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Debate Politics Religion Census

What religion are you


  • Total voters
    110
I worked with a guy once that was that religion. he didn't talk too much about it. He was a really cool guy to work with.

What's that religion all about anyways?

Kind of an offshoot of Islam, as I read it. They revere all the prophets from Abraham through Jesus and Muhammed and also a more recent one, Baha'ullah (spelling?). Also someone called 'the Bab' who was like John the Baptist, as I read it. They're a gentle, pacifist group who have been bitterly persecuted in Iran, where their beliefs originated, for being heathens and apostates.
 
Kind of an offshoot of Islam, as I read it. They revere all the prophets from Abraham through Jesus and Muhammed and also a more recent one, Baha'ullah (spelling?). Also someone called 'the Bab' who was like John the Baptist, as I read it. They're a gentle, pacifist group who have been bitterly persecuted in Iran, where their beliefs originated, for being heathens and apostates.
Calling out for peace is the first sign that in short order someone will come along and try to kill you.
 
Calling out for peace is the first sign that in short order someone will come along and try to kill you.

And woe to the blasphemer who suggests that God loves everyone.
 
I worked with a guy once that was that religion. he didn't talk too much about it. He was a really cool guy to work with.

What's that religion all about anyways?

Thanks for asking! I joined the Baha'i faith relatively recently (2 to 3 years ago) after I had been an agnostic most of my life. What attracted me most was that it's very progressive, basically "secular humanism plus God"... and that all the Baha'i I met were, without exception, really wonderful people.

We believe in a single, one and only God and unity: Unity of God, of mankind and unity of the prophets. We acknowledge all Biblical prophets as divine prophets, as well as Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Krishna and a few others -- but Baha'u'llah, who founded the Baha'i religion in 19th century Persia, was the most recent prophet. We call that "progressive revelation": Every couple of centuries, God sends a new messenger to "update" religion, for that it best suits the needs of mankind in its respective stage of development. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and so on are all true religions, but the Baha'i faith is the most recent "update" and thus best suited for our times. But it's not the last either: In ca. 850 years, another prophet is expected to appear to reveal another "update".

The Baha'i religion came into existence in 19th century Persia in a Muslim background, and maybe has the same relation towards Islam as Christianity has towards the Jewish religion. You may also recognize a few elements of Sufiism in the Baha'i faith. All scriptures written by Baha'u'llah are considered holy by us, as well as the scriptures by his son Abdul-Baha, who plays a similar role for Baha'i as Paul plays for Christians. The forerunner of the Baha'i faith was the Bab, who plays a similar role as John the Baptist for Christians.

A clergy is explicitly forbidden in our faith, as no believer is above another and we value independent search for the truth. Baha'u'llah determined that all institutions of our religion are democratically elected by the believers. That is why in our devotion meetings, there are no preachings or collective prayers, but just meditation and individual prayers. The holy scriptures say that any religious conviction that contradicts science is mere superstition. Zealotry, aggressive prozelytism, religious bigotry and "holy war" are explicitly forbidden in the scripture. We are commanded to accept the believer of any other religion and living in peace with them, and merely using the word as a weapon. Badmouthing other people behind their backs is considered a sin.

Also, we believe it's our goal to peacefully work for the goal of uniting mankind, just like it once was the mission of Moses to unite the tribe and of Mohammed to unite nations. Our long term goal is achieving a peaceful community of the entire mankind, even if that will still take a long time. Shoghi Effendi, great-grandson of Baha'u'llah and Protector of the faith until 1957, said the "three greatest tin god idols" people are worshipping these days instead of God, are racism, nationalism and communism. Baha'u'llah said the best form of government for the time being is a combination of republic and monarchy, as in the UK. Also, before mankind has grown into one, institutions of collective security are the best way to deal with international problems.

We also believe in an eternal soul, which will continue to exist forever in the afterlife. Heaven and hell are just symbols for being close to are far from God in the next life. :)
 
Kind of an offshoot of Islam, as I read it. They revere all the prophets from Abraham through Jesus and Muhammed and also a more recent one, Baha'ullah (spelling?). Also someone called 'the Bab' who was like John the Baptist, as I read it. They're a gentle, pacifist group who have been bitterly persecuted in Iran, where their beliefs originated, for being heathens and apostates.

Yes, that's more or less it ... although "offshoot of Islam" maybe gives a wrong impression, as the Baha'i faith is generally considered an independent religion (as is not more an offshoot of Islam than Christianity is an offshoot of Judaism). And while we value peace very much, I don't think we are pacifists, as Baha'u'llah himself proposed institutions of collective security ("if one leaders rises to attack another country, all should stand up united against him").

There are currently 6 to 8 million Baha'i in the world, ca. 300,000 to 500,000 of which in Iran, where they are the most numerous religious minority and, as you say, bitterly persecuted. Other notable Baha'i communities exist in North America (ca. 800,000) and India (ca. 2 million). I'm proud that the Baha'i religion is the second most geographically widespread religion on the planet after Christianity. :)
 
Thanks for asking! I joined the Baha'i faith relatively recently (2 to 3 years ago) after I had been an agnostic most of my life. What attracted me most was that it's very progressive, basically "secular humanism plus God"... and that all the Baha'i I met were, without exception, really wonderful people.

We believe in a single, one and only God and unity: Unity of God, of mankind and unity of the prophets. We acknowledge all Biblical prophets as divine prophets, as well as Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Krishna and a few others -- but Baha'u'llah, who founded the Baha'i religion in 19th century Persia, was the most recent prophet. We call that "progressive revelation": Every couple of centuries, God sends a new messenger to "update" religion, for that it best suits the needs of mankind in its respective stage of development. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and so on are all true religions, but the Baha'i faith is the most recent "update" and thus best suited for our times. But it's not the last either: In ca. 850 years, another prophet is expected to appear to reveal another "update".

The Baha'i religion came into existence in 19th century Persia in a Muslim background, and maybe has the same relation towards Islam as Christianity has towards the Jewish religion. You may also recognize a few elements of Sufiism in the Baha'i faith. All scriptures written by Baha'u'llah are considered holy by us, as well as the scriptures by his son Abdul-Baha, who plays a similar role for Baha'i as Paul plays for Christians. The forerunner of the Baha'i faith was the Bab, who plays a similar role as John the Baptist for Christians.

A clergy is explicitly forbidden in our faith, as no believer is above another and we value independent search for the truth. Baha'u'llah determined that all institutions of our religion are democratically elected by the believers. That is why in our devotion meetings, there are no preachings or collective prayers, but just meditation and individual prayers. The holy scriptures say that any religious conviction that contradicts science is mere superstition. Zealotry, aggressive prozelytism, religious bigotry and "holy war" are explicitly forbidden in the scripture. We are commanded to accept the believer of any other religion and living in peace with them, and merely using the word as a weapon. Badmouthing other people behind their backs is considered a sin.

Also, we believe it's our goal to peacefully work for the goal of uniting mankind, just like it once was the mission of Moses to unite the tribe and of Mohammed to unite nations. Our long term goal is achieving a peaceful community of the entire mankind, even if that will still take a long time. Shoghi Effendi, great-grandson of Baha'u'llah and Protector of the faith until 1957, said the "three greatest tin god idols" people are worshipping these days instead of God, are racism, nationalism and communism. Baha'u'llah said the best form of government for the time being is a combination of republic and monarchy, as in the UK. Also, before mankind has grown into one, institutions of collective security are the best way to deal with international problems.

We also believe in an eternal soul, which will continue to exist forever in the afterlife. Heaven and hell are just symbols for being close to are far from God in the next life. :)

Well, no wonder that guy was so cool to be around. Those are some awesome beliefs and I am especially fond of the tolerance and acceptance principles. As far as following religions go, that sounds like a pretty cool one to follow.

I see that it also has political viewpoints. Ie: "Baha'u'llah said the best form of government for the time being is a combination of republic and monarchy, as in the UK. Also, before mankind has grown into one, institutions of collective security are the best way to deal with international problems. "

As far as religion and politics go, I kinda of follow the christian viewpoint of giving to Caesar what is Caesar's and giving God what is God's. Having traveled to many churches and leaning on my personal studies on religion or spiritualism, as a whole, I am to a point now that I do not believe much anything that defies logic or the dictates of reason. When the myths and superstitions start rolling in, my BS sniffer alarm goes of. Deity defies logic and reason yet I find myself drawn from some unexplained spiritual force for some unknown enlightenment. I guess that's what keeps me looking.

Honestly, the "God," thing is more believable to me from a scientific approach. Something, at some point in time, was exposed to the fledgling human race. And we have been trying to explain it ever since. There will always be new religions just as sure as there are old one's.

What I am looking for cannot be found in religion, I believe.
 
You can't be an atheist for specific Gods ... you are either a theist, or an atheist OR agnostic. A theist means you believe there IS NO GOD ....

Take the eye thing, I don't BELIEVE you have blue eyes, but I don't not believe it either ... I DON'T KNOW, I withhold judgement, that's agnostic.

If you withhold judgement, you are not saying Atheism i.e. NO god, you are saying agnostic, I don't know.

No a theist is one who believes there is a god. And yes, you can be an atheist for "gods" as you deny their existence. The atheists here, presumably, are atheists for probably one more god than you are.

Well, there's probably evidence for my eye color, too. You choose not to accept that evidence, then don't accept an appeal to reason, that is not my fault, though. :shrug:
 
No a theist is one who believes there is a god. And yes, you can be an atheist for "gods" as you deny their existence. The atheists here, presumably, are atheists for probably one more god than you are.

Well, there's probably evidence for my eye color, too. You choose not to accept that evidence, then don't accept an appeal to reason, that is not my fault, though. :shrug:

No .... Atheist means litereally NO GOD ... not one, if you believe in one god your not an atheist.

A theist is someone that believes there is a god, an atheist is someone that believes there is no god and an agnostic is one that WITH HOLDS judgement, that doesn't know.

As for the evidence, I don't have access to it, so I with hold judgement, if I get it then I'll believe one way or another.
 
I am a deist. There is a God, but its origin, looks, and works are unknown. Until questions such as the following are answered I shall remain a questioning deist:

a) Origin - What is there before Big Bang?

b) Looks - What does God looks like?

c) Works - What is it doing?

The religious would try to answer these important questions with BS such as: a) God is eternal (before Big Bang), b) Looks like us people (Beard and Old guy), and c) watches over us (Works in mysterious ways but does so for us [yeah, we are in the center of universe!]). There are no data to provide conclusive evidence about such statements.
 
No .... Atheist means litereally NO GOD ... not one, if you believe in one god your not an atheist.

A theist is someone that believes there is a god, an atheist is someone that believes there is no god and an agnostic is one that WITH HOLDS judgement, that doesn't know.

As for the evidence, I don't have access to it, so I with hold judgement, if I get it then I'll believe one way or another.

With regard to any particular god, you are either a theist (you believe in that god) or an atheist (you do not believe in that god) toward that god. When speaking overall, you are either a theist (you believe in one or more gods) or an atheist (you do not believe in any gods).

It's too bad that you're incapable of understanding the terminology involved.
 
No .... Atheist means litereally NO GOD ... not one, if you believe in one god your not an atheist.

A theist is someone that believes there is a god, an atheist is someone that believes there is no god and an agnostic is one that WITH HOLDS judgement, that doesn't know.

If you believe in the Christian "god" then you're an atheist towards the Greek deities, the tribal deities, etc. That makes one an atheist.

As for the evidence, I don't have access to it, so I with hold judgement, if I get it then I'll believe one way or another.

After evidence is presented, you don't "believe;" you accept the evidence or you don't.
 
It's a while since I've read an argument this pointless and banal.
 
It's a while since I've read an argument this pointless and banal.

Semantical arguments always work out so well, don't they? They're so very intriguing and useful. :lol:
 
No .... Atheist means litereally NO GOD ... not one, if you believe in one god your not an atheist.

A theist is someone that believes there is a god, an atheist is someone that believes there is no god and an agnostic is one that WITH HOLDS judgement, that doesn't know.

As for the evidence, I don't have access to it, so I with hold judgement, if I get it then I'll believe one way or another.

It's worth pointing out that just as “atheist” means “no god” (“a-” = no or without; “-theist” referring to a belief in God), the word “agnostic” really refers to a lack of knowledge. Given that it is usually used in regard to belief or disbelief in deity; one who identifies as an agnostic is essentially saying “I don't know.”

So an atheist is one who believes that there is no God. An agnostic doesn't claim to know if there is a God or not.
 
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Wow, there's a lot of atheists. I chose Christian/Protestant, but I probably should have chosen other since I don't practice.
 
Wow, there's a lot of atheists. I chose Christian/Protestant, but I probably should have chosen other since I don't practice.

Still, 66.6 % profess some faith.
 
Other. Officially, non-practicing Protestant. Spiritualist, in the generic sense.

I need no religion to commune with God.
 
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