Do you benefit spiritually from religions that you do not believe in?

[ZombieHorde]

Poll question: Do you benefit spiritually from religions that you do not believe in?

For example: A Buddhist who benefits spiritually from the teachings of Mohammad, but does not take any part of the Koran as literal truth.

[MrModerate]

1. I don't benefit "spiritually" from any religion, because spirituality is a hollow concept. n/t

[ZombieHorde]

3. What do you find hollow about the concept of spirituality?

[MrModerate]

9. I suppose there are many and broader defintions of spirituality than mine . . .

But for me it's an implicitly supernatural belief in powers/forces not the result of observable (if not fully described) physical reality. Based on that, I consider spirituality to be an empty fiction.

[Demeter]

2. The Religions I Don't Believe In Are Designed to Hurt Me and My Family

They are exclusionary, hierachial, patriarchial, anti-life, anti-liberty, anti-intellectual, and many other things detrimental to me personally and to most of the people in and around them.

[ZombieHorde]

4. What religions do you believe in, if any?

Side note: We named our daughter Demeter.

[jeff30997]

8. Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

[ZombieHorde]

14. I'll touch his noodly appendage after he touches mine.

[jeff30997]

18. Hehehe...

:)

[jeff30997]

26. My noodle is bigger than yours!

:rofl:

[ZombieHorde]

29. With that in mind...

Oh yea



That's right



Strangely alluring



Uh, so which is it, souper or shrimp

[jeff30997]

30. OMG!!! You're too cool!

ROFL!!! :rofl:

[Demeter]

10. I Am a Member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregations

and it isn't belief as much as support and approval.

[ZombieHorde]

16. I hear that UUers hold a wide variety of beliefs and non beliefs.

I imagine that a statement like this may raise some eyebrows at a UU church.

"The Religions I Don't Believe In Are Designed to Hurt Me and My Family -- They are exclusionary, hierachial, patriarchial, anti-life, anti-liberty, anti-intellectual, and many other things detrimental to me personally and to most of the people in and around them."

Though I have never been to one, so I wouldn't know.

[2KS2KHonda]

5. One cannot believe "in" a religion....he/she might -believe- the tenets of a religion

just as one might believe in the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus. There are few limits to the absurdities people are willing to embrace in their quest for rationality in an irrational universe. :D

[Bill McBlueState]

6. A clarifying question...

How is benefiting "spiritually" different from plain old benefiting?

[ZombieHorde]

12. Recieving food from a religious food bank would be benefiting...

Gaining insight into your own life is both benefiting and spiritually benefiting.

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. What do you mean by "not believe in"?

Do you mean "believe it is false" or "don't follow but recognize it's validity" or "don't think it exists", or what?

[ZombieHorde]

11. This one made me laugh.."don't think it exists"

An atheists view of monotheism for example. It is possible for an atheist to read a monotheistic story and gain some spiritual value from it.

[Rabrrrrrr]

13. You still haven't defined the term, though.

[ZombieHorde]

15. How about: Don't believe in = does not consider to be literally true

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. And "Literally true" means what?

I'm a Christian, but I don't believe that the Bible is inerrant, factual in every detail, nor "literally" true. Nor do I believe that the Catholic Church or the Pope are infallible.

Having a discussion is easier when terms are defined well.

For instance, I have found moments of meaning in the religious leanings of the fremen in the Dune books - but their religion is truly fictional. Is that a "literally true" religion? Is that a religion I "believe in"? Same with some of the mystical musings of the Elves in Lord of the Rings. Where does that fit?

I think Scientology and Mormonism are utter made up fictional bullshit, since they were both designed and invented by a single person under very questionable circumstances, both, in my opinion, for the sole reason of manipulating people for nefarious and financial gain. Other religions might be fictional bullshit, but if so, they were fictionalized by tens of thousands of people over many generations.

Define yer terms, dude.

[ZombieHorde]

22. Define yer terms, dude.

I will try. Thanks for giving me something to work with.

I'm a Christian, but I don't believe that the Bible is inerrant,

I am guessing that you believe in the core principles, God exists, the divinity of Christ, salvation, etc. For the purposes of my little poll, this is good enough to be considered a belief in Christianity.

Let's say that believing in basic core beliefs of a religion (which is obviously subject to debate) will work for this poll.

fremen in the Dune books - but their religion is truly fictional. Is that a "literally true" religion?

It does not matter if the religion is actually literally true, what matters in context of this poll, is if you believe in the core, often supernatural, teachings of that religion. For example, Karma, afterlives, magic powers, spirits, souls, etc.

If you gain some spiritual benefit from fremen in the Dune books then the correct answer for you, in this poll, is yes.

I generally don't claim that one religion is more valid than another, unless I am speaking about my personal relationship with a religion.

[TooBigaTent]

17. If that belief causes someone to act in a positive-from-my-viewpoint way, yes.

Call t collateral 'damage'.

[kwassa]

20. I believe in all religions

and benefit from all of them, in some way.

but I don't benefit from the ones I don't believe in.

[colorado thinker]

21. I benefited from God as he was portrayed

by Morgan Freeman in Evan Almighty.

"Ask God for courage and he gives you the opportunity to be courageous". So different from the vision of the micromanager God some "Christians" believe in. I have an evangelical sister who believes God manages every second of her life, every decision she makes, every random happenstance. Lord, that God is a busy man! She finds miracles in which coffee cup she chooses to use on any given day. It's exhausting.

I don't know who wrote this movie but I found that line compelling. Yes, present the opportunity and let me make my own choices on how I act. Or let me believe in God or not believe in God, it's my choice.

That's the point.

[elshiva]

23. I liked Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty.

I'm an atheist, but those were fun movies. Morgan Freeman makes a great god and he is hilarious.

[struggle4progress]

24. I find the Buddhists have a penetrating and useful psychological tradition,

though I am not a Buddhist. I have also gained quite a lot from Taoist writings, though I am not a Taoist. Portions of the Zohar and of the Midrash Rabbah, I find very enlightening, even though I am not Jewish and even though I suspect the Zohar is a forgery ...

[HamdenRice]

25. We also benefit materially, on net, from what some religions do

For example, some religions are doing truly staggering amounts of charitable work in poor countries, especially in the fields of education, development assistance, maternal and child care, clean water and famine relief.

The people receiving this aid often are not of the same religion as the people delivering it. Moreover, the reduction of poverty and desperation probably has a net effect of reducing political instability and terrorism.

So yes, we benefit from what those religious organizations are doing whether we are part of that religion or not.

[knitter4democracy]

27. It's always good for me to learn of how others believe.

It makes me face my beliefs, question myself, and go deeper into what I believe and why. Those are all very good things.

[ZombieHorde]

28. Awesome!

[Meshuga]

31. Sure, why not?

Any good insights that are religious or non-religious can be beneficial in my opinion. We all live in the same society and we can all learn from each other.

[Azooz]

32. Yes, but let me try to further define "spirituality"

Generosity, Kindness, Mercy, Justice, Forgiveness, etc, etc - define those positive traits, that one would like to see more of in his or her own children as "spirituality" - it thus comes before religion. A person of your own religion or mine can be a bad person, a miser, mean, unjust or a liar - it is not the religions fault he did not stick to it and may go hell for it in his or her own religion's text - and someone of a religion you really do not believe in (or no religion) might act better, be kinder, more truthful or nicer etc. The two religions have their traits to teach but the specific persons level of "spirituality" is what you should measure and learn even from an atheist spiritualist to because religion teaches in theory what they know and apply to their lives.

Gandhi - the word for people who refuse to learn spirituality from such a person means "rude", his thoughts of the after-life, heaven and hell are unimportant to how he actually behaves in life. I mean there is nothing any religious person or atheist of his time could teach him about spirituality. He had two large sections of his population (each over 100 million people), each fearing, hating and killing one another - Gandhi solved that civil war by starving himself close to death and got Peace, that is a nice thing to learn and good for anyone's spiritual growth. It is hard to find people who are unable to hate, but you can find them in all religions and many have none, and learn from spirituality them if you will.

>>but does not take any part of the Koran as literal truth.
That is religion not spirituality really - spiritual people do not have to read it or believe it, but those that hate it without having read it for themselves are a waste of my time.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

33. Of course, since a religion is a culture's attempts at knowing the Unknowable

I am a Christian of the Episcopal variety because that is the approximation of the Ultimate that suits me best, but I have great appreciation for some types of Buddhism, some aspects of Hinduism, Native American spirituality,and Judaism.

[SidneyCarton]

34. I have found wisdom and enlightenment in other faiths...

St. Francis of Assisi I find particularly enlightening.

[ZombieHorde]

35. Have you seen the movie; "Brother Sun, Sister Moon"?

[SidneyCarton]

36. No, is it good?

[ZombieHorde]

38. It is excellent. It is about Francis of Assisi and his Christian enlightenment.

[SidneyCarton]

39. I'll look into it. Thanks.

[silverweb]

37. Yes, absolutely.

When I was much younger, I did an informal, self-directed study of comparative religion, and have ever since been appreciative of the universality of many spiritual beliefs.

I consider certain beliefs that are held in common to be Universal Law, like the Golden Rule:


On the other hand, beliefs and practices that are unique to certain religions frequently offer a different perspective, practical value, or deeper insight.

I believe in no religion 100%, because religions are human constructs -- therefore imperfect, incomplete, often contradictory, and often designed to control. However, I do most definitely benefit spiritually from many different religions.