How would you have set the "What religion are you" poll?

Talliesin

A little game/gedankenexperiment.

First. Don't look at other answers until you've thought of yours.

Ok. You have to set no more than 12 choices.
You have to try to get a reasonably good sampling of the different faiths/paths/religions/views/worldviews/spiritual outlooks/etc. around.

What choices do you make. Explanations of why you chose what you did would be good too. I'll stick down my answer later.

PaulinCork

Catholicism
Unitarianism
Quaker
Other form of Christianity
Buddhism
New Age
Hinduism
Islam
Judaism
Atheism
Agnostic
Paganism


I put Unitarianism in, cos I'm a Pagan Unitarian. And I included Quakers, cos I like Quakers. Frustrated by only twelve choices though. It would have been nice to get Taoism in

stevenmu

I can't really think of a definitive 12, PaulinCork's looks pretty good to me. The one thing I would have done differently (to the poll) is to not have had non-practicing/lip-service options. I'm sure others will feel differently, but to me a non-practicing catholic isn't really a catholic at all. As far as I'm concerned if somebody willfully and knowingly goes against the teachings of their religion, then they're not really of that religion. In the case of catholics, I know there are many people who don't go to mass, use contraception, have sex outside of marriage and are pro-choice regarding abortion, who still call themselves catholics. It's fine with me if they want to do that but to my mind they're no more catholic than I am.

(I don't mean to just pick on catholics here, similar things can be said about many other faiths, it's just I'm more familiar with catholicism)

PaulinCork

I have good , wise friends who are Catholic, and do not acceot the hierarchy and their misogynist and homophobic dogma. My father doesn't, and he's very active in his parish

The Church is not just the dogma.

stevenmu

PaulinCork wrote:

The Church is not just the dogma.

No, but I would see following the teachings of God/Jesus/The Bible as interpreted by the Pope/Vatican as being essential to being a catholic. If people deliberatly and knowingly go against those teachings, or at least the Pope/Vatican's interpretation of them then I don't really see them as being catholic. That's not to say that there's anything wrong with them or what they do, and if they want to go ahead and call themselves catholics then that's fine with me.

nesf

stevenmu wrote:

No, but I would see following the teachings of God/Jesus/The Bible as interpreted by the Pope/Vatican as being essential to being a catholic. If people deliberatly and knowingly go against those teachings, or at least the Pope/Vatican's interpretation of them then I don't really see them as being catholic. That's not to say that there's anything wrong with them or what they do, and if they want to go ahead and call themselves catholics then that's fine with me.

I know plenty (country) catholics who would consider them catholic but who disagree with many of the church/papal dogma.

My mother for instance is a Eucharistic Minister but she wants change and reform in areas such as birth control, women priests and priestly celebacy to just name a few.

A catholic who wishes for change in their religion, the same as any other person who wishes change in their religion, is not necessarily "not catholic".

They are just people who have an opinion. ie not sheep. Change in religions will generally come from inside rather than from without.

stevenmu

I would see someone who wants to change something about their religion, something fundamental at least, as basically saying that there is something wrong with that religion. In Catholicism, if you are saying that there is something wrong with the policies as laid down by the Pope, are you not then saying that the Pope himself is wrong ? This goes against what I would see as one of the fundamental pillars of the Catholic religion.

The same point goes for people who think that the church should change to suit society. According to the church, people should live by it's rules and standards. Many people though want to live by their own rules and standards, which is fair enough, but when they say that it should be the church which changes to suit them instead of the other way around then they are saying that the church is wrong. Surely it should be the church which decides what is right and wrong for it, and then people can decide if they agree or should find a different church.

I think for societal reasons people like to declare themselves part of a particular religion without nessecarily believing wholeheartedly in it. In Ireland for example for historical reasons it would be unacceptable to many people to leave Catholicism to become a Protestant even though purely in religious terms it may suit them better. But as I've said before, I don't really if people want to call themselves Catholics, it makes no odds to me.

nesf

stevenmu wrote:

I would see someone who wants to change something about their religion, something fundamental at least, as basically saying that there is something wrong with that religion. In Catholicism, if you are saying that there is something wrong with the policies as laid down by the Pope, are you not then saying that the Pope himself is wrong ? This goes against what I would see as one of the fundamental pillars of the Catholic religion.

The same point goes for people who think that the church should change to suit society. According to the church, people should live by it's rules and standards. Many people though want to live by their own rules and standards, which is fair enough, but when they say that it should be the church which changes to suit them instead of the other way around then they are saying that the church is wrong. Surely it should be the church which decides what is right and wrong for it, and then people can decide if they agree or should find a different church.

I think for societal reasons people like to declare themselves part of a particular religion without nessecarily believing wholeheartedly in it. In Ireland for example for historical reasons it would be unacceptable to many people to leave Catholicism to become a Protestant even though purely in religious terms it may suit them better. But as I've said before, I don't really if people want to call themselves Catholics, it makes no odds to me.

I don't think it's as black and white as that for quite a few people.

Belief/faith in God does not necessarily mean a person need agree with everything that their religion says. (I know, papal infalibility kind messes with this, but bear with me)

One of the better things that Pope John Paul II did in my opinion was to buld bridges with many of the other religions. In layman's terms, he said "Hey, look, at least you believe in the same god as us really. So why fight about it?"


Bear in mind though, the above is just my personal opinion, versus a well reasoned and supported point of view.

Zillah

1 - Right
2 - Wrong

Oryx

Zillah wrote:

1 - Right
2 - Wrong

I think Id recognise your posts even if your name wasnt on em!

Zillah

KatieK wrote:

I think Id recognise your posts even if your name wasnt on em!

You say the sweetest things.

r3boot

spread chrsitain and islam categories a bit more and include strict and more liberal categories maybe.

axtradub12

In having major religions on Boards.ie Why not include ISLAM

Nevyn

forums get created if there are users that want them.
If there are users that are or have Islamic belifs they would have to
under go the same process the other forums did.

NeilJ

Christainity, Judeasim, Islam, Buddism, Hindu, Paganism, Heathen, New Age Spiritualist, Ba'Hai, Taoism, Atheism, Agnostic,

In response to Stevenmu's posts, I'd have to say that in my opinion there is a difference between believing in God and believing in the Church. Many of the issues that Catholics have with the Church are to do with practises and dogmas which have very little basis in the Bible e.g. female priests. So you have a situation where people are argueing within a specific denomination of Christainity as to how they should be allowed practise and what is acceptable. The fundamentals of Catholicism the major differences between it and many other Christain faiths are intercession of Saints, the use of statues and idols, the position of Mary within the Church, predestination, the sacrament of the Eucharist and the sacrament of reconcilation (confession). Obeying the orders of the Pope is way down the list compared to the other issues of dogma, belief and spirituality.

Neil

Suff

What processes do I need to go through in order to have an islamic fourm??
I am muslim and I love having dialogue with people of different faiths and even the poor pegans !

Nevyn

The spirituailty board is a place to talk about all beliefs and faiths and religions;
To discuss the simularities and the differences.
So your views/questions are most welcome here and on the paganism forum too.
I see that the thread asking for the forum has already been started in the forums forum.

You will need to becarefull on how it is modded that it is a open welcoming to
all curious posters but yet have a hard line in not putting up with predjuice from anyone. I wish you well with it.

Suff

ofcourse, thanks