GODISNOWHERE (you put the spaces in between) put your religion & how long you"ve believed in it and why.,.....
365565
I am 25 and I have been an atheist for 8 years.
353392
when i was 15, 2 very close friends were killed in a car accident, i was miserable and confused. i discovered that it wasn't that god had abandoned me, he never existed in the first place. i have spent a lot of time reading about it and discovered what a bag of shite religion is,\n\nsince loosing my faith, my life has improved ten fold, instead of wasting time on a false deity, i am living life for me.\n\nconsequencially my fiance wants to get married in a church, but i refuse.\n\ni kinda upset my parents as well!
180115
It isent. I study all religions. I have a bumper sticker that says: God is big, hes in every religion. Religion is just a foundation for you to seek in the begining of your path and try to get you in the right path of enlightment. But being spiritual and religion really go hand in hand. Believing there is a higher power or god or whatever you choose to call god.. and knowing hes omnipresent is a good start.
944545
"God thinks" you say.  Really?  What do you base your belief on?
1005150
Well said.\n\nCordially,\nJohn\nhttp://www.GodSci.org
177061
Honestly, you live on in the memory of the lives of people that were special to you and that you touched through your actions.  As an atheist/secular humanist I believe it is important that I leave the world a better place than I found it.  As such, I try to touch the lives of as many people as possible while I am living on this beautiful blue globe.
1084252
I noticed people become more believing when they get older...I think for a lot of people the thought that when you die, you cease to exist is difficult to comprehend, so there must be a God overseeing the afterlife...
1032501
(Note: I was raised Catholic and now consider myself agnostic.)My observations of religion throughout history:  Religion has always been there.  All religions give guidelines for how to live life.  Many people have died for the sake of religious beliefs.\n\nReligion has always been there...  How many religions (including all of the "extinct" religions) have there been?  How many do you worship?  Do you really have reason to believe that yours is the right religion?  Haven't you noticed that most children worship the same religion as their parents?\n\nAll religions give guidelines as how to live life...  the 10 commandments: dont kill, dont steal...   Yup that these types of things sound good to me.  Did I really need a list of things I should not do?  What about torture?  Why isn't that on the list?  Through education I developed a moral compass and a concious.  A way of knowing what is right and wrong.\n\nMany people have died for the sake of religious beliefs... This is my beef with religion.  It unites those within it, but it divides those of the different religions.  If its such a good thing why do so many die in its name?\n\nSo why am I not atheist?  I honestly don't know if there is a God or not.  Maybe God did create everything and is now on the sidelines.  I hope their is a God.  I really do.  My dad's passing was one of the hardest experiences of my life.  I hope he was not reduced to nothingness.  Still I must be honest with myself.  I DONT KNOW.  Anyone who says they do is lieing in my opinion.  If they did really know then it is no longer a question of faith.  Sure if I met God I'd worship him/her/it/them.  But I'm not going to blindly follow ANYTHING, much less something as powerful as religion.\n\nIf there is a God and they stand in judgement upon a person's death I do not believe that God will care if we went to church on Sunday, gave money to the church, or repented before our death.  They will care how we lived our life.  Did we try to improve the lives of the people around us?  Did we try to do the right thing?  Did we treat others as we wish to be treated?  And if there is this judgement followed by a heaven/hell, I believe I will be meeting my dad in heaven.  Until then I will try to do the right thing, not because of religion, but because ITS THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
1019263
Sorry but I believe that it sound be between you and God. For me I am a Muslim
1161742
Actually, i believe in my religion not only for the obvious reasons, but also because of what it does for me. And i am not talking about the Christian heaven thing, either.\n\nJudaism gives to me a love of learning for its own sake. \nIt gives me a discipline through the demands for kosher and shabbat observance. \n\nIt makes me a part of something that has lasted through 4,000 (thats four THOUSAND!) years of persecution, misrepresentation, misunderstandings, people stealing our rituals and giving them meanings that contradict the Bible, things no other faith on earth has had to endure, but we endured it. (Which means that we have been reading, singing, worshipping, studying, observing, enjoying, things that have been done this way since recorded time began on this planet!) \n\nIt gives me a direction on how to treat others, not by merely spouting platitudes ("love each other") but in real concrete terms of how to show that love and how to measure up (tithing, that kind of thing). \n\nIt has given birth to a people on earth who have given to the OTHER people on earth far far far more than one should expect from so small a people, like 16% of every Nobel Prize given in the world have been given to Jews, when the Jews are about one tenth of one percent of the world's population. \n\nJudaism brings Gd into my life on a moment by moment basis, enabling me to get through an awful lot that most never have to, for which they should say, 'thank Gd,' like having a wife sick for more than half our marriage, and losing her, my brother, and my father all in a space of 20 months.\n\nAll this and so much more!\n\nThere is a passage in the Talmud where the rabbis are debating the existence of Gd. Finally the number one head rabbi is asked, 'what would you do if you had undeniable proof that there is no Gd?' and he answered them and said, 'I would get up tomorrow morning and recite the morning prayers.' This means he does Judaism for himself, because of what it does for himself, and through him, for the world.\n\nSo do i.
286800
Just chance, but they've provided for some fun.\n\nThe first provided the basis for one of my favorite bits of graffiti (discovered on a carrel in Yale Univesity's Sterling Memorial Library):\n\nDyslexics of the world, untie!\n\nThe second is the basis of a wordplay (a sometime sermon illustration and basis of a number of stories, probably apocryphal) -- how do you read "godisnowhere"?  Some see "God is nowhere"; others see "God is now here!"
456809
My school RI teacher when I was 11. She told me (what iv ealready printed a few times on this site, i just feel i should share it) that religion is like a mountain with God at the top. There are many paths up that mountain, each looking different, but theyre all just part of the same mountain. Hows that for influence on a developing mind?
746793
knowing & believing (thinking you know)
752000
I believe in God. I practice religion.
1167127
Yes.. ^^ during my first two years in highschool I'll admit that I have forgotten God, but now since my third year in highschool(i'm in Phil. We have 4 years of secondary level here... ^^)\nI can say that i'm more close to God and I learned more about his greatness and about his sacrfices. I can say that now I have a deeper faith on him. ^^
1145668
I don't just believe, I "know" from deep within. I can't look at all of the good around me, all of the gifts I've been given, the lessons I've learned, and the "coincidences" that appear right as I need them and not believe. But, I also don't push my beliefs on others. I consider myself an "independent spiritual" as I do not lock in to one religion but take wisdom from numerous religions. God loves everyone whether they believe or not. I find that things go best when I remind myself to relax and trust in God's plan.
989631
let me ask you this, what will it change for you? what does it matter? people tend to use their creation theories - god vs. evolution, as reason to discredit the other. it's all ego. what does knowing change? just accept. we're here. something put us here. follow your heart to decide what. but don't let not knowing for sure take up any more of your time. finding out isn't possible beyond faith. both sides have evidence, not proof. it doesn't matter.