From formspring.me: If the atheism thing didn’t pan out, what religion would you be?
I’m going to assume this is a hypothetical world where any religion I wish to be true actually is. My first instinct was to say Greek mythology, since I’ve always been a fan of the stories. But upon two seconds of reflection, I realized that would kind of suck. Being a Greek goddess would be fairly awesome, what with all the magical powers and transfiguration into animals and crazy debauchery, but being a human worshipper would suck. Just think about it. Gods constantly interfering in your business, placing bets on what you do for their own amusement, randomly choosing you as a mate against your will, punishing you for being intellectually curious…yeah, maybe not the best belief system.
I do really like the idea of reincarnation. I’m the kind of person who is sometimes paralyzed by over analyzing choices. Even the tiniest stuff we do can have lifelong consequences. For example, if I would have chosen to major in art at IU instead of biology at Purdue, I would be such a different person. I would probably be more religious, less skeptical, and of course have a totally different set of friends. I would have never created this blog, or traveled across the country for biology conferences. But at the same time, what experiences did I miss out on by choosing Purdue?
I see reincarnation as a way that I could experience everything in life. Maybe I chose to be a scientist in this life, but I could be an artist in another. Maybe a musician in the next. I want to keep experiencing humanity as much as possible. To me, that’s why death can be so scary – your experiences are done, and you never know what happened after you were gone. What events marked human history? What did we learn about the universe? It’s like opening a good book and having it snatched away before you get to the climax.
But I wouldn’t want to necessarily live forever, and especially not in paradise. Paradise sounds boring to me – what’s life if it’s always perfect? If I reach that point where I’ve seen it all and my curiosity has satisfied me, I’m happy to blip out of existence. Or reach Nirvana or something. Blipping out of existence is my preferred term.
There are a bunch of religions that believe in reincarnation, but unfortunately I don’t know enough about most of them to say which I like the best. If I could just tack reincarnation onto secular humanism, that would be good enough for me.
Though I do have to say, Pastafarianism doesn’t sound that bad. The Eight I Really Rather You Didn’ts offer fairly sound moral guidance, every Friday is a holiday, most holidays involve extreme amounts of silliness, and there’s a stripper factory and beer volcano in heaven. What more could you ask for?
So, if you had to pick one, what religion would you be?
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Zen Buddhist. I like the outlook on life. As it is, I self identify as a “zen atheist”. ;)
If I have to pick one, I would choose to worship The Boobquake God/Goddess because worshiping a Boobquake Goddess doesn’t involve pain, suffering, stupid rituals, burning things, or wasting money. Boobquake Goddess gives me inspiration and creativity without asking me anything in return.
I’m gonna go with “Jedi.” Can I go with Jedi? Screw it. I’m going with Jedi anyway.
Hockey…they have the hockey gods that control the outcomes
I would choose to believe that the universe runs on irony, and therefore god only lets into heaven those who most vociferously deny his existence.
I don’t know about your assessment of your potential life as an art student. Sure, the generic community tends more toward woo, but that wouldn’t necessarily change who you are, what you’re interested in, and how you interact with the world. (I will admit to keeping engineers in reserve for sanity purposes.)To answer your question, though, I would like to be a part of some sort of Everything’s Pretty Awesome religion. There’s not that much interesting going on in my navel, but out there? Out there is amazing.
More seriously, Zen. For cool factor, though, it’s really hard to beat Norse. Besides, I think they have the best end-of-the-world story.
I’d prefer a true one. It would be kinda awesome if everything was imbued with spirits in Shinto way. Of course, it would also be absolutely horrible. Having to beg forgiveness for moving a stone. And how does one eat anything if it’s somehow ensouled.
>>”My first instinct was to say Greek mythology, since I’ve always been a fan of the stories. “Hey, I remember you saying that before, but now I know why! And here I was thinking you were just geeking out like the rest of us at the beginning of Western Civ.And if I had to pick a religion that would suddenly become true, I’d either be a LaVeyian Satanist or a Scientologist.Yes, I know, Scientology is the pinnacle of cultlike religions… but I’d love to spend one lifetime as one. I’d get to rise the ranks and learn all their freaky Xenu stuff. Maybe even end up on that one boat they have and become OT VIII…. yeah, maybe I’m over-romanticizing it because I love the especially cliche sci-fi movies so much. But yeah, Laveyian Satanism is where it’s at; it’s chock full of humanism and indulgence, sprinkled with masturbatory rituals :D
Yes, you can go with Jedi :)
I’d worship at the Almighty Church of Good Music.
Which sect?
I’d pick some sort of Buddhism
Sweet, once I manage to reject all emotion, maybe they’ll let me build a lightsaber! =D
I guess I’d go back to neo-paganism. Neo-pagans in general are tolerant, inclusive folk, and there’s a whole cornucopia of woo to pick from. The sectarian disputes are generally limited to popularity contests and internet flame wars. Heck, you can even start your own sect if you’ve got the time and web design skilz.Then again, maybe just for kicks I’d join the Temple of Set. They’re what happens when Laveyan Satanists start taking themselves too seriously.
True Believers know there is no difference between the genres. Good Music manifests in all. Only the bigoted believe their version of Good Music is the One True Version.Besides, believing otherwise just gives the Blues an incredibly unfair advantage as it is clearly superior. ;)
Good Music may manifest in all, but it certainly manifests more in some sects than in others.My Nu Metal can crush your Blues any day :D
Secular humanism with reincarnation is basically the kind of Buddhism I practice, and I see the reincarnation bit as metaphorical.
I’m still a Slack Filled #SubGenius. “Bob” Dobbs took my money when I was a Baptist, when I was a nondenominational Christian, and when I was a Deist. I guess he sees no reason to stop taking my money now.
Mercerism, from the book “Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep” (Blade Runner).
What do you mean “if” I had to choice a religion? I picked Discordianism specifically so I wouldn’t have to answer these kinds of questions.
I don’t know if Pastafarianism is necessarily the best choice to make LITERALLY true… The Flying Spaghetti Monster is an extremely irresponsible deity. He’s a pretty cool guy and all, but he’s just as likely to turn your life into a bad sitcom for giggles as he is to really help you out with your problems.I’m an atheistic Pastafarian. Most of us are, I think. As far as I’m concerned, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is just one big metaphor for the whole of the human race–He’s mostly good, but he’s also very pervy, often intoxicated, easily confused, self-contradictory, is a big fan of unrealistic romantic notions, and has more free appendages than he knows what to do with. As we improve ourselves, he improves as well.(( Hmm.. We’ve been trying to get a celebrity on our side for a while… Maybe I should be trying to convert Jen? *Contemplates having someone like Jen on the Venganza forums. Head explodes from teh awesome* Aw well, I’m gonna go read the Loose Canon now…))
A religion that does not include any of this stuff:Committing acts of war, violence, brutality, coercion, intimidation, discrimination, or exclusion in the name of faith or religion or scripture or Buddha or Jesus or Mohammed or Allah or God or in the name of any entity divine or mortal.Viewing a faithful life as being in a war or a combat operation or viewing the faithful life as requiring a warrior mentality or viewing faith as a weapon or a shield.Claiming a specific faith as a national or cultural identity or the practice of that faith as an act of patriotism, citizenship, or civic duty.Compelling or attempting to compel others – as individuals or as community – to celebrate, observe, or respect religious holidays in accordance with religious or nationalistic or populist or commercially specified behavior.Claiming a literal or singular or absolute or sole authoritative interpretation of scripture.Using scripture as justification or empowerment or authorization:- to commit or to incite murder or violence or physical assault or property damage- to commit or to incite verbal abuse or the use of demeaning labels or ostracism or shunning- to commit or to incite intimidation that threatens to use any of these acts- to control or to attempt to control the lives, behavior, and choices of others.Responding to theological differences:- with the commission or incitement of murder or violence or physical assault or property damage- with the commission or incitement of verbal abuse or the use of demeaning labels or ostracism or shunning- with intimidation by threatening to use any of these acts.Standing on a city street or in the middle of a college campus and shouting at people about the supposed errors of their supposed sinful lives.Practicing discrimination or exclusion or an “us/them” and “here/there” world view instead of an “us/here” world view.Advocating a patriarchal, matriarchal, racial, ethnic, caste-based, tribal/family-based, or political/citizenship/empire-based social order as the will of God.Requiring belief in a torturous execution as an atoning sacrifice.Preaching eternal damnation and preaching that eternal damnation can be avoided only by conversion to or by the acceptance of a rigid pre-ordained belief system or membership in a particular faith, sect, denomination, or congregation.Preaching that post-mortal existence is a reward for or a consequence of how mortal life is lived, that post-mortal existence is based on conditions instead of grace.Claiming knowledge of the details or the nature of a post-mortal existence.Preaching that the Kingdom of God is a future existence or a future apocalyptic event instead of a present reality and a way of living now.Being focused on or concerned with a post-mortal existence to the exclusion or diminishment of life here and now – especially when it eliminates or diminishes or opposes the active and involved faithful service to and with others – for example: to feed, quench, clothe, heal, welcome, and visit in prison.Preaching that how and what we believe is more important than how we live individually and as community and in relationship with each other.Viewing the ascension to free will or the acquisition of free will as a sinful act that eternally separates from God all people for all generations instead of being viewed as a parable of success for both the people and God.Viewing free will as strictly an earth-based and a human trait. Requiring belief in the convoluted theology of a divine trinity.Having to view Buddha or Jesus or Mohammed or any person as God or equivalent to God.Having to view the Cross or the Bible or the Qur’an or any text or any object or any symbol or any person as being worthy of worship or worshipful reverence.Requiring belief in ascensions, post-death appearances, physical resurrections, virgin births, divine interventions, or any so-called “miraculous” occurrence.No matter how reassuring it is made to sound, proclaiming that a disaster or a death or an injury or an illness or a harmful loss is the will of God.
Sorry – previous post should have included the source of the text:RECLAIMING NOT by Doug Sloanhttp://dmergent.org/2010/07/29…
I think the environment at IU in general would have made me more religious, not just being an art student.
No contest. One of the less fruity strains of Buddhism. I’ll take Dogen over the Dalai Llama any day.
Norse Mythology. Vikings rule.