I like some of the messages in the Bible. Jesus taught us all to live 1 day at a time which is a very sane way to live. I HATE the church and it's sheeple. If everyone would keep thier spiritual lives as personal as thier sex lives, we would be ok. I want to go knocking door to door with "missionary" style and "dogie" style magazines and witness my sex life to them. Tell them they will burn in hell if they don't do it my way. So tell me, what position do you usually use during sex?
That's silly to: 1) Consider someone religious just because they think God is real. 2) Put deist in the same category as Christian and Muslim zealots. How can I be religious when I don't follow any religion? Here's how wikipedia defines religion:
There's nothing wrong with labels. They help you define your beliefs and advocate them. Plus I was once an atheist and an agnostic. When I tell you this you understand my old belief systems immediately, all thanks to labels.
Religions don't have to have names...you can have your own personal religion as long as you believe in that god or gods... You can believe in the biblical god and not be a chrisitan...but you're still religious... And like I said religion is a broad term, it covers everyone who believes in a god or gods, be it zues, thor, bible god or the flying spaghetti monster... Also use a dictionary when you define words, the dictionary defines it as belief in god or gods, the 2ndary definition is a system of faith...
No, I understand the gist of your belief system.. but that is it. Both those labels are umbrella terms.. encompassing a variety of different beliefs. There's a ton of labels I could use for myself.. an atheist, an agnostic, an agnostic atheist, a humanist, a theorist, a realist, a materialist, a physicalist.. a human being, an animal.. but it's not like one label can hold me. When you label yourself and stick to it, you're potentially holding yourself back because you're stuck following what others define.
and with the labels you've used to describe yourself I've learned alot about how you view the world with just a single sentence. They don't restrict who you are (only if you want them to) but they are helpful for opening a dialogue.
You've only learned the tip of the iceberg.. but I agree, labels are a good reference point.. but that's it really. My point still stands, those who get hung up on labeling themselves, advocating the label, typically label others as well.. and that typically backfires cause what you label someone as isn't their whole. Not saying that you do or will, but it's a common occurrence.
personally no, its a philosophy or a way of life, you can follow a religion and still practice Buddhism and not interfere... but the secondary def. of the word religion is "system of faith" so it can fall under that (the word was given the secondary just to cover such things as Buddhism)