A lot of people are believers but don't go to church or practice religious customs .

It's like xmas and Santa Claus Ishtar bunny xians.....fun to give presents BUT NOT EAT CANDY EGGS laid on dogshit lawns by boy bunnies.....same with astrology....cocktail party Atheists want their gawdless cake and pretend they are going to heaven with Capricorn jeebush geehobah ghostholes....Woody Allen said : " gawd, ? I am the loyal opposition" and " gawd, he is an under achiever "

I dated a woman who called herself Christian, but never went to church. She felt she had read the Bible and in her mind, understood the message much better than any of the preachers and biblical historians and others who have studied it for centuries before. So she did not participate in religion as such, while still believing the tenets.

I would say that’s more being spiritual. I know a few people that say they believe in a higher power but not what they preach in church

I don't believe in God but I still fantasize that I will see my grandma again.If there were a heaven she would be there.

I thought I rejected all forms of magical thinking at the age of 15 but I caught myself at the age of 45 thinking that good or bad luck was a thing. I didn't believe in talismans or black cats or broken mirrors. I just thought that luck was something like a force of the universe. That it affected my life in ways. I wonder if today, at sixty, I still have something of that sort that I'm not aware of. Looking back, as innocuous as it seems, believing in luck was somewhat limiting. Realizing that made me more vigilant towards myself and others. I'm a physics enthusiast and, since I'm an amateur, I have to rely on the experts when I read about it. I'm constantly on the lookout for biases. Obviously we all have them, the best scientists have them too. I'm ok with those arising from different interpretation of evidence. I'm not ok with those having to do with our inherently superstitious human nature.

Too me religion is a construct created by people for control. Now control like all things has a wide expanse of intent and result. Not all bad. Humans need controls to exist in a healthy way. Automatic controls like breathing, metabolism etc. Voluntary controls like not attacking people, social mores to allow for positive interactions and protection for the least among us. Too me religion has two sides; community and exclusion. The first is good but the second that is were it all goes wrong. Humans need contrast to find meaning and the most vile form of contrast is the various ways we alter our perception of other humans as non or less then human. Right now in America many of us have chosen to do this in relation to immigrants from various Central American nations. Some use religion as a justification, other Nationalism. Can you believe in a God, Jesus, Buddah, Allah and not be religious? For me the more accurate question is can you believe in such things and not require others to share your belief? I think yes. Many ground level believers use it as a personal way to find meaning in a world that for the most part does not care about them. Religion requires a community of like minded people. Belief can and is quite often personal and exclusive to a person. Interestingly I have encountered what to me is the same level of contempt from both the religious and the anti-religious in relation to a singular believer. One insists their belief trumps yours, the other insists their reality does the same. Both I feel are wrong. Too me the real question is the result of ones belief. If you use it too inflict pain and seek control over others for personal gain then I think that is wrong. If you use it to construct a mental state to deal in a positive way with the world and ones self then I think it can be positive. A woman asked me if I believed in God and I replied, Who's? At the end of the day what you do matters. Why you do it is quite often very personal and if its based on belief in a God/Goddess etc. more power to you if you act with reason, thought and care and accomplish positive things. Saying you cannot believe without being dogmatic is like saying you cannot be proud of ones Nation without being a fascist or rabid Nationalist. Or you cannot take pride in ones heritage without being racist.

There's a great essay called, "Kurt Vonnegut, Christ-Loving Atheist," that I was going to link, but it's behind a paywall now so I didn't bother.

There is still lots to learn and unlearn.

What? Where?

Morons

Many people do not go to church or temple or mosque and still believe. that does not make them religious, it means they have a belief system.

Just in case? Or they find some confirmation to their bias in it.

It is semantics. Maybe they say they are not "religious" because they think they have a "personal relationship" with the invisible man in the sky. These are often the pious. By most people's definition they are religious. Though their piety, delusional thinking, and self-rightousness leads them to think that they are something beyond that...

Well where do they think those ideas come from? Organized Religions. I think they just want to make themselves sound more credible.

People just say that so they don't offend anyone

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

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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)

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

Its just fucking stupid