Michael

Why no? I'm a pretty staunch atheist, and aside from the ramblings of sartre or nietszche, have never really attributed any one set of beliefs to my own. Yet I have a pretty hard time not considering myself a buddhist too. I believe in the humility of facing the temporary nature of life. I think compassion for all living things is a sort of connection to one's more clear self. I don't really have anything wrong with the idea of reincarnation, I mean, something's gone have a life after mine is up. Kinda believe there is something to the idea of self-awareness and centered mediation...etc

For the record I'm all about attacking the ridiculousness of religion, and basically think it's a cop out from the daunting and unspeakable truth in front of us. People should be called out when they lie, even if it's innocuous and to themselves. Buddhism is different somehow, and I can't really cast a shadow of doubt upon it's beliefs.

I'm just saying, it's a completely institutionalized set of metaphysical ideas, and they have plenty of talk of 'godhead' and elevated spiritual planes and such. Where's the line between religion and atheism?

Pretty broad question...

The military accounts for a huge part of our budget. The talk of spending never ends up anywhere near defense stuff...

Our national budget every year is over 50% military-related spending. Meanwhile welfare of the hand-out kind takes up like 3%..

I'm not usually very conspiracy oriented, but it seems incredibly strange that this never enters the debate

No need for any answers..

You could just not answer this, I'm gonna find out before I read any responses...

Just a sort of poll of ideas. If you wanted to tell someone about the existence of god, but did not have a history of religious texts and imagery/stories/metaphors, how would you get the notion of god across to someone?

Give humanity a billion years left on the planet. Comparing atheism(naturalism more specifically, the belief that all natural phenomena has an ultimately natural cause),

or religious faith in a deity(responsible for the natural world, but not governed by any natural laws),

Which one is more likely to remain at the end of a billion years of human existence and why?

Most importantly why...

I feel like it's explicit enough.

God is dead, religion is not going to be far behind. Nearly all aspects of the major religions are becoming defunct. Science crushes the ancient perspective on history, biology, psyhology..etc

The moral stock of the religious in the developed world are becoming increasingly unpopular and vestigial to modern society.

The basic social traditions of religions in the modern world are being bottlenecked into consumer and political footballs for sophisticated modern enterprises, and their credibility is waning with every generation.

Is there some way to 'preserve' the dignity of the religion, for future generations?

Note: the word is not 'persevere', to those who don't read

This wont get real answers, because there is too much pride to protect for people... but it should be said a few times before people can humble themselves to the reality of it.

I've heard stories that in seminary many things are taught which contradict the sermons presented to the 'flock'. Anyone know what could be different?

Aside from the fact that many people with psychotic disorders are very religious, there are many manifestations of religiosity which represent an unhealthy thought-process.

Religion is a socially acceptable version of having visions and grandiose thinking.

Religious people often talk to figures in their own mind.

Very religious people paint normal-life in 'supernatural' terms. For example they see political figures with whom they disagree as 'satanic'.

Religion inspires people to try and convince others of their very abstract and personal experiences.

I just think that mental illness is a much more common and sliding-scale part of our society, and I think religion has a long history of coralling such tendencies en masse in society.

So is religiosity a sign of the overall mental health of a people?

What are you doing here on yahoo? Do you think that you may have better things to do, or do you believe you benefit yourself or others by yahoo debates?

Some I bet are getting paid/disseminating really pathetic propaganda.

Those here of their own voltion, what are the motives and benefits of what you do on here?

A few qustions and I would prefer to hear from those who have experienced psychotic disorders and/or severe depression...

My hope is to find out people's actual experience.

Questions:

Is it in some ways unfair to pursue relationships, knowing that your problems can potentially be very difficult on the other person?

Do you think you should tell someone up front about your problems?

Is having highly emotional and intimate relationships more helpful or hurtful to your condition?

Do you have a hard time not building up resentment of people, because they cannot understand your difficulties? Do you feel like people inherently dismiss mental illness as simply more common personal troubles?

Do you feel like it's difficult to be fully invigorated, and emotionally dynamic without people worrying about any instability? Do you do this to yourself?

Any thoughts/advice on making/managing relationships with mental illness would be very much appreicated... more of a discussion forum.

A few qustions and I would prefer to hear from those who have experienced psychotic disorders and/or severe depression...

My hope is to find out people's actual experience.

Questions:

Is it in some ways unfair to pursue relationships, knowing that your problems can potentially be very difficult on the other person?

Do you think you should tell someone up front about your problems?

Is having highly emotional and intimate relationships more helpful or hurtful to your condition?

Do you have a hard time not building up resentment of people, because they cannot understand your difficulties? Do you feel like people inherently dismiss mental illness as simply more common personal troubles?

Do you feel like it's difficult to be fully invigorated, and emotionally dynamic without people worrying about any instability? Do you do this to yourself?

Any thoughts/advice on making/managing relationships with mental illness would be very much appreicated... more of a discussion forum.

Here is a link to the question prompt:

http://imgur.com/YZmF7K0

I'm really only concerned with showing part b generally, though I'm also happy to get insights on part a...

Any thoughts are appreciated.