I believe in God but am not in an organized religion.

Yes, if being "religious" means belonging to an organized religion or church. There are a lot of free-floating theists out there. Such people often describe themselves as spiritual, but not religious.

I could be convinced that a god or gods exist, but I will never see organized or unorganized religions as anything other than a criminal enterprise.

It sounds feasible to me that some people may feel that human organized religion is BS but they still want to believe there is something superior somewhere somehow

To be honest I think that's most Christians. They all engage in cafeteria Christianity where they pick and choose what they want to do and what they want to believe.

Said another way, can you be religious, and not believe? Perhaps the person just can't find a discipline that agrees with their idea. ....but doesn't want to piss god off by saying they don't believe.

These people are confused....the ones who don't go to church but still believe are hypocrites.

Haha ya the "not practicing " but still believe in the invisible man in the sky.

Weird! Its a contradiction in terms -- I can get the one about maybe a guy called Jesus lived -not about him having been the son of god unless its a metaphor; The origin of the word sin comes from ,sine, meaning without love, so that one might have legs -Don't think heaven is real.

No I definitely don't think you can believe and not be religious

No I honestly don't think I ever met anyone like this but England is a very godless island.

There have been times when religion was thought to be an affliction of some sort. Someone who was called "religious" was someone who ranted and raved and never shut up about Jesus. This viewpoint was held by people who generally believed in God, but weren't religious about it. Hence, you might overhear a conversation along these lines:

"What happened to Fred? How come he doesn't come drinking with the rest of us anymore?"

"Oh, Fred got religion, and he hasn't been the same since."

"Poor fella. I hope he recovers soon."

"Amen to that."

So, in that sense, I think there are lots of believers who are not religious.

I’m an alcoholic but I only drink beer so it’s fine, right?

I suspect that this condition is no different from, say, evangelical christianity where the individual has dillusions about what the 'faith' tells them and a huge diversion when it comes to their actual activities in daily life.

Those people annoy my nut hair. It's worse when they say Atheism is a religion. Oh, Jesus.

Its just fucking stupid

I think they're just as whacked out as the religious ones.

Excellent question. I was raised a Christian but after talking with many different denominations have concluded, finite man can not understand infinite. Religion is history but written by the victors. Rational, logical science with replicated, peer reviewed experimentation is an obvious choice. But, we are still ignorant to so much therefore God is still not disproven. 8)

here is what I think,

Religious: Practicing Worshipper, Regular Church Goer
Non-Religious Christian: Believer, but Doesn't regularly attend church and doesn't trust the New Testament as Cannonized, views Jesus as more of a individualized personal savior without a lot of details other than to be a good person and ask for forgiveness when one has done wrong (sinned).

There is still lots to learn and unlearn.

It's the "Not a religion, it's a relationship" bs.

I believe that those are people who are holding on to the last remaining thread of something their parents led them to believe before they were old enough to critically analyze it. Kind of like still celebrating Xmas even after you find out there's no such thing as Santa Claus. You don't want to give up all of something that at one point in your life brought you something positive.

Many people shun organized religion, or don't identify with a specific faith, and have beliefs in higher powers or what have you.

i don't know if this counts or not, but my mom believes in a higher power(she says she calls it god because its a common way of reffering to a higher power) but she doesnt identify with any particular religion. she just thinks theres something bigger than us out there looking out for us. i don't have any problem with it. everyone sees things their own way.

well I guess you can if you are a bit 'throughother' and arent getting a lot of the art of logic in your life. But I guess it isnt worth talking serioulsy with someone who believes two contradictory things at the same time -( Like the mad hatter in Alice in Wonderland.)

I don't think you have too be Religious too believe in anything.