SkorpivoMusterion said:

Believe it or not folks, you can be a spiritual Atheist.

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SkorpivoMusterion said:

Spirituality is enhancing [or for some, rebuilding] our sense of self, reinforcing it with four foremost values: rationality, productiveness, pride, and benevolence.

And as Egoism is simply the doctrine which holds that one's own life is the basis for moral action, there is no reason why one cannot be a spiritual adherent of egoism.

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Because to me spirituality is so subjective and unique to the individual that it is absolutly impossible to follow such a common or general set of morals and achieve any spirituality.

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peace_n_love said:

I know that some people will probably be offended by what I say but I truly am not trying to be offensive. Anyways, my understanding of religion is to come in contact with your spiritual side and achieve a sense of inner peace. I am not affiliated with any certain religion however I would consider myself a very spiritual person. In saying that, my experiences with spirituality have been very unique and personal and I find it hard to see how anybody can follow a certain religion and still be spiritual. Because to me spirituality is so subjective and unique to the individual that it is absolutly impossible to follow such a common or general set of morals and achieve any spirituality. Basically I believe that religion, in many aspects contradicts spirituality. I'm interested to hear what you think. And again i'm sorry if I offended anybody, it was not my intention.

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If your talking about organized religion, then I will agree with you.

However.....virtually ALL religions preach the same core values. The problem comes when a certain group of people claim that their interpretation of the religious text is the ONLY TRUE interpretation, and begin to condemn other people for not conforming to their world view.

cookeman said:

I feel like religion can be a good thing provided people don't just become programmed to believe everything within the religion to be completely true without any logical thinking done by themselves. I think it's completely cool if someone is a particular religion, but they should still be able to think for themselves and question their religion at any point without feeling bad or having people get mad at them.

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Yes... but that's more the fault of people's approach to a given religion I think.  Religions can be a positive force for education and learning; think of the Christian ethos that began many of the UK's universities and schools, either through the Church directly, or the donations made by believing benefactors.  Or the Islamic approach to medicine, which made medicine in the Arab world far more advanced than  the UK in the Middle Ages.

I hate the idea of blind faith; someone believing something just because they heard it from the pulpit, or Mumy said so - but faith and religion is there able to be examined and analysed (look at me - I'm a theology student!)

1 Peter 3v15
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect

As an interesting side note: to be 'religious' originally referred to those living a monastic style - it is relatively recent that 'to be religious' has come to mean 'someone who has a faith'...

Peyote_Princess xXx