I'm an Agnostic, I feel there is a higher power out there yet I don't choose to name or worship it. I am far more of a scientific thinker.

I take a lot of interest in the history (and beliefs but only when it comes to the lesser known ones) of most religions. Their symbols are fascinating as well. When it comes to religions that I take the most interest in they tend to be polytheistic. If it came down to me choosing a religion though it would be Buddhism because it teaches you to find the spiritual strength inside of yourself instead of praying to a god that we have no proof of it's existance.

Religion has also become just another way to discriminate against each other. There are always the cases of "My god is stronger than your god" or "My book is the right word" but who is really the decider on all of that? Religion was never meant to be a status symbol.

I also find it humorous that people are more likely to turn to religion in times of crisis (recanting on your deathbed and such). I'm sorry but I find it absolutely ludicrous when I am told that all you have to do is pray for forgiveness and all will be forgotten.

If it wasn't obvious I have many problems with the Christian religion. ;)

I am a spiritualist.

I don't believe in religion, but I believe that there are higher powers at work in this world.

I think that religions take just about every good thought and inevitably twist it into something it was never meant to be.

Whatever it once was, religion is now for those who like to feel better about themselves by putting others down.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that all people involved in religions are this way. However, religion is a worldwide vehicle for the hating of differences in other people.

To me, religion is just spirituality corrupted by social conventions. Love God(s) without hating others for loving God(s) in a different way.

Jewish here

I'm an atheist, Gods loyal opposition...

My god sits in the back of a limousine. My god comes in the wrapper of cellophane. My god is a shallow little bitch trying to make the scene.

Hahaha!

The sense of that isn't to pray to some higher being, but to focus your own will through a strong believing, in that you could heal yourself. If you believe strong enough that you will receive a help, you will. That is in case of ilnesses and similar.
In case of the moments before the death, people simply like to be sure that in their death they did not only bad things, but also something good, and that their life wasn't a complete waste. Perhaps praying helps them in some way after the death, but that's where my knowledge ends. ;)

Well, I was baptised and everything when I was 18, because when I was born in Slovenija, if your parents worked in the public sector, like my father who is a detective, you were discured to have anything with the church (the time of comunisem it was). I did it only because it was the will of my grand grandmother. Besides, I like Lutheran belifs also, like that there can be women as priest, the priests can marry and stuff. I don't know if I believe in God or Alah or anybody - it is all the same, just the name waries.
I do think that there may be some higher force out there, but I will do everyathing in my power to achieve what I want and not put it into the hands of others, or blame God or pity myself, if I don't succeed.

I dont understand how people can be atheist.
Think about it deeply and ull know that atheism makes no sense!
Maybe God is not human but u can never deny his presence!

I agree, one of the main reasons being the law of physics that states that if something is left to its own devices, and not maintained, it will collapse and deteriorate. All physisists agree that there must be SOME outside force maintaining the earth, because it should have collapsed and deteriorated long ago. Scientists also say that the chances are too astronomical for our earth to have been placed JUST the right distance from the sun (one mile either way and we're dead), with JUST the right amount of stuff in the atmosphere.

Historians claim that in no way, should the US won the Revolutionary War. People go on about Britain being spread out, etc. but many historians have finally said the colonists could not have won with out some sort of divine intervention.

Those examples, aside from my own personal ones, lead me to believe there is a God.

originally i'm catholic, but i don't go to church and stuff. however, i believe in some
sort of "higher power". this might not fall under the definition of a certain entity which
rules our world. for me nature itself (in which all of us a parts of) constitutes that
higher power. in my opinion, we all belong to a almost unlimited "organism"...humans,
stones, plants, animals...all of these make up this organism, this entity. we're part of
a universal unit. our actions contribute in many different ways to the dynamic reality
of this unit. it's difficult for me to explain that. if you are familiar with chinese "taoism"
you most probably will understand what i'm talking about....

the way of tao is what i believe in.

edit:

a question to realmus:
don't you think that your avatar (the upside down pentagram) contradicts your belief?