From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!seismo!hao!menlo70!sytek!zehntel!tektronix!teklabs!done Newsgroups: net.religion Title: any other religions out there? Article-I.D.: teklabs.1743 Posted: Thu Feb 10 09:52:32 1983 Received: Sun Feb 13 02:42:13 1983 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!done