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**DISCLAIMER** - This topic is a difficult one to engage in, simply because nobody can simply cite a source and disprove another person's post/opinion. This thread is based on opinion and personal observation, and I would love to hear feedback on this, because it is something I've been thinking about for a long time. But please, do not post in here merely with the intent of bashing someone's beliefs. That will not be tolerated at all. Thank you in advance.

Before I even start:

No. When I say "True Faith," I do not mean Christianity. Nor do I mean my own religious/spiritual beliefs. That argument can be thrown out the window right now.

When referring to "True Faith" in the title, I am implying this; a solid and indestructible belief in a God/Goddess/Deity/Deities/Spirits/etc. I do not necessarily mean an organised religion, either, but some of my points are based loosely around that concept.

I find that, in today's modern society, where we strive to find information on everything and anything we can to satisfy our thirst for knowledge, that religion is becoming more and more scrutinised. There are even classes in high schools and universities based on learning the histories, ceremonies, and bases behind the time-honoured concept of religion, and the religions themselves.

But what can these classes really teach? Sure, they let you know what people who follow the faith believe in, and the ceremonies/rituals that you'd find in said following, but what about actually believing? Some people would walk out of those classes thinking that they'd "found" a new religion to believe in. Some would take this as a learning experience, and have a better understanding of other people's religions. Some would just take it at face value and never look at it again.

But how can you do that? How does one simply "pick" a religion, like a ballot from a hat? It seems demeaning and....well, to put it bluntly, bastardizing and insulting to the belief at hand.

In order to try and help clarify, I present five common concepts of religion:

**Note that these are common to many religions, but not all. These 5 things do not have to be present in order to classify something as a religion.

My stand;

One should not just "pick" a religion with no basic understanding of its concepts/ideals. A religion is something that you must discover within yourself, and not just follow because A) your parents made you or B) it's something you think is cool. A religious or spiritual belief must have more substance and sway in someone's life than just the opinions its followers hold. If one so happens to hold a firm belief in something that they were raised to believe, then so be it.

I leave this open to your thoughts and opinions. And please, though you may disagree, I ask that you're not harsh. I'll do the same in my responses. Many thanks.

I can't speak for any religions except Christianity (I don't know nearly enough about them), but I can say I know this is an issue in the Christian community. For example, the Baptist Church believes in adult baptism so it won't be something a baby was born into. Many other Christian Churches have condemned this practice, because they say being in the church should be something you do your whole life. Personally I'm Anglican, but I agree very much with the idea that baptizing a baby is unfair to the child. And far from harming the Church as some are afraid of, I think having more people enter the Church by choice would make it much stronger. Look at how many people have turned against organized religion because they were forced into it, either because they genuinely disagree with it (and having those people in the church is bad for the church and for those people) or because they're rebelling against their parents (and those people might not hate the church if they weren't forced into it).

Anyway, I agree about there being a social aspect to religion, but when it comes to spirituality, nobody should be forced into anything. I happen to agree with the religion I was born into. My brother doesn't, and my parents have never tried to make him a Christian. But I have a friend who spent years in a Catholic school, and now rebels against the religion just because she hated being told what to believe. That kills the "true faith" in anyone, and brings "false faith" (whatever the opposite of true faith is) into the church.

I am in no way disagreeing with what you've said, but from a personal standpoint, there's something else in a religion besides the doctrines and political (for lack of a better word) standings that should hold sway. I believe that there's a hidden force that unfortunately cannot be easily explained behind believing in something.

Example; When I realised that I was a Buddhist, I felt something inside, and it felt like a kind of epiphany that I hadn't found before. It left me with a kind of peace inside, letting me know that no matter how hard the times, everything would be alright. It's cheesy, I know, but that's pretty much how it happened.

Again, I can't really explain this without a personal example, but here goes...

I wasn't directly referring to a specific anecdotal scenario, which is my fault. Anyway, from things I've encountered, there have been people who've claimed a religious faith, and know little or nothing about it. It's those kinds of scenarios which seem belittling to a faith-base, IMO. Sorry for not being clear. sweatdrop

I don't think that's cheesy!
I guess my point was that if a person actually does agree to what the religion is, in it's entirety, that that force would come naturally. Like, for me, agreeing to my religion's doctrine on the Triune God just touches me. I don't just go,"That's so true. I agree with that.", I get this feeling that it's really true. Like, my God just has to be like that. Or, when I agree with my church's doctrine on the Lord's Supper, it's not just a regular statement of agreement, I also get a feeling that goes along with my agreement, and when I actually walk through my agreement (by that I mean it's not just lip-service, or word of mouth, I actually try and do what my religion says to do), I feel an euphoria. With agreement to the entire religion, I'm not talking about lip-service, I'm talking about agreeing to an extent where you read that a religion says to do X, then you say/think,"That sounds great! I want to do that!", and then you actually go and do X, because you agree with your religion.
Did that make sense, or did I ramble too much?

Aha! Okay, thanks!
It makes more sense to me now.
I agree to that.
I usually just relate pick as a synonym of choose, so that's why I had a bit of trouble understanding your usuage of the word "pick". Thanks for your clarification.

I don't believe in Faith.

In the 19 years I have been around, in all the places I have traveled and the things (good and bad) that I have seen, it seems to me that faith is nothing but another form of fear, that is created in accordance when one analyzes their eventual demise.

Who said anything about an afterlife being necessary for this? I said the root cause was a fear of death and ultimately, powerlessness and impotence in regards to the universe.

Nihilism?