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Question for My Fellow Athiests and Non Believers

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posted on May, 3 2007 @ 01:31 PM
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Just for the sake of discussion I'm asking this. Not to cause a riot, not to insult, not to freak anyone out. I was watching Teletubbies with my son and there was a little film clip of a family in India celebrating Diwali. That is what brought this on.

All that said, my question to you is this:

If a law was passed that required you to espouse a religion -- any religion -- on penalty of public beheading, which would you join?

Would you appear to be devout? Or would you do the bare minimum to pass muster because of the "god police" spies everywhere?

Or would you say fugeddaboudit and let them chop of your unbeliever head in the town square?

Which religion would you join and why would you choose that particular one?

If you are going to say Christian, which sect?

***

For myself, I think I would go with Hindu. Their religion is very old and says many things that quantum physics is saying today. Some Hindus believe the gods are gods, yes, but my understanding is that other Hindus believe the gods represent aspects of humanity. They are facets of ourselves that we can look to for understanding. I have a tattoo of Kali on my back, after all. She represents great female power, and triumph over death (symbolic death as well). She is the darkness from which everything comes and to which it all returns. Very appropriate symbol for the struggles I experienced and still experience in my life. When people ask me why Kali as a tattoo, I tell them "Kali has my back."

I do not worship her, not in the conventional sense of the word. She is a symbol for that in myself that I fear and need to start accepting -- my great strength. I struggle with believing in that strength in myself daily. It is hard to accept, just as Kali is frightening and hard for many people who don't understand what she truly represents is.

***

I am absolutely on the edge of my seat to see what loophole WolfofWar comes up with.


[edit to clean up a punctuation disaster and ask WoW the last question]

[edit on 3-5-2007 by MajorMalfunction]



posted on May, 3 2007 @ 05:00 PM
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If a law was passed that required you to espouse a religion -- any religion -- on penalty of public beheading, which would you join?


Canada.
well... that's more where i'd go...
but anyway. if a law was passed i would go back to being a buddhist because a buddhist can easily be nothing but an atheist. then i would plot a revolution in the USA because it would be too far gone at that point to change through any other means.



posted on May, 3 2007 @ 06:32 PM
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Rastafarian of course.

Pass the duchy on the left hand side mon.


(no smiley with dreads dammit)



posted on May, 3 2007 @ 06:35 PM
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Oh how could I forget the Rastas? Maybe I could be a Rasta for one week, then a Hindu the next week. Or maybe I'd just become a devotee of Shiva.



posted on May, 3 2007 @ 08:47 PM
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Pastafarianism.

All hail the Flying Spaghetti Monster, may His noodly appendage bless you.



His influence is spreading like dropped ravioli over a freshly mopped floor.

Here is the proof.



[edit on 3-5-2007 by sardion2000]



posted on May, 3 2007 @ 08:57 PM
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Well, I was actually thinking of recognized religions or I would have put that myself, Sardion. May the Noodly Appendages wrap you in Their Saucy Embrace.



posted on May, 3 2007 @ 09:07 PM
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Assuming that I was unable to escape to another country my only hope would be for a sharp axe and an experienced executioner. I am prepared to die for my beliefs even thou I respect other differnt beliefs systems I hold my beliefs above all else.



posted on May, 3 2007 @ 09:11 PM
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But what if you knew that there were others like you and that you could perhaps lead a revolution, and the only way to do that was to pretend to become religious in order to survive to lead the rebellion?

Hey, it's a hypothesis. I get to add all the rules I want.



posted on May, 3 2007 @ 09:57 PM
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Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
But what if you knew that there were others like you and that you could perhaps lead a revolution, and the only way to do that was to pretend to become religious in order to survive to lead the rebellion?

Hey, it's a hypothesis. I get to add all the rules I want.


LoL Assuming that I was a good enough a actor (people would have to believe I'm not an atheist any more ) an underground resistance lead by myself could be an option. I would choose the religion that would put my organisation in the position to inflicted the most damage on the government and religious leaders.

Either way there is a good chance of ending up having my head on the chopping block.



posted on May, 4 2007 @ 03:16 AM
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I sure as hell would not just let them chop of my unbelieving head in town square.

The religion I have the most in common with is probably Buddhism.

However, if this little scenario of yours came to pass I would definitely become a Christian (by pretending) and then live a murderous double life, slowly assassinating the annoying members of my church until they were all dead. I would spare the children in order to attempt to talk some reason into their minds. However if they turned to theism (you know, like vampires ‘turn’) I’d have to kill them too.



posted on May, 5 2007 @ 09:20 AM
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I would say Buddhism as well. Although true Buddism is more like a moral teaching philosophy than a religion as it does need one to worship an entity to reach enlightenment but to concentrate on the teaching material to reach enlightenment instead.

Am I allowed to start my own religious cult to escape the anti-Atheism head chopping axe, like worship the Banana God cult??? Or join a less mainstream religious cult like the japanese cult that worshipped the male appendix?



posted on May, 5 2007 @ 09:25 AM
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For the sake of discussion, it should be an already-existant religion. As long as there are references to it and a leader or priest somewhere, it's OK.



posted on May, 5 2007 @ 09:45 AM
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I am a Jedi.

Which according to the British government is not a true religon. so therefore I would have to be a post it note christian.

I shall wear my post it on my sleave as a true badge of convenience.

As so many do!

(now I'm in trouble)



posted on May, 7 2007 @ 12:17 PM
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Yeah, I'd have to choose rastafarian too, man

Then I'd climb a mountain, find a cave, and spend thirty days rolling up and laughing. Then I would decend the mountain, spread the word of the "grass lord", and convert every, last one of you.

The world would be a very happy, hazy place to live and we would all be telly-tubbies in peace. Rrrrrrright.



posted on May, 7 2007 @ 12:30 PM
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Another Buddhist here...


Why? Because...



"Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity" A widely cited, but spurious quotation attributed to Albert Einstein
Source


And I would follow it about as devoutly as I do now as my current personal philosophy shares a lot with Buddhism. But I would still eat meat.



posted on May, 7 2007 @ 04:57 PM
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I would turn to buddhism, no doubt. Altough it's not a religion in a sense since there are no deities.



posted on May, 7 2007 @ 10:16 PM
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But that does make it the perfect spot to "hide" as most religious people can't comprehend that Buddhism isn't religious in their sense.



posted on May, 12 2007 @ 04:25 AM
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Madnessinmysoul (second post in this thread) nailed it.

However, since our dear thread starter MMF is changing rules as she goes and demands an extant organized religion, I'm safe because I already belong to the American Humanist Association and the Secular Humanists.

And, no MMF, you can't add a rule to not allow them, because I've had frequent arguments in various forums with theists who insist that atheism is another religion. Well, now, using your parameters, I'll agree to lose that argument to them and join Atheists United. LOL

Occam



posted on May, 12 2007 @ 09:36 AM
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I would never exclude humanists, Occam, though the religious fundies in my imaginary future America might just. LOL



posted on May, 12 2007 @ 11:48 AM
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I'm surprised no one opted for the Church of the Sub Genius or maybe Discordianism. Y'all need to consult your pineal glands.

Fnord.

[Sorry for interloping. I know you asked for atheists only, but us troublemaking theists just won't leave it alone].




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