I was raised in a Baptist family and they're all good people, they don't force their beliefs on others, but my grandma would scold me if I took the lord's name in vain or used any kind of blasphemy whatsoever. That was about it though, it was all about "respect my beliefs" and it never went any further than that. I wasn't pressured into conforming to any religious doctrine or anything of that nature, but my mother would sometimes thank my friends if they ever suggested I go to church with them, which I did a few times, but not once did they ever make me feel like it was something I should do.
As for the going to church thing, I went a few times (very Pentecostal) and honestly met some good people there. It was a positive experience and I never felt like I was being encroached on. They were experiences I went into with an open mind and took what I could from it. However, I also went to a Catholic church a few times as well and didn't like it at all. I couldn't really identify with the way they did things and it felt more like a cult atmosphere than a place people went to find happiness, almost as if most of those people forced themselves to go. And it was just so overly-serious to the point where it just wasn't fun at all, and I didn't feel like I belonged there. However my best friend is Catholic and aside from our religious beliefs, we don't have many other differences. He's also never pressured me into being religious and he uses blasphemy all the time.
But as far as my own personal beliefs go today, I believe every creation has a creator and that's about as decided as I am on the matter. I'm utterly certain modern religions were created by man, but I won't dismiss the notion that this humongous universe didn't just appear out of thin air either. Whatever the reason for it is, I don't feel it's something man will ever be smart enough to understand, certainly not in our lifetime. Our whole way of thinking is very anchored to the physics of Earth and human nature because it's all we've ever known, and our understanding of the universe must improve a million times over before we could even begin to fathom a logical explanation for all the things we don't understand. We will never understand it staying on Earth because you simply can't understand the universe by living on one planet, the same way you can never understand Earth or your own species if you never leave your hometown. It's also worth noting that many of the brilliant astronauts who walked on the moon, people who are unquestionably scientific in their perception of life, had religious experiences while looking back at Earth and being able to hold up their thumbs to block Earth from their view, essentially muting everything they've ever known. That was something I've always found interesting, something that isn't looked into nearly enough.
I guess you can't really attach any common religious or non-religious label on my beliefs because they're far too complicated. "Agnostic" is probably the closest one, but I don't dismiss the importance of having or not having religion like most of them do and I would really like to believe everything doesn't end with death. I certainly don't believe in karma or any other silly spiritual nonsense or witchcraft. That stuff always sounded Blue to me. Karma in particular and people who justify things with it always sound completely idiotic to me because it's nothing more than unfounded assumptions and psychological confusion, the human brain trying to find balance between "good" and "bad" (both labels created by man), almost like people who want to be a little religious without taking it too far. I don't subscribe to that stuff at all and I certainly don't believe things you do that someone else might define as "bad" automatically makes you more prone to experience something that you define a "bad" just because that person exists. It's so pretentious, illogical, and unevidenced that I will never understand why so many people who call themselves "atheists", people that are supposedly unconditionally bound to a strict code of science and logic, could possibly believe in such nonsense. That does not make sense. At all. If you think religion is stupid, you simply aren't allowed to believe in karma. Period. Karma is a thousand times sillier than religion if you ask me because at least religion brings about fulfillment in people's lives. Karma has no purpose aside from making weak people feel like someone or something else is on their side when someone else fucks them over.
That's all I have for now. Might post more later.
