Religion: Old Thread, New Poll!

[Jonathan]

There are some strong guidelines to this topic that must be followed.

1-No offensive language at all.
2-Do not insult any other religion only come up with clean debates and oppositions to them for your argument.
3-No offending people or insulting them for following any religion.
4-The poll is only for you to vote for the religion you follow, it is not a contest of any sort to see which one is the best and has the "right" beliefs.
5-I will follow a no tolerance attitude when im moderating this topic, Anshi will also be watching very closely
6-Do not expect any warnings just expect the moderate to take immediate action for anything offensive.
7-This is just a debate topic.

LW Edit 08/21/05: Old poll erased; new more inclusive poll added. Please vote again!

[Dennis]

I am not religious persay, but I do believe in Taoism as more of an explanation for why things are the way they are.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, with night there is day, with lies there are truthes, and with rights there are wrongs.

I think Taoism is smart, and simple - also it's easy enough to follow as far as that part of the belief system goes. All that discipline stuff may not be as easy though.

[Jimayo]

I believe in god and follow the teachings of jesus. However, I do not proscribe to any organized religion, cause I find that they distort things to give themselves greater power. So I chose other.

[Zhou Gongjin]

I honestly don't know anymore, I was raised to be a Christian but recently going to church has become very painful for me. I think God isn't sure about what he wants with me.
I wonder if anyone in this day and age is a Daoist.

[James]

I wonder if anyone in this day and age is a Daoist.

I know several.

[Han Xin]

My father side is basically Chinese form of Budhism, basically they go to temples during festivals and holidays, but they also practise ancient Chinese ancestral worshiping.

When we arrived in Australia, our family rarely go to temples. I honestly only go to temples during Chinese New Year (basically to look at girls dressing in traditional Vietnamese costume) or to Church during Christmas Eve.

My family still practise Ancestral Worship. As for me, I don't particularly believe in anything, I've readed the Holy Bible, but just out of curiousity rather than belief...

[Zhou Gongjin]

I wonder if anyone in this day and age is a Daoist.

I know several.

Facinating. You know that in the later Han, Daoism caused quite a few problems.

From my translation of "The book of Han"

The Daoists maintained their belief in harmony and solace in nature. They believed in a destiny beyond the disturbing flux of material life, and they maintained their belief in emotional austerity. A devout Daoist, for example, could still explain his not weeping for his wife who had just died by saying that if he wept for her he would be demonstrating his lack of understanding of destiny. Daoism maintained its paradoxical statements, and it maintained anti-Confucianist notions such as one's sons and daughters are not one's possessions.
Daoism was open to a variety of new ideas, including the search for longevity or eternal life by adopting proper attitude and physical techniques. Some Daoists tried to extend the search for salvation in nature by focusing on the bliss of sexual intercourse, and some Daoist holy men searched for everlasting life though ritual exercises or dietary regimes -- an experiment of sorts that failed each time that one of them died. But, rather than accept that everlasting life could not be achieved by a special program, their followers explained the failures as the result of circumstances other than human mortality.

Daoism absorbed practices of magic that had existed in some of China's rural communities. Some Daoists adopted gods that were ridiculed by the gentry and the Confucianists. Contrary to Daoism's original belief in inaction, some Daoists actively sought converts, and some Daoists became activists for social change and initiated political programs. Daoism had held no clearly defined orthodoxy or tightly knit organization of priests, but here and there organizations led by priests were developing. Daoist priests gathered around them followers who believed they had joined an exclusive group that was concerned with their well-being. This annoyed China's authorities -- Confucianists and gentry-bureaucrats -- who feared that unapproved religious cults might develop into a focal point of opposition to their authority.

Among the Daoist cults was one led by Zhangling (or Zhang Daoling) in the province of Sichuan. Zhangling wandered through the countryside promising those who would publicly confess their sins that he would deliver them from illness and misfortune. He claimed that illness was the product of sinful thoughts. Using charms and spells he acquired a reputation as a healer, and the public confessions that he offered gave peasants the feeling that they were cleansing themselves of sin and joining a community.

In the year 142, Zhangling founded a Daoist church, called "The Way of the Great Masters," moving his Daoism from a prescribed way of life to an organized religion. His church also became known as "The Way of the Five Pecks of Rice," five pecks of rice being the annual dues that church members had to pay. Zhangling promised his followers a long life and immortality, and he earned the gratitude of local common folk by getting done what the emperor's authorities had failed to do: repair roads and bridges, store grain and distribute bread to the starving. Zhangling had created a local government that rivaled the authority of the emperor. Without acknowledging it, Daoists were rejoining the world of power politics.

[Mega Zarak]

I don't believe in any religion either though I've read some of their texts. Perhaps when I'm very old and senile..

[Lion's Mane]

I fit into the other catagory, I suppose. I follow druidism. Not the animal sacrificing, devil worshipping druidism that other Christian religions protray, but true druidism, which in kin, is rather like a conglomeration of Buddhism, Christianity (complicated though, as there are multiple dieties, and the Christian God is one of them, though most people wouldn't like how druidism portrays him, heh), and from the limited amount I know of it, Daoism.

Honestly, it's just being "religious" in your own fashion, it can mean many different things for many different people. One druid isn't going to see the same way as another.

[Regeta]

I believe in God and Jesus, I voted for Christianity.

Some christians believe people goto hell if they arn't christian.

Then some others believe that even Muslims and Jews goto hell because they arn't christian.

What is with that?

Muslims Jews and Christians all believe in the exact same thing except small differences.

I believe that if the person never had the chance to believe in God they still have a chance after death, and I believe that there are three places.

Heaven - I follow how the bible says what you have to do to get in.

Hell- Where all the evil people go like Hitler or murderers that arn't sorry for what they did, greedy rich people who just are evil, and satanic worshipers, etc. Also people CAN get out of hell. Hell is not eternal for everyone. Some people it will be because they are too evil to get out, but some people get out.

Cities outside of Heaven or "The other Place"- This is where people who can't get into heaven, and arn't evil so they don't belong in hell go.

Example: I believe if a true Buddist monk person that are super nice and try not to even harm a blade a grass or a bug, those people don't goto hell. Why should they? They arn't evil and they never sinned as much as most people do. The only thing they did was not believe in god. I think they would goto theother place to learn about god, then if they accept god as their god they can enter heaven. If they don't they can just stay in the outside of what not.


The bible talks about how there is a city of heaven, and the gates of heaven. So I believe there is something that isn't in the city of heaven.

I barely consider myself a christian because most christians don't follow their faith or just are corrupt.


I don't think any religion is stupid, but the people who say they are a religion but then don't follow their religion are (forgot word) something. Whatever it's called when someone says something they don't do.

That is like saying "I watch TV" and not even have a tv in the first place.

I respect all religions nomatter what kind they are. The only religion that doesn't have a true answer and isn't logical is the type of Atheism that DO care about their religion. It isn't stupid, but it doesn't have a logical answer.

I'm trying not to insult any religions and I don't think I did since I said I respect them all and don't think any are stupid. I'm trying to say stuff without people THINKING that I'm breaking the rules when I'm not.

Those are my beliefs. Sin is everywhere you look. You can never get free of it.

Also, what is DAOIST?

MOD EDIT: Offensive remarks removed.