I've never been to church before. I've been inside of a church, but I have never sat through a sermon. I never believed in God, so I never saw any reason to go. Recently, I have found that religion and churches in general kind of anger me. This is mostly due to the religous right and their political significance...I usually feel this way when we near an election. However, I realized that it's pretty ignorant of me to get angry at something that I have never witnessed.

So tomorrow I am going to church...just have to pick the denomination. I'm thinking Baptist would be an interesting treat.

You don't need to go to church to know that you don't want to go to church.

I consider myself a Christian. I believe in God, and in Jesus. Yet, religion pisses me off. I find it to be bullshit.
People say they're religious, and thus they think it's safe for them to do what they want. They forget to be humble, and start judging people. I don't like when people think they're better than others somehow.
What difference does religion do, anyway? I mean, it changes lives, but it also destroys them. It's a fact that religion has killed more people than anything else (at least I think so ).

I've come to the point where I can't stand up for religion or Christianity. It's too much bullshit.

roman catholic services are about the most boring religious services one could attend.

and hey, be prepared for hilarity. last time i watched a homily it was all about people at planned parenthood carrying out the work of the devil.

i think we pretty much all believe jesus existed. we just don't believe he was anything more than a human being like you and i.

I realize this, but I want to witness the people waiving their hands around and singing songs about how great god is. I make fun of it alot, but I've never actually seen it with my own eyes. I'm kind of looking forward to it.

I agree with this. Jesus, Muhammad, Elron Hubbard...all just men who know how to manipulate others.

I'm pretty sure you understood what I meant though, which makes that a pretty useless post. Not to be a bitch or anything, but anyone who doesn't believe Jesus existed should check their facts, since it's proved he did.

i'm not sure what baptists are like but i know all christians are not like that during mass. like i said, roman catholics are boring from my experience.

well, do you believe jesus was divine?

Yes I do

i wasn't raised with religion.
My mom came from a jewish (not very religious though)family and my father a very involved in the church roman catholic italian family. They decided that when we were young they would allow us to choose what(if any )religion we wanted to live by. at a pretty young age(well like 13, 14) my brother decide he was a catholic.
To me i don't follow any religion (organized or otherwise) makes me considered and agnostic i think. I really don't see it having any effect on my life one way or another. I have a MA in history and took different history or religion classes and stuff like that, and probably know the history and origin or more religions than anyone else. But i just don't fell it has a place in my life.
I am raising my son the same way my parents did for me. I will teach him about everything and he can decide for himself.

I don't think Jesus really manipulated others into giving him power or anything. I think the early church, around 50-100 years after Jesus's death were the ones who manipulated people. Jesus was just a guy who was pissed off at the establishment. If he came back and saw the current church he'd probably say "YOU'RE DOING IT ALL WRONG!"

Regardless, the message was pretty damn good. Don't blame the crimes of the church on JC.

At least now they are in the vernacular. I went to a funeral a few weeks ago and it was my fist time at a Catholic mass since I was in high school. I was raised catholic and went to catholic school. Even after being out of it for years I still had all the responses ingrained in my brain. "lord i am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and i shall be healed". It's scary seeing everyone there repeating the same lines at the same times every week.

That's certainly not a fact. Malaria alone kills about 1.5 million people a year. You could blame female mosquitoes for roughly half of all human deaths throughout history, when you add in the other diseases they transmit.

I agree to this.

The man referred to himself as the Son of God...and he got people to believe him...that's pretty manipulative in my opinion.

Ok, so ignore what I said about that