Now I’ll start this by saying I’ve never read the bible, but my family on my mom’s side has always been devout catholics and my dad’s side Christian.

Both my parents are religious, but the church type anymore for various reasons.

There is the common belief for some that if you don’t believe in God you go to Hell, and if truly believe in God you’ll go to Heaven.

So my question is, if my Mom believes that her belief in God will get her to heaven, but my lack thereof will take me to Hell, how is her Paradise truly paradise without me? Shouldn’t that lead me to believe she doesn’t truly love me if her heavenly body is ok living eternity without her?

This is under the assumption that Heaven is true peace, maybe that’s not the case. But if it is, I just can’t wrap my head around a paradise that my mom would be fine with me not being there.

Does this make sense?

I was born and grew up as a Hindu but also learned a lot of Christian stuff because my family and I lived in predominantly Christian countries. Over time both my parents and I lost our belief in God. We still do celebrations like Diwali and Christmas but mostly because the rituals are fun (fireworks, spending time with family and gift giving).

Now that I am older and have had a very rough year, I got laid off, my dog passed away due to cancer and my country's economy went into a worrying slump and is poised to go into an even tougher recession, I felt a lot of anger and resentment towards the world.

My ambitious dreams and skills were not being rewarded by the world. The world also seems a lot uglier and selfish as well but lately I have found myself praying.

My belief was that God does not exist but even if they do exist, he may not a benevolent entity with a plan for us all. He may enjoy the drama caused by suffering and be entertained and at the very least he can not be relied on.

But now I feel a bit differently, I am a bit envious of my more religious friends and their belief that everything will be sorted out for the better by God. It brings them peace that I sorely lack. Believing your own abilities gets exhausting, believing in society feels a bit demoralizing.

I really do want to make this world a better place and a kinder one. I want my friend's kids to grow up in a better world where they do not have our worries. And to believe in this aim seems to require a belief in some sort of destiny or greater force that offers comfort. And just like that, I am starting to believe in God again, though I do not believe in any particular religion or ritual. Divinity to me seems to be in people like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King or the countless medical staff that help people. But their preserverence through a harsh reality must have something to do with a god.

What is your story?

Hi everyone - so I am a 26M who has not kissed or had sex. This has been by choice - I'm 5'11 and 170 lbs and a decently attractive dude who's played sports growing up. I had many chances to kiss girls at bars but never wanted that to be my first kiss, and I've had 2 girls ask me out and I've declined both because of circumstances. I wanted my wedding night to be very special and lose my virginity to my wife as I believe sex to be sacred.

I met a girl in October who is literally everything I want, except the fact that she's had two exes. She didn't have sex with the first one, they did a few physical things, but she had sex with the second one and she deeply regrets it. That whole relationship was founded on manipulation and it was around the time her mom died and her dad lost her job. She has taken accountability for this and she is repentant and she does not blame those circumstances, but rather her failure to live up to moral standards.

We're both Hindu, although I have been mentored by a Catholic bishop for many years, and my spirituality is essentially Catholic in nature but Hindu by culture. I don't think I'll convert soon, but its something I'm open to moving forward and my girlfriend is comfortable in her Hinduism but she is repentant of her past. Initially, she was a bit defiant and said she wasn't wrong, but I have seen a huge change in her over the last 4 months. She told me about her past on the first day of the relationship and I never brought it up for 2 months, and 2 months later she brought it up and told me she had asked for forgiveness, and asked me for forgiveness. We both cried about it and she told me that after a lot of reflection, she was not proud of the way she had used her body in that way.

I told her I'm a bit skeptical, and she told me that she is learning from me, and wants me to spiritually lead our house in the future, and on her own she's been praying more every day and we have not crossed any major boundaries physically. I want to trust her and I see the fruit of her change, but I want to make sure she truly believes what she's saying and want her to believe that, because these are the values I want to tell my/our kids. I do think the change is sincere, but I want to be sure.

My question for you all is a.) has anyone been in this position and been able to move past a sexual past, and b.) how do you judge the fruit of a change in a true spiritual sense vs. just changing for me. All religious perspectives welcome!

Unique as in, it is something that you have not seen many or any other religion or sect within your religion believe, practice, etc.

I was raised an agnostic with one parent believing in a higher power and one parent an atheist. I had the right to make my own thoughts and beliefs. I went to a catholic school for both primary and secondary education but didn't participate in a lot of religious activities due to not being baptised. I did question things in school, but also would turn to God or higher power in desperate times.

As I got older I was still agnostic, wasn't sure what lies beyond the veil but did believe in some of afterlife, I was a reckless teenager, had witnessed a death and honestly didn't put much thought into all the what ifs.

Flash forward to last year, I had a mental breakdown due to a medical emergency my husband had (he made a full recovery) but unfortunately my mental health didn't. I have having a lot of anxiety, panic attacks, ectopic beats (PVCs) and even though I was begging medical professionals for help I was ignored. This then started to manifest itself into severe health anxiety and a fear of dying.

This leads me to now. An almost existential crisis of what is the meaning of life, what is the point and is it truly just nothing when I die. When we all croak. I would often find myself thinking 'How could there possibly be an afterlife, when so many people have lived and died since the dawn of time, where would they all fit, there can't possibly be a soul as we are controlled by our brain when that dies we do, there's no evidence of an afterlife, reincarnation, or just a higher power so none of it can be true'

It's causing me a whole lot of distress constantly thinking about that once I go that's it couple that with my health anxiety I think I'm finding out the answer once and for all daily.

Has anyone else been through this, came out the other end?

opening statements for atheism:

cosmology

The best explanation for the universe seems to be that it is just an emergent phenomenon from more fundamental parts of the universe that are actually eternal and fixed.

This seems to be the consensus in philosophy and is as well grounded in facts about physics.

life

Abiogenesis and biogenesis were both successfully tested and experimented on and therefore presents a better explanation for evolution along with the guidance of natural selection.

consciousness

we know for sure consciousness emerges from material processes, things like lobotomies, fri scans, TMS ect.. but "how?" and "why?" Is the hard problem.

But even with that problem there's no room for a god, because we know from WHERE consciousness arises.

(Not US, Brazil) I'm not truly a practicing catholic, but I was baptized and confirmed as a Catholic.

6 years ago, on Tinder, I met a very attractive girl. She, somehow, thought that we would make a good pair.

We are approaching our first anniversary.

Religion was never something that we talked about, we just believed in the same God, and that was Ok.

Lately, I've been on a streak of "good luck". Extra good luck, like unexplicably goody goody gumdrops luck.

I told my wife that "Saint Mary is looking after me, just like my mom. She is the mother of God after all."

My wife looks at me, somewhat mad and says that Mary is just a vessel. And we go on for about 3 hours if humans should be considered Saints.

She "lost" the argument so I slept on the couch.

I imagine that I'll be married to this girl for the rest of my life. Is there a way for me to make religious talk less frequent?

This essay is adapted from the forthcoming book “Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/opinion/religion-faith-choose.html

Alternative link in case this is paywalled for you https://archive.is/LqKdb

I’m posting this for a friend as they do not have a reddit account and are looking for advice / information regarding this..

She married a man about 2 years ago and never met his family, something always happened or came up and they live a few states away but they recently had a baby and made plans to take a trip to let his family meet their child.

Her husband’s father called his son last week while she was in the room and he said that his son and grandchild can visit, but not to bring his wife as she is not welcome in his home.

He went on to explain that it is against God to allow someone of another nation in his home, that it would be the same as allowing a murderer or drug dealer and he cannot allow that.

She was very upset and confused, but when talking with her husband about it - he revealed that his parents are Hebrew Israelites and that because she is not Black, Hispanic, or Native American, she is a biblical enemy and they refer to her as an “Edomite”

I can’t find much on this topic and am trying to get more information on what exactly they believe as she is conflicted about allowing her child to visit them if they feel as though she is as bad as a drug dealer or murderer, what would they feel about her child?

Do they believe the child is also a biblical enemy?

I’m in no way judging the religion but this is something i’ve never heard of before and she is scared for her child’s safety.

She also has mentioned being unsure in her marriage and is conflicted on what to do next.

Any information would be helpful ♥️

I hang around with some people who are very into social justice. And just so you know.....for the sake of this conversation, I consider social justice as being non-partisan. It has come to be a derogatory term at times and it seems to be assumed to be something only liberals are involved with. Conservatives do it just as much as liberals but for some reason it is not known as social justice as much.

In my opinion, when you begin to be mean to someone on the other side of your stance, and just judge them automatically as soon as you find out that they are on the opposite side of you, you are showing good faith. Whether that was reciprocated, at least you showed good faith. That is how I like to be anyway.

I do think it can make a difference in the world. That is my belief. I believe that I can make a difference by not participating in the behavior myself. Obviously, it's not always going to work, and I don't mean that if I'm nice to someone the sun will come out and the birds will start singing and that that is all you have to do is be nice to people. People are a dangerous species, of course we have to go into things with our eyes open and not be naive and wimpish. And sometimes we just can't be around someone and we don't have to talk to them. But I think that should only be when it's one of the last resorts. But I don't believe in screaming back at people. I used to, but I don't know. I won't scream back at them. That actually takes the wind right out of people's sails sometimes.

I am reading a book right now called The Kingdom, The Power and the Glory and the book talks about Evangelical churches who have made a false idol out of America. It's very interesting and that is why the concept of a false idol came to me. It's a good book. It's by Tim Alberta.

For if you love them who love you what credit is to you? Even sinners love those who love them. Luke 6:32

Thoughts?

What’s your opinion on religions like Islam where you get sent to hell for not believing in it? Also why doesn’t everyone just choose Islam as their faith as it is the ‘safe’ option for not being sent to hell? Is it risky to not choose to follow Islam?

I have a few questions and this group seemed appropriate. But why doesn't god exist? How can so many people believe in the existence of something and have no physical evidence.

I love the idea of some heavenly thing watching over you and looking out for you. But I can't find anything solid to prove god exists. But no religion actually has any evidence other than pointing at things that are already explained and saying "God made it that way." When infact it was just nature, humanity or something that already has a logical explanation. Is god just an explanation we go to before discoveries are made?

If god does exist. Is he hiding from humanity?

Perhaps I'm looking for a religious person to explain how they came to their conclusion.

There are a lot of things that bother me about Christian thought, but this issue is one that i've never seen being discussed. Christianity, as well as most religions, puts a lot of emphasis on the freedom of choice. You choose whether to sin or not, whether you repent or not, and in the end as a result of your previous choices, whether you spend eternity seperated from God or not.

One thing doesn't make sense to me. If this god is so respectful of the choices of others, why isn't there a choice to not exist at all? Once he has created you, in Christianity there is no going back. Someone who doesn't want to exist still only has the options of "exist forever with God" or "exist forever in torment away from God". This seems especially weird because he knows the future. He brings people into existance and curses them with eternal life even though he knows beforehand that they don't want it. I feel like that's a big contridiction to the god who is so respectful of our choices that he lets us enter eternal torment of our own choice.

How do you show gratitude to god in your religion

Does anyone worry the same? Everything said about religion is never backed up for solid evidence. There is nothing compelling in any religion that tells us we have chosen the right one. How do I stop worrying about what will happen to you in the after life for potentially choosing the wrong religion? What do you think of religions like Islam where non believers sent to hell?

Assalamualaikum I heard that they are different. Is it true?? If so then how?

Just a thought I had today.

If there’s no real way of knowing what happens after death and no one is 100% sure of what happens wouldn’t that make everyone agnostic?

I am currently staying with my grandparents temporarily because of some unfortunate circumstances I've been through recently. I won't be staying very long and I've been here about a week. My whole family is very religious. I grew up going to church every Sunday morning (church of Christ). My other grandma (different than this one lol) would take me because she took care of me during the days as my mother worked a lot.

I went to church routinely until I was about 12 and I could start staying home by myself. At that point I had really started to feel suffocated by the lack of choice I had regarding making my own religious decisions. Church every Sunday became a reminder that I truly had no option to choose what I believed in. I made the choice to stop going and avoided anything that had to do with religion, not only Christianity for years.

When I was about 17 or 18 and started attending community college, I started taking some classes on religion. I was pursuing a liberal arts degree so some of the classes fell under the criteria I needed credits wise. I really enjoyed these classes. I learned not only about Christianity but other monotheistic and polytheistic religions. I found that some beliefs were similar to mine that I had acquired through internal reflection rather than doing research/attending services/discussing with others.

That encouraged me to look more into these topics. Throughout my spare time and my further education journey, I've acquired a set of beliefs that leave me not knowing where I stand on the whole spectrum. I guess researching so many different things led me to draw influence from many different religons. These include Animism, Taoism/Daoism, Buddhism, Shinto...and that's just off the top of my head.

I consider myself a very spiritual person. But would I consider myself a religious person, that I'm not so sure. A lot of people might not understand this, as I don't completely understand, but I believe that there is a higher power. And that higher power takes many forms. I believe that every religion, regardless of beliefs, as long as those believers are true to that higher power and their beliefs....is true and valid.

That being said, I am not a person who is uncomfortable or offended by religion, or atheists either by that matter. But I don't like having beliefs pushed on to me. I love level-headed and open discussions. I love sharing my perspective and hearing others'. But what drove me away from religion in the first place is the lack of choice I had...

I still love studying religion and learning about all of the different beliefs. Since I think all of them are true, I am open to participating in religious practices. I had a good friend of mine invite me to her church one day and I decided to give it a try. It was a Baptist church. I found the class part to be extremely and enjoyable and interesting, but the sermon was...I don't know if there's a better word that "triggering," but if there is i can't think of it right now.

It just brought back all of those childhood memories and feelings. And I tried going 3 or 4 more times but I just couldn't shake the uncomfortable feeling I had. Skip to present day, the title of the post, my family members I'm staying with want me to go to church with them. I got the impression it's an expectation that I attend since they told me they wanted me to go versus asking me if I would like to.

I am worried that if I don't agree to go, I won't be allowed to stay here anymore. They already want me to go back home and this might be the nail in the coffin. I'm not sure how to go about this situation. I don't know what to tell them without seeming rude and insensitive. Part of me feels like it's the least I could do since they are allowing me to stay with them and I'm just being selfish.

I am genuinely in need of advice. Please give me any feedback you can! Thank you.

I was looking for some data that I had seen a while back about Christian support/lack of support for gay marriage based on a 2007/2014 study by Pew Research called the Religious Landscape Study. When I found the site it seems to have been removed from the Pew Research Website. Looking back at the wayback machine snapshots it seems to have still been up December 2024. I don't think I have ever come across a removed page on the Pew website, but maybe it's common for them to remove older studies. I'm just curious if anyone knows why this might have happened.

https://preview.redd.it/2jnsnfmnomge1.png?width=2988&format=png&auto=webp&s=6d535b7b3cada0b5fa4d0a63bd534b4b4a6631ce

https://preview.redd.it/rbxyxfmnomge1.png?width=2870&format=png&auto=webp&s=ae2112a7723b5c1b8ae4e02a38dad8386cd427d0

https://preview.redd.it/ycywbgmnomge1.png?width=6804&format=png&auto=webp&s=06e4b5e418f72438b0b4899363a254f81cad519a

I'm looking for a book about the history of atheism throughout history or the weakening of faith. As many books I've read about history talk about how at different points in history the old gods begin to weaken only for new gods to replace them. Examples through history is Zoroastrianism in the 7th century bce. Christianity in the 4th century ce. Islam in the 7th century. In each case people began to leave the old gods behind or stopped practicing these religions. Creating an agnostic society which is ripe breading ground for a new religion to take it's place. I'm looking for a book that compiles events such as this together.

I do apologize but last year I had a dream where I’m face to face with a male(I’m not 100% I could call them a man) when he lowered his voice and asked “can you see the MALA-KEY/kin?” This word has recently popped into my head again and wish to see where it leads. I’m sorry to say I’m not religious but it did have that feeling that. If anyone could point me in the right direction or possibly suggest an alternative to this word. No was not “malarkey”.

"My Kingdom is not of this world." It is easy and difficult to understand what Jesus meant by saying that he would not reign here. I'll say it for myself because I can't judge, but I'm not willing to 100% share my money or my food if someone in need came to my house like some saints in history did. At the most I can help with what I can. This involves thinking about what the US is doing by closing its borders. Imagine your city opening its doors to the poorest people in the world and most of them dying of hunger, would you die of hunger along with them? Would you share everything you have and join them? Your family too? You have to imagine the context. Because, in my view, I think that this world is evolution and God uses the "examples" and even "suffering" of others for us to evolve. The Kingdom of God will not have tests but equality for all of God's children.

Of course I'm citing my religion but God is only One.

What do you think of my intention to write this? Forgive me if I'm being ignorant or frivolous.

During Covid my church gave money to members struggling and provided food and filtered water after a hurricane. They did prioritize their own, but they also helped people outside, which is reasonable. They also became a refuge during hurricanes, and other related churches I know also provided space for local elections.

What I loved about that help is that they did not make a fuzz about it, they did it because it was the right thing to do in the context of the situation. In any case, any publicity would not have helped because there was plenty of demand for help. I also understand that is not always the case for all churches or religious communities, and that this experience does not necessarily represent the whole religion, but still it stays.

What about your religious community? What has it done concretely to help you or your family?

What do you believe is the most anti-gay religion? What is the most pro-gay/gay friendly religion?

Hi - i’m personally not religious but i was on a website for a church and saw that they had an ai chatbox feature where you could “chat” with their virtual apostle and ask it questions in relation to religion and it would respond with the ‘truth’. I haven’t tested it out because I personally attempt to avoid engaging with ai but i was wondering what opinions people have on this. I personally think that whilst ai can give questions to answers, i don’t think it should be the first thing i see on a church’s website nor promoted due to the amount of energy it consumes

^

For example what evidence did you have to choose Islam over Christianity and vice versa. I believe in a God but don’t know what religion to follow.