Do you believe in the ‘sky fairy’?

[elanfan1]

I appreciate religion in particular and politics can produce a wide variety of opinions on fora. I was idly thinking as our forum is quite widely populated by engineering and very much hands on types how many of our members actually believe in a or their God. This isn’t meant to be a thread to mock or deride anyone for their beliefs as far as I’m concerned you can believe what you like - as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else why should anyone be bothered. If it brings you or others comfort then why not?

As for my use of the term sky fairy (which is meant to be humorous) I guess you can work out where I stand on the subject. Strangely I was quite religious as a teenager and had a full immersion baptism at 17. Fell away from church when many of the young people left for university, jobs etc. Looking back I think a lot of it was the camaraderie. these days I think that when the lights go out that’s it.

[englishmaninwales]

A catholic schooling was sufficient for me to abandon religion.

[elanfan1]

My wife’s aunt is a nun, used to be a mother superior but is now around 90 and getting frailer and more deaf. She’s a nice lady, you’d be surprised what you can talk to her about. When the wife was young they had go to mass twice on Sunday. She went to a convent school rum by nuns, she said there was one lovely nun but the rest were uniformly horrible (frustration maybe?). The wife no longer goes to church but she does pray for me and others every night.

[69S4]

A catholic schooling was sufficient for me to abandon religion.

Same here. Some version of nuns in primary school followed up by a Jesuit shock troop run secondary school did for me by the age of 12. They taught Latin and (ancient) Greek from day one but none of the sciences until you were 14. Biology didn't start until the 6th form (by which time we'd all worked it out for ourselves ). The place seemed to be the last redoubt against the Copernican revolution. Thank God ( ) the state took it over (after I left unfortunately).

[h20hamelan]

There has always been a sky fairy, every tribe has one.
Seems to me, people are entitled to their opinion and belief.
Schools should teach basics about all religions, and people should not affect or have an effect on others.

I suspect people having hope is good, maybe impractical?

My Church is Nature

[ericbushby]

It`s All too complicated for me. I like things I can understand.
Thank God I`m an atheist,
Eric in Burnley

[ajwheels]

As an engineer, I say "Show me the data"......

But seriously, I have known a number of people over the years who have benefited by their belief in their chosen religion....and good for them.....but that's never been me.

That's probably why my Elan will outlive me.....

[The Veg]

I grew up Unitarian Universalist and now identify as atheist/secular humanist.

Religion is like many things, it has positives as well as negatives;most of the latter really are more the fault of humans exploiting religion than religion itself.

Live and let live, and if it doesn't cause any harm then I don't begrudge anyone their faith. I express appreciation when someone wishes me a blessing and I wish it back to them as a kindness to them, not because of anything in my beliefs.

I find too that I really enjoy religious humour, and I don't mean that as making fun of religion. I would think that a loving god would have a sense of humour and would enjoy the laugh.

[elanfan1]

Remember the dyslexic atheist who didn’t believe in Dog.

[rgh0]

As an engineer the only piece of solid data in my opinion that the universe has a "designer" is given in the following link around the equation e to the (i x pi)+1=0

https://www.researchgate.net/post/eip_1 ... rationally.

Do I believe or support organized religion,,, not really, but it does appear to be a need in society, even though its history over the years going back going back millennia is more about power and control than society benefit.

Do I believe in a sky fairy that appears to have designed the universe ... maybe

[ajwheels]

Do I believe in a sky fairy that appears to have designed the universe ... maybe

And I suspect she may have some regrets.....

[Spyder fan]

I’m with Ricky Gervais on this

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P5ZOwNK6n9U

[Slowtus]

A catholic schooling was sufficient for me to abandon religion.

Ditto, not only was my schooling Catholic, it was also catholic which helped me escape religion.

[Bud English]

George Carlin may have had it right with Frisbeetarianism.

[RichardHawkins]

Alan,

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. I learnt this the hard way. Cancer has me by the prostate, at one inspection 23 samples were taken from my prostate which has a volume of 22ml, no cancerous cells were detected! Unfortunately I still have cancer of the prostate.

Richard Hawkins