So If you had to chose a religion which one would you chose.

Turtwig

I'm not sure if a similar thread already exists, if one does, please delete it but do so in the knowledge that is my first thread on boards

Ok let's say for the sake of argument we all had no choice but to choose a doctrine of faith - which would you choose and why?

I'd choose Zen Buddhism, but Mr Dawkins claims that shouldn't be classed as a religion,it is more a philosophy of ethics ...in which case I'm screwwdd:(

Galvasean

Scientology - I wanna see me some aliens! :cool:

stevejazzx

I'd be a mormon. I mean if I had chose..why not just go completely nuts?

Blazer

Jedi

http://www.jedichurch.org/

Zillah

Radical Islam, because throwing out the baby with the bath water shows thoroughness.

McMahonism.






For those unaware, 'Mr Mcmahon' is a character on a TV show. He believes he is better than everyone else around him, changes the rules of his company day-to-day to suit himself, is constantly being hypoctritical, never really makes sense, despite having many failures in his life, promotes himself as the best in the world at everything and is so confident that he firmly believes he is one of the richest, most powerful well known people in the world, he ignores any and all criticism of himself posed by others and instead punishes people for questioning him or his motives in the first place. He's been killed a limo explosion and came back from the dead two weeks later without a scratch, and appears to have super-human strength whenever a challenge comes his way.




I think it's as much a religion as any other.



:pac:

prince_buster

Let's face it, it's overtaken Catholicism as Irelands no. 1.

And no matter how much you resist it, it just keeps coming back. Who needs ability, intellect, decisivesness and acumen when we have this uniquely Irish trait to cause and solve all our problems........

Corkfeen

I've contemplated becoming a buddhist in the past. Its essentially not a religion but i'd choose it.

Rainbowrapids

does humanism count as a religion?! I love the old term 'free-thinker' and put it on my census return.

If not then I'm a Jedi.

I've a bad feeling about this...

The Mad Hatter

Corkfeen wrote: »

I've contemplated becoming a buddhist in the past. Its essentially not a religion but i'd choose it.

It can be a religion, depending on how you choose to practice it.

I've dabbled in Buddhism in the past, but it doesn't seem to have stuck. It's a worldview I generally have a lot of respect for, though.

Corkfeen

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

It can be a religion, depending on how you choose to practice it.

I've dabbled in Buddhism in the past, but it doesn't seem to have stuck. It's a worldview I generally have a lot of respect for, though.

Think the burmese version is supposed to be fairly paranormal but most of them seem normal. I didn't have any patience for meditating etc..

ChocolateSauce

Scientology- then I'd be able to chum up to my landlord instead of living in fear that he'll find out that this is actually me:

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=326522172&albumID=789920&imageID=3942745



Otherwise, I'd go with the Quakers.

The Mad Hatter

ChocolateSauce wrote: »

Scientology- then I'd be able to chum up to my landlord instead of living in fear that he'll find out that this is actually me:

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=326522172&albumID=789920&imageID=3942745

srsly?

Zillah

ChocolateSauce wrote: »

Scientology- then I'd be able to chum up to my landlord instead of living in fear that he'll find out that this is actually me:

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=326522172&albumID=789920&imageID=3942745

Oh awesome, I had no idea anonymous was active in Dublin.

Galvasean

Zillah wrote: »

Oh awesome, I had no idea anonymous was active in Dublin.

Of course it is!

fitz0

Zillah wrote: »

Oh awesome, I had no idea anonymous was active in Dublin.

They're not really. The protests I saw were pretty lackluster. Maybe it's just because Scientology isn't as serious here as elsewhere but not that many people are willing to protest. On the other hand I would never have known there was a Scientology hq in Dublin if I hadn't stumbled across a protest outside it, so kudos to you Anon.

OT, since so many people seem to rank atheism as a religion I'll stick with it. Now off to say the Dawkin's Creed 7 times and repent my sins of credulity...

ChocolateSauce

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

srsly?

Srsly.

Zillah wrote:

Oh awesome, I had no idea anonymous was active in Dublin.

Their protests are very small. The COS isn't very big here. Plus as I learned more about Anonymous I decided I didn't like their whole angle (not to mention a few individuals present at the day that just rubbed me the wrong way) and they made me not want to return to protest a second time. Besides, the March 15th protest made national news and rose enough awareness of the cause that I felt further protests weren't really needed.

Zillah

ChocolateSauce wrote: »

(not to mention a few individuals present at the day that just rubbed me the wrong way)

Certainly not the kind of people you want to be in the bad books of.

blubloblu

To be pedantic, atheist != unreligious.

bnt

I've had this question before, and imagined I might try Hinduism. Sounds like a party religion, if there is such a thing: lots of festivals, good food, and so on.

kiffer

Malty_T wrote: »

I'm not sure if a similar thread already exists, if one does, please delete it but do so in the knowledge that is my first thread on boards

Ok let's say for the sake of argument we all had no choice but to choose a doctrine of faith - which would you choose and why?

I'd choose Zen Buddhism, but Mr Dawkins claims that shouldn't be classed as a religion,it is more a philosophy of ethics ...in which case I'm screwwdd:(

In this hypothetical situation is the one we pick automatically true?
Or are we just being forced to pick one for some reason like a souped up version of the scouts faith policy?

Shacklebolt

fitz0 wrote: »

They're not really. The protests I saw were pretty lackluster. Maybe it's just because Scientology isn't as serious here as elsewhere but not that many people are willing to protest. On the other hand I would never have known there was a Scientology hq in Dublin if I hadn't stumbled across a protest outside it, so kudos to you Anon.

OT, since so many people seem to rank atheism as a religion I'll stick with it. Now off to say the Dawkin's Creed 7 times and repent my sins of credulity...

Funnily enough I was lost in Dublin one day (I don't be there very often), and stumbled across it. Its a very ordinary looking building for a Scinetology HQ isn't it?

Turtwig

kiffer wrote: »

In this hypothetical situation is the one we pick automatically true?
Or are we just being forced to pick one for some reason like a souped up version of the scouts faith policy?

Well, how bout pick one or die worst case scenario if ya want :P

Ball_of_Sex

prince_buster wrote: »

Let's face it, it's overtaken Catholicism as Irelands no. 1.

And no matter how much you resist it, it just keeps coming back. Who needs ability, intellect, decisivesness and acumen when we have this uniquely Irish trait to cause and solve all our problems........

Amen!!!

karlog

Rastafarianism, google it if you dont believe me

imported_guy

i'd have faith in chucknorism and worship the holy roundhouse kick., and yeah rastafarian is not bad either

fitz0

Shacklebolt wrote: »

Funnily enough I was lost in Dublin one day (I don't be there very often), and stumbled across it. Its a very ordinary looking building for a Scinetology HQ isn't it?

Yeah but I'm not sure what I was expecting, laser s or something. I stumbled acress one in Seville last march, an unassuming little place down a side street. I suppose they don't want to be too showey or they'd get all sorts around it.

pH

karlog wrote: »

Rastafarianism, google it if you dont believe me

Amen to that Brother, any religion whose main means of worship is getting high on Cannabis gets my vote.

Zillah

The Rastafari Movement is an entirely special kind of crazy all on it's own.

Ok sure, they smoke weed, so people tend to have this view of cool philosopher stoners 420 lol awesome dude.

They also believe that African people are descended from the tribes of Israel, that Haile Selassie I the last Emperor of Ethiopia was an incarnation of God, that Western society is evil and that it is the fault of White people. Granted they generally condemn racism but it's still a pretty messed up religion.

pH

Zillah wrote: »

The Rastafari Movement is an entirely special kind of crazy all on it's own.

Ok sure, they smoke weed, so people tend to have this view of cool philosopher stoners 420 lol awesome dude.

They also believe that African people are descended from the tribes of Israel, that Haile Selassie I the last Emperor of Ethiopia was an incarnation of God, that Western society is evil and that it is the fault of White people. Granted they generally condemn racism but it's still a pretty messed up religion.

Yea but the weed man! ... I mean if you think of it, the religion has to make perfect sense to a stoner, making it way too crazy for the non-baked. I'm guessing it all makes much more sense after a few spliffs.

Think of it as the religious equivalent to all those Prog-Rock concept albums, impossible to take more than 5 minutes of them normally.

Sam Vimes

I'd join a Cargo cult.

They just make sense to me

A cargo cult is a type of religious practice that may appear in primitive tribal societies in the wake of interaction with technologically advanced, non-native cultures. The cults are focused on obtaining the material wealth of the advanced culture through magical thinking, religious rituals and practices, believing that the wealth was intended for them by their deities and ancestors.

Following contact with people from more technically advanced societies through exploration, colonization, missionary efforts, and international warfare, cargo cults were initially documented in New Guinea and other Micronesian and Melanesian countries in the southwest Pacific Ocean.

Members, leaders, and prophets of cargo cults maintain that the manufactured goods ("cargo") of the non-native culture have been created by spiritual means, such as through their deities and ancestors, and are intended for the local indigenous people, but that, unfairly, the foreigners have gained control of these objects through attraction of these material goods to themselves by malice or mistake[citation needed].

Cargo cults thus focus on efforts to overcome what they perceive as the undue influence of the others attracting the goods, by conducting rituals imitating behavior they have observed among the holders of the desired wealth and presuming that their deities and ancestors will, at last, recognize their own people and send the cargo to them instead. Thus, a characteristic feature of cargo cults is the belief that spiritual agents will, at some future time, give much valuable cargo and desirable manufactured products to the cult members[citation needed].

In other instances, such as on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu, cult members worship certain Americans, who brought the desired cargo to their island during World War II as part of the supplies used in the war effort, as the spiritual entity who will provide the cargo to them in the future. [1]

pH

Sam Vimes wrote: »

I'd join a Cargo cult.

They just make sense to me

When I was a naive and gullible 13 year old, I was very much enthralled by the Erich von Däniken "God/Astronaut" books, in which he makes a case that Judaism and Christianity are the ultimate "Cargo Cults".

ChocolateSauce

Actually, I'd go with these guys: http://www.discovertheleague.org/

They make the notion of finding enlightenment via cannabis seem like practicing a trans-pacific swim by paddling in a bathtub. :pac:

Turtwig

ChocolateSauce wrote: »

Actually, I'd go with these guys: http://www.discovertheleague.org/

They make the notion of finding enlightenment via cannabis seem like practicing a trans-pacific swim by paddling in a bathtub. :pac:

Wouldn't that shorten your quality of life in the long run though?

ChocolateSauce

How so?

nozzferrahhtoo

The thread reminded me of the Q&A section of a talk by Christopher Hitchens. Anyone who has the talk to hand can test my memory on the accuracy of the quoting....

Q. I have a friend styles himself as an "allegorical pagan". He feels in himself a biological need to be part of a circle of believers which he feels helps with his rather fragile emotional demeanor and depression that he goes through. So what he has done is to try and find the least obnoxious religion that he can find and then proceed to not take it too seriously. What would you say to such a person.

Hitchens: Well that used to be called the Church Of England, or the Unitarians about whom Bertrand Russel said "The great thing about them is that they believe in one god.... maximum".