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No

Only Judeism

Only Islam

Yes to both Judeism and Islam

[Descan]

I still don't get how some people can believe THIS set of [inflammatory remarks redacted] religious beliefs are true, "because I have faith", while this OTHER set (Tengriism, Norse, Hindu, Islam, Zen Buddhism, Greek Polytheism, African shamanism, Plains Native beliefs, Shinto, Zoroastrianism, Aztec, etc) are not true, even though they have the same amount of independently confirming evidence. The faith thing works for all of them.

I mean I get why you would start in one, growing up in it and contributing anything slightly miraculous-seeming or "too big to be a coincidence!" to it, but after learning and reading a bit more, I'm not sure why some still hold it. I'm not talkin' full blown "All Hail Athor, God of Non-Existence", but those who go "I believe in spirituality but I'm not religious" or that kind of sentiment. Less "Religion is hogwash", more "We haven't gotten it right yet."

[Graknorke]

Coming from the opposite end of the spectrum, I think that the Bible is indeed the Word of God. I agree that certain parts of the Word require a certain amount of thought to understand, and that some of the Mosaic Law is specific to the Jews of that time, but the morality put forth in the Bible stands above all times and cultures. As for any lukewarm "Christians" who would reject the inspiration of the Bible, they're just delusional.

In what way are the laws separate to the morality?

[Telgin]

Don't some of the less sane sects believe that the King James Bible is the only true bible due to the translator having been divinely inspired?

Around here the majority of Christians seem to believe that.  I have no idea why.  They seem to think that using modern English destroys its contents or something.  I can only imagine what they think of the original Greek and Latin.

When it comes to belief, it's just that. Belief.

Related to that is my biggest underlying problem with all of this.  I can't yet fathom why any god that insists we believe in their existence and do what they say would make it so easy to disbelieve their existence.  The only purpose that can seem to serve would be if the god in question was being deliberately misleading for some unknowable reason.

[TD1]

When it comes to belief, it's just that. Belief.

Related to that is my biggest underlying problem with all of this.  I can't yet fathom why any god that insists we believe in their existence and do what they say would make it so easy to disbelieve their existence.  The only purpose that can seem to serve would be if the god in question was being deliberately misleading for some unknowable reason.

Some say that God keeps an epistemic distance, or somesuch. He keeps away from us in order to let us grow, or so they say.

[Telgin]

While I can understand taking a hands off approach in a sense, I don't see why God couldn't at the very least physically appear now and then, in a very obvious and nonambiguous way.  What harm does it do to let your creations and followers see you?  Or, failing that, at least consistently and obviously answer prayers with, if nothing else, things like "No, I'm not doing that," or "Ask again later after you do this thing."  Requiring belief feels completely pointless since all it does is make it increasingly likely that people won't do the things they're supposed to.

[TD1]

Arguing with the wrong person here, heh. It's my opinion that saying "This is true because it's true" isn't really good for much, but there are people who do that, even build their lives around it. That they're wrong, to me, is almost inevitable. Still, people can think what they like, as long as I'm allowed to think what I like

[Descan]

Requiring blind faith is like blindfolding someone and then telling them to follow a map exactly, and if they don't they'll get lost in the desert and eaten by... I dunno, tortoises.

[Rolan7]

He doesn't respond to heartfelt prayers, either.  There have been times where I really wanted to be a Christian, and just needed a small amount of personal evidence. 

Because the idea of everything being part of a cosmic plan is obviously comforting...  Particularly if you (like many Christians) choose to believe that the bible's full of human error and that nonbelievers don't burn forever.

But nope, just dead silence, every time I've tried.  I don't know why Christians seem to get a response, but it's not unexpected - people of all religions commonly get the same thing.

So if there is any sort of supreme being out there, it's not important to them that I be a believer.  Which isn't proof there isn't one, just that I'm not *guilty* of being a nonbeliever.

[TD1]

Yea, times I've wanted to be a believer too. The good old comfort factor and certainty. Unfortunately, the comfort is based on some mental deception.

[Orange Wizard]

It's not that great, really. The comfort factor is inversely proportional to how much you think about it. You also get made fun of on a regular basis. Don't forget the perpetual guilt and terror for not living up to a set of arbitrarily high requirements and gnawing doubt that the god of the universe (if any) is not the one you thought he was.

[Baffler]

It's not that great, really. The comfort factor is inversely proportional to how much you think about it. You also get made fun of on a regular basis. Don't forget the perpetual guilt and terror for not living up to a set of arbitrarily high requirements and gnawing doubt that the god of the universe (if any) is not the one you thought he was.

I had a big long post written out, but this says it better.

[Rolan7]

The direction of the social pressure depends on where you live, I guess.

[Helgoland]

Very much. I'm practically living in diaspora

[Orange Wizard]

Mainstream media is more to what I was referring. When was the last time you saw a non-crazy Christian (or any religion, really) in a movie or TV show or whatever? (Assuming it wasn't made by crazy Christians in the first place...)

[Helgoland]

To be fair, any character explicitly introduced as Christian will be a strawman anyway, so that's kinda unfair. But yeah, religion in general is very rarely portrayed in a non-negative light.