Posted on 07/19/2006 7:17:41 AM PDT by Merta
OK, I've got a question for all of you, this is an interesting one. If you weren't your religion, which religion would you be(and Judaism and Christianity are out of the question, I would expect a few to pick Judaism since it is so close to Christianity)?
Why? What doctrine is the most important, and what do you think is the most important?
I would maybe be a Zen Buddhist, afterall being one means a combination of romanticizing and the military thirst. That is, Jack Kerouac a Republican, supporter of Vietnam, and wrote On The Road as a rather nationalist book, was also a Zen Buddhist. That is the example of a Buddhist Republican. The most important for me is the message of harmony and inner-peace. I really, really like Jack but didn't know that his religion and politics were appealing also.
Why worship a dead man?
Otherwise I'd be an atheist, living it up until I died or committed suicide.
I think most people are the religion of their parents, or communities, or ethnic groups. I am not a religion, just a believer in one God. It appears to me, that religions are all relative, in that it just depends upon what one believes.
That sounds like the book If you see a Buddha on the road, kill him. I actually think it is less of the person itself, and more of the ideology attached to it. You see, the interesting thing about Buddhism is how iconoclastic and diverse some of the sects are. The idea that Buddha just died, is more intune with Theravada Buddhism, whereas Buddha as a Christ-like figure who is just the human form of the real thing up above. I just like the combination of romance and force. I just found it appealling.
Oh, I can think of a very good reason. But, since you ask the question I won't bother answering. You cannot understand. And for that I say a prayer for you.
Bacchus worship [Alcoholism] is the best. Time for the morning prayer/libation.
I would be a pagan worshipping the old Norse Gods.
lol
I'm a Christian but wicca/witchcraft is my second favorite.
You can think of a good reason to worhip Budda?
"You might be a redneck if your religion has ten steps."
I used to be an atheist until I took a class in Astronomy and realized that believing in science and the scientific creation story is as much as a leap of faith in believing in God. What also did it for me, is that creationist ideas on evolution made some sense, I mean why isn't every animal as advanced now as we are, and did it just happen? Realizing the flaws in atheism, I took it I guess because of the snarky view on religion and being a "rebel" on that topic also, I decided well that I think that Science and religion are deeply linked. You can't solve one without the other. I actually wrote a paper on it for Critical Thinking and got a great grade.
Anyway, I will always be Jewish. There are too little of us, plus I feel pride being the target of various conspiracies on power, and ideas. I guess that religion, like politics is intertwined with background. Then again, politics is a little like sports and religion, a reason for why I think that it is appropriate for religion to play some sort of role in political views. After all, both are core issues, and sensitive ones.
I am Jewish, but if I had to pick another, and Judaism and Christianity were not options...Zen Buddhism might be appealing. I'd have to adopt it to be monotheistic, though.
Of course, Zoroastrianism might be cool, too.
With such clear fantasy allusions, why am I not surprised at your answers, lol.
Interesting, I usually recall wiccans as sort of Neo-Feminists and rather following Liberalism(even the leader of the group endorsed Kerry in 2004) but it is nice to see a FReeper also valuing that religion. I did a 55 page paper(it was supposed to be 9-12 pages, asperger's is my excuse, yet there was so much stuff in it) on that topic and was fascinated. It is basically a smorgasboard of pagan religions, in fact I wanted to become a Neo-Pagan only because their stories were more interesting at first.
I love discussing religion. I actually took a religion test, if I could find the link I'll link it to this thread, and came off as Mainline to Liberal Protestant, I think and I am not even Christian. I have high respect for my Christian brothers, but I pointed out Buddhism because it can be boring talking about me not minding Christianity as a second choice.
I really would like to meet someone who worships the Zoroastrian religion, but I don't know anyone who does, except for people in Iran as an example.
I'll say that I took Comparative Religions in High School and got a B, religion in public school interestingly enough. I took Contemporary Religions last semester in college. I originally took CR because I was tired of my Judaism, didn't find a real similarity to my beliefs and fell down the hole. It would be nice if more schools had Comparative Religions as an elective.
Open - pour - lift - drink - put it down - [refill] - only 5 and a half steps. For those schismatics drinking straight from the bottleneck it is even fewer.
Either the Norse Gods [fighting all day and drinking all night in the afterlife sounds like Heaven to me], or Mongol worship of the Everlasting Blue Sky and the Tengri.
Hey!!! That's a good point.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.