Poll; theist, atheist or agnostic

It shouldn't be too hard to sort out the different religions if it's kept in mind that the poll is specifically about belief in God or any god for that matter, or lack of such belief or a statement of uncertainty about the existence of a God or gods. Concerning Taoism and Buddhism, I had the impression that God or gods is more of a background notion than the center of the system of thought.Bartleby.com:

THEIST
1. Nemesis Juggernaut
2. Faith
3. Mjfloresta
4. Catholic Scientist
5. Percy
6. Iano
7. Arachnophilia
8. Buzsaw
9. Phat
10. Jazzns
11. Trixie
12. Tal
13. GDR
14. Anglagard
15. Purpledawn
16. MitchellMckainAGNOSTIC
1. Creavolution
2. Omnivorous
3. Schrafinator
4. MangyTiger
5. Rail Bird
6. Rick JB
7. Inflixion
8. Tusko
9. Ekman
10. ReverendDG
11. U can call me Cookie
12. Wounded King
13. Fragallrocks
14. CodegateATHEIST
1. Robinrohan
2. Ramoss
3. Subbie
4. Annafan
5. Chronos
6. Corpagyps
7. Randy Feagley
8. Crashfrog
9. Mutty6969
10. CK
11. Chiroptera
12. Michael
13. Nighttrain
14. NosyNed
15. Jaderis
16. Parasomnium
17. Quetzal
18. NeuroCycle
19. Mick
20. Minnemouseus
21. Kalimero
22. Sidelined
23. TS
24. KisimonsNONE OF OUR BUISNESS
1. DrJonesRINGO-- IN A CLASS BY HIMSELF
1. RINGO (there can only be one Ringo to rule them all)Edited by nemesis_juggernaut, : edit to add

Theist.Christian ... and scientist.A "minimalist" "anti-Gnostic" born-again Christian existentialist, "orthodox" open theist and theistic evolutionist.An opinionated intellectual that got religion. LOLAttend Calvary Chapel of Salt Lake where I participate in worship but otherwise keep my mouth shut.

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See my relativistic physics of space flight simimulator at Astahost.com

I'm glad Quetzal mentioned Mod. Pantheism defies placement into a single category. As we saw, it could fit all three: Mod suggests two categories and nj suggests a third.Mod is hardly an isolated case. Philosophical Taoism easily fits all three categories, as I mentioned. There are plenty of pantheists in the world. Lots of panentheists, too, who number among their lot some prominent Jewish and Christian theologians. And Taoism could be thought of as a kind of panentheism.Buddhism posits an afterlife, but no gods by the definition that Faith posted. Buddhism reveres a pantheon of boddhisatvas--holy ones--who are human beings of particular spiritual accomplishment. They correspond more to saints than to gods. Then you have Zen Buddhism, which adopts a more abstract take on this picture and has much in common with philosophical Taoism. Would Buddhism be theistic because of its spiritual beings or atheistic because they are not really gods? Wherever you go, would Zen also be agnostic because of its reluctance to take images of the divine literally?I suggest making a new category. What would be the scientific term (cladistics) for a species you can't place right away?

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Archer

robinrohan writes:

I really like the way you express yourself, even if sounds sometimes rather ambiguous to me.

I only hope it sounds ambiguous in all the places I intend for it to sound ambiguous. But thanks.There is a place for ambiguity. It's just hard to say where it is.; )

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Archer

no no, that's not what i meant. i think one of the secondary effects of this poll will be to indicate that the fundies are hardly alone in their religious beliefs.Edited by arachnophilia, : tag

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Theist - Paganistic Diest to be percise.

Dunno about scientific, but a common name for some might be TOE Annihilator :-P

Yeah. Art, not philosophy.

I said:

There is a place for ambiguity

robinrohan writes:

Yeah. Art, not philosophy.

Philosophy, too. Both are attempts to represent something true about the universe. And a real universe doesn't always arrive packaged in neat answers, like a catechism... does it?When one is in the business of describing reality, ambiguity is something one faces. This is true in science as well.Is yonder Jurassic creature a bird or a dinosaur? Choose one answer! The world is so much neater that way, you know. Like a catechism.But why misrepresent reality? The truth is, it's both.

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Archer

"dinosaur," because it's a safe answer. all birds are dinosaurs, so whether or not it's a bird, it's a dinosaur.

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Nighttrain:

Shouldn`t fundies have a category of their own? After all, they hate everybody outside of their mind-set.

arachnophilia:

i have a feeling the idea of this has to do with that.

n_j:

Yes.... Muuhahahahaha. This is Kristalnacht all over again. You're being blacklisted.

Not diabolical, perhaps, but your list arrangement is suggestive. One can interpret it as a kind of Ladder Unto Heaven that corresponds amazingly well with the fundamentalist world view.Fundamentalists, as you know, view everything in black and white with few shades of grey. Theirs is a world of Saved or Unsaved, Us or Them, Covenant People or Gentiles, Elect or Damned. The only ambiguity allowed in the picture is temporary. It comes in the form of someone who is undecided--the 'honest seeker' who is 'confused'. In other words, the Potential Recruit.Fundamentalists do not grant that their category 'Saved' corresponds to our category 'Theists', of course. But being a Theist is a prerequisite. The Saved will represent a subset of the set Theists; no one outside that set need apply.When we look at your Ladder--starting at the top, where the cream rises--we see the upper rungs indeed occupied by Theists. It is they who stand nearest to God, first in line to enter heaven when the gates open. The figure at the top of the list looks almost transfigured, ecstatic, as if already gazing on the celestial joys within.In the middle of the list, suspended between realms above and below, we find the Agnostics. Their limbo state places them neither above, with the transfigured ones, nor below, with the wretched souls who have already said in their hearts 'There is no god.' But it is assumed (it already has been, in this thread) that no one wants to remain in this limbo state. These are the 'seekers' who will one day make their decision: In The Camp or Out.At bottom of the list, in the pit farthest removed from heaven, lie the Atheists and the Unclassifiable--cast down, as it were, across the great chasm. Oh, woe, woe!All in all, the arrangement fits the fundamentalist picture rather well. Everything right where one would expect to find it.I would have used alphabetical order, myself.

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Archer

Hey, Bowman, I can handle----Untouchable

Nemesis Juggernaut, you do have some critics (message#237) that have a valid point.Methinks the purpose of the list(s) was to get a clear idea of how many EvC posters fit each category, rather than any inferences that EvC is one giant Lost and Found!It is human nature to categorize people, and as long as it is not done in any sort of prejudicial manner, I see no harm in it.I think that we are all agnostics in a way, though---in that we do not know anything beyond our internal belief and choice within our hearts and minds.

Which is to say nothing at all. If our own knowing means one cannot know then adding the knowledge of others (consensus) who cannot know either is simply the sum of no one knowing anything. 1+1+1+1+1+1+1 = 1Edited by iano, : No reason given.