done (02/10/83)
Having gotten somewhat tired of the Christian/Bible/God debates
raging in this group, I would like to inquire whether anyone out there
has substantially different beliefs. As a newly joined Unitarian,
I am considerably interested in hearing from others outside of the
Judeo-Christian community. Sometimes it seems as though religious
discussions in this country are synonymous with Christian-Atheist
debates. Fortunately, there ARE other belief systems, and the various
philosophical connections between them are sometimes quite fascinating.
To briefly state my religious "convictions", I was brought up as
a Protestant Christian (specifically Methodist) and sometime around
high school rejected the whole thing in favor of agnosticism. More
recently, I came to realize that many of the basic teachings of Jesus
and the Bible writers are quite beautiful and applicable to our
society, even though I reject the ideas of Heaven, Hell, the Trinity,
miracles, resurrection, and most other constructs from the Christian
symbology. I had to ask myself: What am I? Can I be a Christian
and still reject the entire "supernatural" framework of this religious
system? Furthermore, can I remain true to a system of beliefs, yet
still pursue other belief systems (Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.) in the
hopes of discovering the "hidden truths" in these religions as well?
The answer I found was the Unitarian-Universalist religion, which
allowed me to formulate my own beliefs without having to accept those
things which make no sense to me. Unitarians in general (although I
can't speak for all of them) reject most religious/theological ideas
which are contradicted by modern science, while still clinging to the
belief that there is a structure and purpose to the universe. We tend
to concentrate on improving life on this planet rather than trying
to explain away the phenomenon of death with supernatural postulates.
Each individual forms his own idea of what the word "God" means, and
there are indeed Unitarian agnostics and atheists, as well as Unitarian
Christians, Unitarian Buddhists, etc.
In my experience, most of my "mainstream" Christian friends have
extraordinary difficulty comprehending what we believe, and what holds
us together as a religious community. How can you allow people to
formulate their own religious beliefs, yet continue to act with unity
as a congregation? Admittedly, it shouldn't work, but somehow it does
and everybody cherishes it...
The purpose of this posting was to attempt to stimulate religious
discussions at a somewhat higher level than those most recent on the
net. I would furthermore encourage those with beliefs other than the
raging Christian/Bible/Atheist controversy to make yourselves known.
I, for one, will not flame at you.
Don Ellis
Tektronix, Inc.
teklabs!donehickmott (02/14/83)
I believe in peanut-butter...
li134ad (02/14/83)
I agree that there need to be discussions of greater depth than
some of the "You're wrong, I'm right" sort of things which tend
to give the "n" key on the terminal a workout. Perhaps articles
dealing with the Nature of religion would be a little better
than simple gainsaying.
Because I am espousing this type of writing, I will put out a
question to you all about the nature of agnosticism.
I am an agnostic, and I've always said that I would believe in
God when I had sufficient proof that He exists. Only recently
have I begun to ask myself what evidence would be enough to
convince me. I am still thinking about that one. What would
be enough? Another intelligence that was far superior to us
would be indistinguishable from the classic forms of God as
presented by the various religions. What's the difference, then?
I know that this is a question that's been thrashed around a
lot, but a discussion of what exactly people define god to
be would be appropriate here.
Not afraid to be confused,
Jack of Shadoows.