What are some of your beliefs? Your religions? I'm interested in knowing, purely out of interest.

I have my own beliefs by the way, so I'm not asking to be told what I should believe, I've made up my mind.

Not religious, and as far as beliefs go I don't really like discussing that sort of thing.

Ah, I see. I guess this online environment isn't best to discuss such things. Understood.

Yeah not really :)

i have many non-religious beliefs.. such as
- all ideas already exist and one needs to be receptive to be able to express them
- there is something to learn from everyone and every interaction with others
- if one has multiple active interests, helps in not feeling down anytime, as at least one of them will give you the energy, to stay enthusiastic

re religious beliefs: since these are beliefs, there is no point in discussing as it would be just an academic discussion.

that is the good thing about beliefs - no need for proof :-)

Very insightful, Sivaguru! Thanks for sharing those beliefs. I completely agree with you.

I'm not religious. I was for a while, mainly down to the fact my sister turned to God when my parents divorced - I thought I'd follow suit. After a while I came to the realisation that God isn't in control of my destiny, I am. That was empowering for me. To know that it was up to me how happy I was.

In terms of beliefs, I have quite a few that I live by. I think my favorite one goes like this: Everything will be ok in the end. If it's not ok, it isn't the end.

As a designer, I look at the complexity of the universe and only see evidence of some sort of intelligent designer that constructed everything and pieced it together beautifully. I'm truly not being condescending when I say that I just don't see how a person could look at the complexity of the universe or even just the human body and say that it wasn't orchestrated to function like it does.

Then, the fact that there was definitely a person named Jesus who lived about 2,000 years ago who claimed that He was the one who made everything gives me 3 options: He was either a liar, a lunatic or He really was who He said He was – Lord of everything. This short read breaks it down simply without getting too deep: existence-of-god.com

I totally agree Chandler, there must be some reason behind how the universe and its contents came to be, surely it didn't just 'evolve'. But maybe God just made science to let things evolve and change. Perhaps the Big Bang did happen, and God made it. Perhaps science is right all along, yet God is the one behind it all.

My beliefs are a lil' different though, stay tuned :)

As a law student, i have two options: 1 To believe that it was Man who made the Law. 2 To believe it was God through the Man... if i had to choose, id choose number two. There's something more in the way we organize, we are all able to judge our actions with a misterious and same criteria... some call it human nature, i call it God's touch.

Louis, I can't argue with you on that front. Several of my friends, including my wife, lean towards the evolutionary view of Creation. I could get into the specifics of why I don't believe in evolution as taught in most US schools but most of it is based on the inerrancy of Scripture (ie, the Bible), which is a whole other beast of a discussion.

I'm curious to hear what you believe and why you believe it.

Essentially, my personal belief journey has gone something like this:

Since birth I was raised in a conservative Christian family, went to church, and believed God was my Saviour etc, the whole lot. Yet I felt even then that something just didn't feel right.

The church we were going to, and the people in there had opinions and practices that were against my father's beliefs, and at the time, my family's general beliefs. In other words, the church came across as a body of people that did more damage to people's thinking and behaviour, which wasn't good.

So then on, my family hasn't been to church since.

I was told a year or two ago by my father that all along he was content for me to believe what I want to believe. I realized then that the conservative Christian teachings were not beliefs that I had chosen, and were put upon me by the church through my parents. I realized that I had not chosen my own faith all along, so then I decided to explore my own faith.

I can now say that (at the time of writing), I am not a Christian, I am not a follower of religion, I do not subscribe to religion, but what I do have is a set of strong morals, and personal beliefs. I remember reading that those with faith of any sort are saved (or at least have a faith or set of beliefs).

I am now able to choose my own spiritual path/journey as I please. Some believe that God gave us choice, I am just utilising the choice for myself.

My roots are based in the Christian faith, yet I don't believe in things like prejudice and discrimination against the LGBT community—sexuality is determined by genetics, and shaped by epigenetics, biologically. It is purely natural, and very much a part of being human. The church is the body of people, not the building, and it does not have to involve worship, tithes, loud music, and luring 'non-Christians' into youth groups etc. Worship doesn't have to be song either. Church should be like minded people with similar beliefs and journeys, where one can share them, and feel welcome and [..]

[..] equal to those around them.

I sometimes believe that there is a Creator of sorts somewhere, and sometimes I don't. The more I think about it, science explains all I need to know.

In the end we really just don't know. We just don't.

In any case, my spiritual path is an ever-changing and developing one, not fixed, and nor do I want it to be. I want to incorporate the teachings of Taoism and Buddhism, and learn from many cultures about their ways of life and beliefs. I have years ahead of me to grow, develop and mature, and I look forward to the spiritual journey I'm taken on.

I'm probably going to regret what I've just said years from now, but I hope it's respectable :)

Also, I don't want anyone existing or joining this branch to argue about religion, I just want beliefs to be shared :)

Hello!, I think is the Great God u select some ppl, only spiritual people to research the wonder World, Im a Catolic Roman, and my thoughts are blessed I think,

I think all religions are windows that point to the same place :)

Just in me... if I don't believe in myself, who?

Excellent point there Arnold, I agree.

I am a christian but I get a very open mind when it comes to beliefs. I am also a realist, I believe in Evolution to an extent. I also believe that everyone should be able to believe in something and not face prejudice over his/her beliefs. This notion really is compatible with my view of Christianity seeing that the journey to salvation is an individual one. I can only tell you about my beliefs but not impose them on you.

Well said, Smithsonian, I totally agree.

As a european citizen (and a EU law student) I try to believe as strong as possible in European values, in the Union of European states and democratic/human rights values ! I am not religious, but I think that everything what happens to us happens for a reason that we have to find out ourselves by making choices. I also belive in human kindness and fairness. But i'm quite "young", let's hope I won't get too desapointed through my life journey.

I believe we are creatures of systematic behavior that often loses our way when we lose sight of the fact that our actions are always decisions weighted against something else: ideals vs pragmatism, dogma vs measurement, comfort vs challenge, up vs down, do or not do.

I believe we all want to believe in something, but in a rush to do that we've never fully tried to grasp the world around us and understand even the fundamental intangible mechanics around which our world operates and functions.

I believe that in a world where since the only real certainty is our minuscule existence in something(s) vast and mysterious, the only real certain axiom is to explore, advance, and manifest qualities we wish upon our lives and those around us.

Another non-religious thought: My main belief is that misunderstanding is the root cause of much that is bad in the world - conflict, discrimination, the list goes on... Hence, one of my values is to always try to understand others no matter how inferior or how different their ideas may seem to my own. Never jump to conclusions, never judge, never underestimate.

In essence, believe people to be the best they can be unless proven otherwise, and even then, question your belief.

I think we have a Arquitect Engineer, like Prometheus :), and the karma is real, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot (c) Matheus.

By the Way, this big red of internet is the best create of this engineer, He give the tools to make it, all in this world come by his hand.