Note that This thread is not directed to or against any religion and should therefore raise no sensitivity issue. Please post with consideration of others feeling if you know that there are some element in the content of your post might raise an "Issue" . We are no scholars but I believe we are not stupid people either to understand that creating a racial/religious tension is not allowed.


Okay thread starts then.

I would like to know fellow forumers opinion and knowledge in both mentioned group , the atheist and the theist, Being the free thinker and the God's follower.

I myself is a shamanist, in which I do have something to believe, but that something is neither god nor prophet. I believe in the elements of nature and all that is around me has a spirit.

Given if the world now have managed to preserved the existence of the anceint Egyptian belief, the greeks, the nords , or just a philosophical life, which would you prefer to be absorbed in if you are given a choice to choose? And what are your thoughts about these ancient religions ? Note that you can also mention about present day existing religions.

Hope we can have a healthy discussion and I can learn more

i believe there are similar threads to this, check RWI (real world issues). kind of a "war" going on there, lol.

yeah i saw, the religion thread. However I dont plan to take the same path as the TS there though lol. I'd love to see a more philosophical and intellectual style discussion here, thats why i used a more "Philosophical" term, Atheism and Theism lol.

I have no interest as to why people are fighting over religions, well I know the fact that humans been fighting for thousands of years about religion, i dont see that they will stop anytime soon but the word religion also brought many beauty in terms of philosophical and mythological form.

I really hope we can have a good and healthy discussion to share knowledges ^^

so, whats your angle of discussion then?

these discussion usually degenerate to more or less "i'm right, you are wrong" type of argument

if ancient religion were preserved now, i'd go for the sex goddess religion Kali and be a priestess there.

This is not a thread where we compare a religion with another religion, but rather we look at the ancient religion and if we were given a chance to choose, which one will be choose? and why ? and our pov on that religion.

LOL shamanism... can you describe what you believe?

This post has been edited by soul2soul: Sep 8 2010, 09:42 AM

There are many types of shamanist belief in this world, mine in particular is of the Altay Shamanist. Altay relates to a clan of people who resides at the Mountain Altay, who then migrated to other parts of the world due to their nomadic style of living.

We believe that our mother gave birth to us, but it is the nature that made us who we are. Every food we eat, and every water we drink were courtesy of Mother Nature. The elements of nature, wind,water,fire,earth and wood are of course our 5 our main pillar of strength , we believe that everything has a spirit residing in it. Respect the nature and acknowledge its superiority over human and it will guide you along your journey in life, Remember where you come from so that you will always have a home. These are words instilled to us since young.

There are 2 types of energy,

Sain - Positive flow
Uyain - Negative flow

Sain comes usually after a heavy rain, where land will benefit most. After a rain, plants usually grow and soils become more fertile. When life comes to live, it is a good sign of a new good begining and we consider that a hint from Her ( Nature ) that something good will come our way.

Uyain is usually considered as the wrath of mother nature, any nature caused disaster is a sign of of disapproval from Her, that some things cannot be tolerated anymore.

Humans always think that they own everything on this surface of earth and disregard a power more mighty and noble than them which is the power of a creator, the nature itself.We often disrespect anything that comes in our way and take it by force if we want it. We shamanist are not environmentalist, we have been here longer than them and longer than any other religion ever existed. We dont protect nature , we are in no right and position to do so. She is our almighty and we believe that she has the power to defend herself. Instead, we respect her like no one else do.

Nobody can prove the existance of God. As long as you do good in life and not hurt others, nothing wrong by being atheist. Those who believe in God pray everyday, go to place of worship and everythin, but nothing changed for them. Even buddhism is atheism right? Since buddhist is a way of life and not a religion that believe in god

Buddhism in my opinion is a form of atheism , due to the reason that people believe it as an ideology. But slowly it became a religion when people believed in more detail values like Nirvana, and Rebirth. I think buddhism is quite borderline though between a religion and a spiritual belief.

Any buddhist wanna share?

It's a form of atheism if we define Atheism as a belief in a Creator God because buddhists don't believe in that.

But it's not totally atheistic because buddhists believe in higher beings other than humans in another planes of existence (dimensions).

However, these beings have no bearing on us humans , so they are quite irrelevant in personal pursuit of happiness. So it's quite an atheist religion if you ask me.

Yes thats what i mean!!

As for TS discussion, believing in spirits is part of chinese believe. Not really related to religion or anything. Personally i dont know whether i believe in spirits or not but i do respect them believe. I have never encountered any before but when i go to some places i still feel fear.

Usually we fear what we dont know and dont understand. I think its part of the human mind that injects fear to ourselves

All religion are philosophy since non of them can be proven or disapproved.

Those that did not survive up to date such as Egytian or Greek mythology is due to the reason it won't survive in this modern day scientific world.

Even your shamanism philosophy...looks more like an elegant way of describing something we all know. Rain bring good and natural disaster bring bad. Just package it with different terms. Still, it is good to be able to believe in something like this because it make you appreciate the nature and mother earth. This is also a form of Atheism because you do not believe in god as the creationist.

yeah shamanism can be considered as atheistic as well, usually shamanist have something that they hold more precious than others. In my case, our sacred symbol is our Holy Mountain Altay. Like you said, the reason why the egyptian and greek mythology did not survive till today to be worshiped still is because of the non fitting environment in the modern society. Teachings that emphasizes an individual's superiority tend to vanish quickly when it comes to modern day world.

I think all religions are beautiful in their own way for they all advocated well being and what is good. Unless of course if it is being used for personal gain or to fulfill a selfish need. Waging war on others in the name of God is clearly an act of manipulation of its devotees in order to raise an army of unshaken and loyalty assured soldiers.

I am a big fan of the greek mythology, they have every way possible to make their gods and deitys look beautiful. The story of how Zeus was born and came into power itself is a very mesmerizing and inspiring story.

But the bigger question is, What is religion in everyone's view ? Can one survive without religion ? and what would have become of this world today if there weren't not any religion at all to start with ? Will philosophy instead replace it ?

Religion in everyones view is believe is god. Nobody will die without religion but i think its important as a guide for people to live. Religion teaches moral values and what we should do and should not. Without it, people will act however they like and there will be more chaos. As for me, I grow up in a religion family but after reaching a certain age i dont really believe in it anymore. But then its still important because i still keep the values being thought even though my faith is lacking.

to me religion is like medicine
some people need different medicine
while some dont need it at all

hehehe very interesting replies, short, simple and yet understandable. I hope to see more coming ^^

Some people told me that , Human cannot afford to not believe in something. Or otherwise life would be outcoursed. Believing in god is a form of leaning towards something that can provide hope and guidance, because if one realised that there is no one above us that can help us, then situation may be chaotic. We need something to believe in so that we can enforce ourselves with confidence and hope. How true is that LYN Forumers?

just as i said earlier, some people need it but some people dont

but i would say the majority of the world needs it

Actually why limit to atheism and theism ? there are people in the world that cannot be bothered with either one of this.

Yes thats me. Atheist wont bother about this things.