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looking for a belief system.
- Thread starter Mr. Ed
- Start date
PoetPhilosopher
Veteran Member
The first thing which might come to mind for me is Unitarian Universalism, which I guess I consider more like a liberal version of Christianity.
Sounds like Jesus Christ should fit the bill.
Things to consider:
Q: What are your beliefs concerning God, nature, spirit, love and compassion, and why do you hold them?
Q: Would you prefer a religion that reflected your beliefs, or would you be willing to modify your beliefs to fit an attractive religion?
Q: Why are you looking for such a belief system? Are you looking for something functional, or ontological truth?
Q: What are your beliefs concerning God, nature, spirit, love and compassion, and why do you hold them?
Q: Would you prefer a religion that reflected your beliefs, or would you be willing to modify your beliefs to fit an attractive religion?
Q: Why are you looking for such a belief system? Are you looking for something functional, or ontological truth?
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
Christianity has all what you are looking for, then what exactly is the problem?
Try Islam, the religion of peace, for a change.
My opinions follow:
When in doubt walk out.
I suggest going to a metropolitian area such as a college city and visit religious groups. They always have a variety ranging from the traditional to the weird. Also check online sources for religious and non-religious groups and clubs.
Any History course will improve and enhance your religious understanding. Get a Wondrium subscription and watch a History course about some culture you know little about.
Learn some basic logic, some ethics, some physics, some calculus, some law. Your spiritual life will be enriched.
Don't expect religion to teach you compassion. It won't, and it can't. You have to teach compassion to your religion.
Soandso
ᛋᛏᚨᚾᛞ ᛋᚢᚱᛖ
My suggestion is that maybe it's time to do some research into monotheistic religions - things that are familiar to what your beliefs are currently with maybe Islam, Sikhism, or Deism. Go back in time before that to Zoroastrianism. Be open minded and allow your beliefs shape organically according to what you learn and how that sits with you
I wouldn't recommend Sikhism and Zoroastrianism as those are ethno-religions and very insular. They're not really accepting of outsiders joining. Zoroastrianism is all but dead, too. He wouldn't have a community and would have trouble finding a place to worship.
Nowadays, the only real options for a religion with a community are,
- Christianity
- Islam
- Buddhism
- Other Dharmic religions/ Hinduism.
Major religious groups - Wikipedia
The religious world is basically so tiny they are your only real choices. Judaism is very hard to convert to so I wouldn't put it as an option.
Viker
Your beloved eccentric Auntie Cristal
Try the Beliefnet quiz. It likely won't be perfect but could give you an idea.
From the looks of it, you may be interested in Universal Unitarianism, deism, pantheism or something based in naturalism.
I would caution a person getting in with the UUs that there is a tremendous amount of liberal politics involved. Unless you feel aligned with the American left, it might prove uncomfortable at times. If that is where you fall politically, it could be a great fit.
I had no idea that Sikhi operated like that... it always comes across as open to converts in the reading(but that's just reading).
Some of that can be location dependent, though.
It can be, but when you look, Buddhism and Islam are the main in the Orient and Christianity is the main in the Occident. Even the 'growing' Pagan groups are still really small. Unless you are born into it, speak the language etc. other religions are basically inaccessible. After having been on this journey it kind of just stares you in the face, especially in Europe.
My experience in the Midwestern US has been location, location, location. I'm in a medium sized city(compared with other cities in the region), and Hinduism, Buddhism, and Paganism are without community here. (I've heard anything but Reform Judaism is without community as well.) If I lived in the capitol city 2 hours to the south of here, I could access community for all of those(and then some).
But I suspect language and culture shifts can be a barrier for anyone entering a new religion, regardless of place.
Sgt. Pepper
All you need is love.
I recommend looking into Wicca because there are various gods to choose from, it is nature-based, it is open toward death and the afterlife (meaning Wiccans are free to choose what they believe), and the primary essence of Wicca is to do no harm to others, which encompasses love and compassion.
PoetPhilosopher
Veteran Member
I was with Wicca for awhile. I agree that some of its beliefs may do some good. However, I also found it lonely for people who aren't a member of a coven, and therefore sometimes seen as "heretics" or "doing it wrong" by other Wiccans.
Yes, that's true. If I looked for such communities here I'd be hard pressed in my city. However, when one looks globally, those four are the biggest, most widely practiced. So you are likely to find a group somewhere. With other religions you're basically on your own. Many religions we think are large are actually tiny, such as Judaism, Sikhism (very ethnocentric too), Baha'iism, etc. Paganism is tiny. Where I am, England, even if you're a Christian it's hard; the main religious communities here are Islamic and Dharmic. UK and Western Europe as a whole are basically atheistic.
There was a poster here who studied Sikhism intensely for at least a couple years, IIRC, and tried to join and become of part of the community but the ethnic and cultural issues were too much and she gave up. They never accepted her as one of them. Very disappointing.
Many religions can fit the bill depending on which interpretation, sect, or denomination you adopt. I think some denominations of Christianity (such as Quakerism), Zen Buddhism, many strains of Hinduism, some varieties of Sufi Islam, and some varieties of Neopaganism, among others, would fit.
I think the primary factor here is what your own beliefs are, since you could align with some of these religions more than the others depending on your current beliefs.
It was a decade. A whole decade. They were bad to her.
@JustGeorge
Religion, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics
The religion of usual residents and household religious composition in England and Wales, Census 2021 data.
www.ons.gov.uk
- For the first time in a census of England and Wales, less than half of the population (46.2%, 27.5 million people) described themselves as “Christian”, a 13.1 percentage point decrease from 59.3% (33.3 million) in 2011; despite this decrease, “Christian” remained the most common response to the religion question.
- “No religion” was the second most common response, increasing by 12.0 percentage points to 37.2% (22.2 million) from 25.2% (14.1 million) in 2011.
- There were increases in the number of people who described themselves as “Muslim” (3.9 million, 6.5% in 2021, up from 2.7 million, 4.9% in 2011) and “Hindu” (1.0 million, 1.7% in 2021, up from 818,000, 1.5% in 2011).
Soandso
ᛋᛏᚨᚾᛞ ᛋᚢᚱᛖ
You are absolutely right, but it certainly would be useful to learn about them. Speaking for myself coming from a very fundamental Christian background, I was very ignorant to every other religion or even other monotheistic religions. Learning about them, and even experimenting with their ideas, helped me a lot to better understand what fit me best