The origins of your belief, what are they?

Originally posted by KnightWulfe
As a result of all of this, I am a morally grounded, atheistic evolutionist. 🙂

Heretic swine! Burn him at the stake!

twingett,

The implication was read by you. By including theists and atheists in the same question does not automatically mean I speak of God....

Those who believe in Hinduism are also theists and they dont believe in God.

Dave C - Smart Ass....

I was raised Catholic, and began questioning the faith as a young teen. I noticed how many fakes were in church. That is in church the community was kind, respectful, and pious. Once church let out many of those same people adopted a "every man for himself" attitude, hardly becoming of a self actualized person. Observing the numerous cases of catholic priests who were involved in some heinous act, typical of the worst of society, and more importantly, the attempts of the church hierarchy to conceal said behaviour and protect the criminals, led me straight away from the church. Hypocrisy sums it up.

I studied Eastern religions as an undergraduate student while I took my pre med courses. I fell in love with the tennants of Taoism. I consider myself a taoist now, because I view the world from that eye; however, I do not fully employ the principles. For example I do not make use of a compost to remove the trash my family and I produce. I also take two traditional allopathic medications.

The basis of my belief in Taoism is that it is simple and unassuming. It allows for a supreme being but makes no attempt to worship, explain, or reveal Him. Taoism uses a rational, logical approach to explain how the world works, and rather than controling natural forces, strives to learn from them. I believe that if everyone followed the tennants of The Way, there would be no desire to detonate a busload of innocent people, or molest a child, or "Crusade" We logically will never explain forces that are supernatural, if they do indeed exist, so better to understand the natural forces at work around us...

Originally posted by thesonofsaul
Don't start with this pointless babble again. The question is perfectly answerable for athiests, especially as most athiests treat their lack of belief in God as a belief--that is an idea that can and should be spread to others. Just answer the question.

thats funny, gets a rec from me.

Originally posted by thesonofsaul
Don't start with this pointless babble again. The question is perfectly answerable for athiests, especially as most athiests treat their lack of belief in God as a belief--that is an idea that can and should be spread to others. Just answer the question.

thats funny, gets a rec from me.

Originally posted by rwingett
You specifically addressed the question to both theists and atheists, thereby implying the question was about god. Why target those two specific groups otherwise?

But I'll answer the question in the manner you seem to want:

I was born into a nominally christian family. Neither of my parents went to church. They briefly took me to Sunday School out o ...[text shortened]... George W. Bush is by far the worst President in the history of this nation. I believe etc. etc.

It was an excellent question and open ended. You could chose to make it what you want. The decision to pose the question to both those who believe in God and those who don't does not necessitate that the question was about belief in God.

Originally posted by rwingett
The question is improper. You can only ask theists what the basis for their belief is. As for an atheist, you can only ask them why they [b]don't believe what the theist claims to be true. In other words, atheism is not a belief, but is the lack of belief.[/b]

As you define it.
Kelly

Born to atheist parents in a mostly Catholic extended family. I've looked at a few religions a little bit and spent a lot of time thinking. I studied a little philosophy as well. Possibly the most influential ideas with me have been hedonistic utilitarianism and Pascal's wager - including the refutation of it with which I am familiar (the expectation values of all possible gods and afterlives cancel with one another).

As an agnostic buddhist I think all my ideas are based on reason as far as a human can base his or her ideas on reason.

Originally posted by KnightWulfe
Dave C - Smart Ass....

Sorry. I can't help it sometimes. My ass has a mind of its' own.

I was raised in a decidedly un-religious family. They were/are mostly educators, writers, artists...unconcerned with the trappings of religion. I managed to escape my childhood without the emotional baggage of some of my friends. As I matured, I began experimenting with altered states of consciousness. I made connections in the deepest parts of my brain and the furthest reaches of our universe, and realized certain truths. They formed like crystals in my own awareness.

Unfortunately, I'm easily distracted these days.

Originally posted by David C
[b]Sorry. I can't help it sometimes. My ass has a mind of its' own.

As I matured, I began experimenting with altered states of consciousness. I made connections in the deepest parts of my brain and the furthest reaches of our universe, and realized certain truths. b]

Hmm. Would you care to expand on these "altered states of consciousness" and how you made these "connections"? Also, what "truths" did you realize?

Originally posted by thesonofsaul
Don't start with this pointless babble again. The question is perfectly answerable for athiests, especially as most athiests treat their lack of belief in God as a belief--that is an idea that can and should be spread to others. Just answer the question.

Thank you.

Originally posted by KnightWulfe
twingett,

The implication was read by you. By including theists and atheists in the same question does not automatically mean I speak of God....

Those who believe in Hinduism are also theists and they dont believe in God.

Dave C - Smart Ass....

I do not profess to know anything about Hinduism, but if they don't believe in a god, they they are not theists. Hinduism would be a non-theistic religion in that case. But my limited knowledge of Hinduism not withstanding, I think Hindus do believe in at least one god. In which case they would indeed be theists. Perhaps you were thinking of Buddhism, which can be said to be a non-theistic religion.

Originally posted by KnightWulfe
I am curious, from both theists and atheists, what is the basis for what you believe? Did you grow up with that belief and have never known different? Self-actuallized theist/atheist? Were you once one and now you are the other? What has shaped your belief system?

There are three basic belief systems, 1 God, >1 god, and 0 gods.
I would have started with this, but believe there is already debate
on what a belief system is already. I will answer your question when
I have a little more time
Kelly