Everyday Systems

I do not want to start an argument or debate on this topic. I just want to test a little theory of mine. So please indulge me and vote.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a "rabid atheist" (per my sig), although I would say I have a bit of spirituality in my life, and I accept people who are spiritual.

Hi Francois,
Your choices felt too restrictive, and simplistic for me..
So I will answer you here.
I was not raised in a super religious family, though we did celebrate Jewish holidays while my immediate family was in tact...
I will always consider myself a Jew and part of that fantastic culture, though as an adult, I would consider myself more veering towards the Buddhist life, with being a compassionate person, as the main rule to apply to daily life.

I fully believe in God and that we all have a Divine path and purpose in this life... I have personally felt the Holy Spirit which connects us all, and makes us One..

I believe we have Souls, and quite frankly, I am pretty scared of people who don't feel that they have one...
I think it's very important to respect peoples personal Spritual beliefs here, and hope no one gets hurt or put off by this topic.
I'm not sure what "theory" you are trying to prove, but I will end my little reply with saying that Spritual growth comes from within, not without, and you can really only know the truth by asking yourself these questions, I believe, and from personal experiential knowledge

Anyway..
Good luck on NoS...

Peace and Love,
Deb

Spritual growth comes from within, not without

You pretty much hit the nail on the head with that one.

An ambitious and dangerous poll (even for off-topic)!

No subject interests me more than God and religion... but I've found it difficult to profitably discuss on the internet.

So just a friendly, preemptive reminder to everyone: vote (and comment) away, but let's keep this civil, however rabid your views. I want gluttonous/slothful/idle people from all ends of the spiritual-political-religious spectrum to feel at home in everyday systems. If you've got one of these problems, you belong here. That's the only criterion. I'm sure you all know that, just reiterating to make double sure.

Best,

Reinhard

Yea, I find that fruitful discussion about religion with anyone who doesn't already share my views is pretty futile. I expect most people have the same experience to report, regardless of position. I think that also applies to most things in life.

I also find your above options restrictive, as I have no idea what you mean by 'spiritual' in this context. If you can be more specific, I can give you an answer.

By spirituality I basically mean an expansive perspective on man's place in the universe which does not rely on religious dogma. (my technical definition is somewhat harder to explain, so I will keep myself to that)

I like the poll, I would have perferred the following choice:

"Raised Catholic and believe in the basic guidelines of the Church, love the ritual and the tradition but abhor the actions of the few that have socially tainted the many."

Suffice it to say, I cross myself when I pray, but I have no need to attend Mass each week.

On a lighter note, I was ordained online and actually performed a wedding last month. How do you like them apples?

For future reference: the "I have other interests" doesn't provide any additional information and reveals an obvious bias. If people think the poller is biased (especially against them), they're less likely to participate (your sig probably doesn't help in that regard either). Not to knock maintaining strong opinions, but if you want meaningful results, you have to be very careful about how you word these things.

Reinhard

I agree that this poll is pretty close to meaningless, especially without giving a reasonably precise definition of the categories you are laying out.

What, for example, is the difference between "religion" and "spirituality" in this categoreal scheme you are putting forth?

And also, I'd be interested to hear what theory you are surreptitiously trying to prove here....

So far it seems to be about fifty-fifty.

Reinhard, I don't understand what you mean about "I have other interests" being a knock against anyone. It's just a fact that some people are simply not interested and have other interest than religion or spirituality. I would mostly count myself as one of them.

Francois,

I can't speak for Reinhard, but I think the point he was making is that "I have other interests," adds nothing to that last option; everything that needs to be said is said in the first sentence of the fourth choice. Don't people who are religious or spiritual usually have "other interests" as well? And where is the option for me (i.e. "I am not interested in religion or spirituality. And I have no other interests.")?

I also think that this is lacking in having a correct choice for me.

I think I am meant to choose option 3, but I consider my beliefs to be my religion.

How about an option that allows you to have a religion that doesn't suggest that you are a christian who just doesn't attend church. (as opposed to option 2)

Honestly, I couldn't find any choice that fit for me....

While I wouldn't consider myself to be "Religious" or even "Spiritual", I am interested in both of those subjects....

I don't think that I fall into any of those categories either. I was brought up Catholic. I believe in God although sometimes I wonder. I have been through a lot of stuff in life (as I am sure we all have had our share) and have gotten past that stuff and people would say "Well, Thank God". I always wanna say, umm no, I thank myself.

Like for example, My hubby is in the USAF...we are in Italy and we just got our new assignment. We are headed to Georgia. Well, that is pretty close to where my mother-in-law lives, and she is just thrilled that we will be nearby. Anyhow....when we sent her the email to inform her of this, she replied with "I give all the glory and praise to God". (She is quite religious) All I could think was, you might wanna share some of that glory and praise with the people who are in charge of making these decisions. I just dont get it.

I believe in God, like I said, but I do not think that EVERY thing that we do in this life is a result of God making it happen. I would like to think that the things in life that I worked so hard for were a result of just that and not some gift from above. Wow.....maybe I dont believe half as much as I thought I did. I guess that is what happens when you are force fed catholicism as a child.

Well those are just my crazy thoughts.....

Have a good day everyone!

Oh and while I am here....this is kind of off but for those of you with children, how do you handle that situation? My husband was raised by my very religious mother -in-law, but he does not go to church now at all. I am wondering if when I have kids...how could I make them go to church and be all religious if neither my husband nor I feel the need to be.

Than that leads me to my next thought....If I choose not to make my children attend church and they go to Grandma's house and SHE makes them go.....do you think that will confuse them?

Ok I am done....If someone is bored enough to answer my weird questions feel free. lol

Thanks

Yes, I am bored (at work), but I have no children.

Your children, your choice (until they're old enough to decide for themselves). I can't see why you would want them to be religious and go to church if you don't. The only times I've been in a church in anything approaching a religious context have been weddings.

In the case of confusing them, if you don't want them to go to church, their grandmother should respect that.

I can't answer the poll as written. It's both restrictive and unclear. But I'll be happy to tell you what we do.

My family just joined a Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. Prior to this recent decision, we had not attended any church regularly in our 16 years of marriage (really not since we'd left our respective parents' homes). I would have described us as "having problems with organized religion," but privately thought of myself as a "heretic" because there was a lot I couldn't accept in either the structure or the theology of most traditional churches. The UU's accept a broad spectrum of philosophies and theology, while agreeing on some basic principles. (If you're interested in the principles, see http://www.uua.org/aboutuua/principles.html) Very low on "dogma."

We chose to look for some type of spiritual community primarily because we realized our son (in kindergarten) was starting to pick up a lot about religion through osmosis... and we didn't necessarily agree with it all. (USAF wife, we're also in the deep South.) So, we wanted to be proactive in teaching something that we did agree with. THAT took some looking, lol! We like the Religions Education program at our fellowship, which follows a 3-year cycle, focusing on (1) the UU principles, (2) "our Judeo-Christian heritage," and (3) world religions.

Once we started going, my husband and I found that we liked the support of a community in our own personal and spiritual growth.

Btw, for those who haven't seen it, there's a "belief-o-matic" quiz on beliefnet.com that's pretty neat. You fill out a quiz on your beliefs, and it "matches" you to the denomination/theology that you're most likely to fit with. That's what led me to check out the UUs to start with.

Than that leads me to my next thought....If I choose not to make my children attend church and they go to Grandma's house and SHE makes them go.....do you think that will confuse them?

Well, it didn't confuse mine (now adults).

When my kids were little I used what I call the "When in Rome..." rule. If they spent the night with Grandma or friends, the rules/customs of that house applied (obviously there might have been some exceptions!). While we weren't religious and attending church, it doesn't mean we didn't believe or that discussions about religion and religious practices were off-limits. I just explained to them that different people had different beliefs and practices -- even within the same family.

I, like KCCC am a UU, and didn't really see a choice in the poll that fit.

I have, however, found a place on the internet to discuss religion, philosophy, and spirituality that is not super-contentious, if anyone is interested. Check out Religious Forums at http://www.religiousforums.com