easier to someone who is like me and grew up in the same environment but then again I wouldn't actually care if he wasn't.

There seems to be some misconception that this part of the forum is for the "skeptics" while the Spirituality, Religion and Beliefs board is for "believers". Though this may be the current understanding of the two boards, that is not what they were made for. This was not made for skeptics and the other for believers. Believers and skeptics are welcome in both sides of the Forums. The difference is that this part of the Forum is for debating, whereas the other part of the Spirituality boards is generally for seeking answers.

To use an example, someone might start a thread reading "The nature of paganism", and go on to describe some of the beliefs inherent in paganism, or the history thereof. In this section, people might debate the existence of pagan gods, or the practices of the different Faiths within Paganism, or argue the historical accuracy of certain points of view (or essentially, "I'm right and you're wrong"). In the Spirituality, Religion and beliefs section, it's primarily there for people to learn and discuss, adding new information, or asking for clarification about issues, without the heated debate of this section of the board.

We try to keep the discussions as close to these models as possible. Hope that clarifies any issue you ahve about the boards For the record, I think this has the potential to cause debate and think it is more appropriate in this section of the board. All the best, Serpentine

A lot of believer DO care what your faith is...if it differs from their faith..the feel you need to convert to their faith to be saved..thats what they feel their job is..to save you..and if you arent saved..then you are __________________<==fill in blank!