If you weren't your current religion, which one would you be?

Like Jimahl said, atheism is not a religion. Atheism is lack of any religion. I heard one guy say that if atheism is a religion than health is a dissease.

The single biggest factor in what worldview you are is your environment. If your parents believe a certain religion than chances are you will adopt that one. There is also your culture; we are likely to embrace the religion of our culture.

Most people raised in a devout Christian household will be Christian just like those raised in Muslim or Hindu households generally end up Muslim or Hindu. This is the reason why deciding on who gets saved based on what religion they follow is silly. The most devout Christian likely would be a different religion had they been raised by a household with a different worldview. This makes salvation mainly a roll of the dice.

All that said our own temperment has a bit to do with it as well. Even though I’ve been an atheism since I was 12 I found myself drawn to certain religious ideas and certain religions. I’ve always admired the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and the Baha’I faith. Quakers were early supporters of ending slavery, ending the death penalty, prison reform, equality, and women’s sufferage. I always liked the Baha’I teaching of unity and universal brotherhood. If I were raised such that I didn’t have the intellectual independance to embrace atheism but I was dissatirsfied with the religion I was indoctrinated with I likely would have gravitated to one of these religions.

If I wasn’t LDS which is my current religion, I’d be Atheist. The reason why I say that, because since people love disrespecting the LDS faith, I’d probably think that Heavenly Father wouldn’t exist. Also, if I was Atheist, I’d sin and believe in going to hell.

OH…MY…GOD!!

if I wasnt following my current religion ie islam…OMG I wud be the most LOST person everrrcries…THANK GOD IM MUSLIM:)

I dun think I wud be following any religion…thank god for islam;)

this question TOTALLY freaked me out…hahah

later!;)

Guys, I am fully aware athism and agnosticsm aren’t religions, but they are belief systems, so maybe the question should’ve read “ What belief system would you rather be?”.

Jimahl> I have also heard that if atheism is a religion, than not playing any instrument makes you a musician.

My dad might think the later is true. He says that when he was a lad that every time in choir when he just moved his lips but didn’t sing his choirmaster told him he was singing much better.

Both my sister-in-law and her husband are both atheists and attend a “U U” church. If there was anything I could attend, it would be that. They never discuss dogma other than academically. Not through worship.

My family all they have been christian my grandparents my mom and dad so, I don’t know if I were in other religion.

“I heard one guy say that if atheism is a religion than health is a dissease.”

I have also heard that if atheism is a religion, than not playing any instrument makes you a musician.

“In general the Liberal branch of the RSOF has mainly unprogrammed meetings while the more conservative branch has programmed ones.”

I see, thanks for the insight! I attended this meeting at a time when I was still seeking answers through religion, but no longer part of the denomination I was raised with. If nothing else, it gave me some experience with a group that many people out there talk about, but few seem to take the time and understand.

That’s interesting what you said about deism, pantheism and atheism. Those two strands of theism are more appealing to me, but as you say they certainly don’t offer the simpler explanation. I suppose my interest in them right now is purely philosophical.

mjax1979, what you went to was an “unprogramed meeting.” At these anyone who is moved to speak can do so. There are rules for the meeting Friends understand but they can seem inscrutable to outsiders. There are also programmed meetings that are more conventional where one person preaches. In general the Liberal branch of the RSOF has mainly unprogrammed meetings while the more conservative branch has programmed ones.

I read quite a bit about Deism myself. One of the first books I read on my own (not for school) was Thomas Paine’s The_Age_of_Reason. Deists believe in a God that reveals itself through nature rather than through books.

I always thought that the difference between a Deist or Pantheist and an atheist is that the atheist applies Occham’s razor and the other two don’t.

My advice is to be yourself, free from from the bondage, shackles & chains that surround you when you involve in any religious belief. Religion with all it’s rituals, beliefs, are all commercial establishments, that put fear into you by talking about heaven , hell, devil etc, just to extract money, and put fear so that it is impossable for you to lead a life without fear guilt & freedom. Be your own judge. Do what you think is right , to hell what others say, and only think of today, forget about the past and the future. Darryl

“I’ve always admired the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) “

A long time ago I went to a Quaker service and it was unlike anthing I’d experienced growing up. The seats are arranged in a square formation, so everyone is facing everyone else. People can get up throughout the service, share thoughts, prayers, hymns and songs, speeches, announcements, and whatever else. It’s sort of a democratic church service, if that makes sense.

And, as you said, the Quakers are far more concerned with issues of social injustice than with doctrines and dogma. So I guess I’ve always found them appealing too. However, while I’d be glad to work alongside them in most of their endeavors, I do not share their spiritual views at this point in my life.

The other religious view I’m interested in is Deism, such as the Unitarian Universalists. Deists do not believe in holy books, divine revelation, miracle working, or any type of revelated religion. They view all of this as being created by humans and a corruption of true “religion” which they see simply as the human ability to reason and discover truth. Also, the deist concept of God is more along the lines of a higher power, but which is something each person must discover for themselves, rather than a specific deity that intervenes in the natural world. Deist views are not, therefore, incompatible with the Big Bang and evolution. However, given my current doubt in the existence of a higher power, I would have difficulty believing such a thing could be realized. Most Deists would say there’s nothing wrong with that, though, and would be more interested in discussing views rather than condemning me to hellfire.

I’m born again Christian. I used to be Wiccan. I guess it counts that I’ve already made the change.

atheism and agnostocism are not religions.

I wouldn’t be anything other than Agnostic and I’m not close-minded, obviously.

Confucianism

Buddist?

“They never discuss dogma other than academically.”

In other words, a person can actually become smarter after attending church! Sounds like my kinda place. I have a friend from high school who became a you U, and she has some really good things to say about the existence of a supreme deity. Can’t say she’s convinced me, but it did give me food for thought!

Let us first begin by admitting that we are not gods nor do we possess all knowledge. It is also necessary to remove from our minds and hearts any prejudices and prior notions of how everything came into being and how it is being sustained and perpetuated. This is the critical first step to gaining any true knowledge and establishing facts based on proof. Ask anyone the question: “Do you believe in God?” and you are sure to receive a variety of answers. The question should be “What do you believe about God?”

Think about this: • If there is a creation, there must be a Creator. • If there is a Creator, He must be the Sustainer • The Creator Cannot Create Himself • If He is the sole Creator/Sustainer – He must be ONE

God must be one.Otherwise we would see great differences and competition between the gods if there were one – Alone. Do we agree that this is a creation? Or do we accept that nothing came out of nothing to form this entire universe? This is a very clear message from Allah, in the Quran. Something does not come out of nothing. So, there must be something in existence already which created all that we know to exist. And that “something” needs to be called upon in times of need and thanksgiving. As Allah has said in His Book: “I only created you all to worship Me Alone.” He also says that we are all being tested by Him with regard to our wealth, families, children and social status.

Scientists’ Comments on Scientific Miracles in the Quran:

The following are some comments of scientists1 on the scientific miracles in the Holy Quran. All of these comments have been taken from the videotape entitled This is the Truth.

1. Dr. T. V. N. Persaud is Professor of Anatomy, Professor of Pediatrics and Child Health, and Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. There, he was the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy for 16 years. He is well-known in his field. He is the author or editor of 22 textbooks and has published over 181 scientific papers. In 1991, he received the most distinguished award presented in the field of anatomy in Canada, the J.C.B. Grant Award from the Canadian Association of Anatomists. When he was asked about the scientific miracles in the Quran which he has researched, he stated the following: “The way it was explained to me is that Muhammad was a very ordinary man. He could not read, didn’t know [how] to write. In fact, he was an illiterate. And we’re talking about twelve [actually about fourteen] hundred years ago. You have someone illiterate making profound pronouncements and statements and that are amazingly accurate about scientific nature. And I personally can’t see how this could be a mere chance. There are too many accuracies and, like Dr. Moore, I have no difficulty in my mind that this is a divine inspiration or revelation which led him to these statements.”

Professor Persaud has included some Quranic verses and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad in some of his books. He has also presented these verses and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad at several conferences.

2. Dr. Joe Leigh Simpson is the Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Professor of Molecular and Human Genetics at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA. Formerly, he was Professor of Ob-Gyn and the Chairman of the Department of Ob-Gyn at the University of Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. He was also the President of the American Fertility Society. He has received many awards, including the Association of Professors of Obstetrics and Gynecology Public Recognition Award in 1992. Professor Simpson studied the following two sayings of the Prophet Muhammad :

{In every one of you, all components of your creation are collected together in your mother’s womb by forty days…}

{If forty-two nights have passed over the embryo, God sends an angel to it, who shapes it and creates its hearing, vision, skin, flesh, and bones…}

He studied these two sayings of the Prophet Muhammad extensively, noting that the first forty days constitute a clearly distinguishable stage of embryo-genesis. He was particularly impressed by the absolute precision and accuracy of those sayings of the Prophet Muhammad . Then, during one conference, he gave the following opinion:

“So that the two hadeeths (the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad ) that have been noted provide us with a specific time table for the main embryological development before forty days.Again, the point has been made, I think, repeatedly by other speakers this morning: these hadeeths could not have been obtained on the basis of the scientific knowledge that was available [at] the time of their writing . . . . It follows, I think, that not only there is no conflict between genetics and religion but, in fact, religion can guide science by adding revelation to some of the traditional scientific approaches, that there exist statements in the Quran shown centuries later to be valid, which support knowledge in the Quran having been derived from God.”

3. Dr. E. Marshall Johnson is Professor Emeritus of Anatomy and Developmental Biology at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. There, for 22 years he was Professor of Anatomy, the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy, and the Director of the Daniel Baugh Institute. He was also the President of the Teratology Society. He has authored more than 200 publications. In 1981, during the Seventh Medical Conference in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Professor Johnson said in the presentation of his research paper:

“Summary: The Quran describes not only the development of external form, but emphasizes also the internal stages, the stages inside the embryo, of its creation and development, emphasizing major events recognized by contemporary science.”

Also he said: “As a scientist, I can only deal with things which I can specifically see. I can understand embryology and developmental biology. I can understand the words that are translated to me from the Quran. As I gave the example before, if I were to transpose myself into that era, knowing what I knew today and describing things, I could not describe the things which were described. I see no evidence for the fact to refute the concept that this individual, Muhammad, had to be developing this information from some place. So I see nothing here in conflict with the concept that divine intervention was involved in what he was able to write.”

4. Dr. William W. Hay is a well-known marine scientist. He is Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA. He was formerly the Dean of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA. After a discussion with Professor Hay about the Quran’s mention of recently discovered facts on seas, he said:

“I find it very interesting that this sort of information is in the ancient scriptures of the Holy Quran, and I have no way of knowing where they would come from, but I think it is extremely interesting that they are there and that this work is going on to discover it, the meaning of some of the passages.” And when he was asked about the source of the Quran, he replied: “Well, I would think it must be the divine being.”

5. Dr. Gerald C. Goeringer is Course Director and Associate Professor of Medical Embryology at the Department of Cell Biology, School of Medicine, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA. During the Eighth Saudi Medical Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Professor Goeringer stated the following in the presentation of his research paper:

“In a relatively few aayahs (Quranic verses) is contained a rather comprehensive description of human development from the time of commingling of the gametes through organogenesis. No such distinct and complete record of human development, such as classification, terminology, and description, existed previously. In most, if not all, instances, this description antedates by many centuries the recording of the various stages of human embryonic and fetal development recorded in the traditional scientific literature.”

6. Dr. Yoshihide Kozai is Professor Emeritus at Tokyo University, Hongo, Tokyo, Japan, and was the Director of the National Astronomical Observatory, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan. He said:

“I am very much impressed by finding true astronomical facts in [the] Quran, and for us the modern astronomers have been studying very small pieces of the universe. We’ve concentrated our efforts for understanding of [a] very small part. Because by using telescopes, we can see only very few parts [of] the sky without thinking [about the] whole universe. So, by reading [the] Quran and by answering to the questions, I think I can find my future way for investigation of the universe.”

7. Professor Tejatat Tejasen is the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy at Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Previously, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the same university. During the Eighth Saudi Medical Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Professor Tejasen stood up and said:

“During the last three years, I became interested in the Quran . . . . From my study and what I have learned from this conference, I believe that everything that has been recorded in the Quran fourteen hundred years ago must be the truth, that can be proved by the scientific means. Since the Prophet Muhammad could neither read nor write, Muhammad must be a messenger who relayed this truth, which was revealed to him as an enlightenment by the one who is eligible [as the] creator. This creator must be God. Therefore, I think this is the time to say La ilaha illa Allah, there is no god to worship except Allah (God), Muhammadur rasoolu Allah, Muhammad is Messenger (Prophet) of Allah (God). Lastly, I must congratulate for the excellent and highly successful arrangement for this conference . . . . I have gained not only from the scientific point of view and religious point of view but also the great chance of meeting many well-known scientists and making many new friends among the participants. The most precious thing of all that I have gained by coming to this place is La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammadur rasoolu Allah, and to have become a Muslim.”

After all these examples we have seen about the scientific miracles in the Holy Quran and all these scientists’ comments on this, let us ask ourselves these questions: Could it be a coincidence that all this recently discovered scientific information from different fields was mentioned in the Quran, which was revealed fourteen centuries ago? Could this Quran have been authored by Muhammad or by any other human being? The only possible answer is that this Quran must be the literal word of God, revealed by Him.