Funny, my sister has a theory that most self proclaimed atheists are actually agnostic and vise versa. She called me out when I told her I was agnostic, and she was right.

I've heard about the Bahai religion, and correct me if I'm wrong, but women are revered like goddesses???!!!

"The Bahá'í writings emphasize the essential equality of human beings, and the abolition of prejudice."

Also the Bahá'í believe there is only one god.

I've spent a little bit of time with people of the Bahá'í faith, and I don't recall women being regarded any differently then men. I don't imagine such a thing would be in line with their belief system.

This is deep! I was raised as a reformed Jew, (and I guess I still am). In terms of the Jewish holidays, I celebrate them more due to culture/tradition than for religious reasons.

Anyway, I've had a couple of life experiences which have tested my belief system. The first was when I was raped/abused as a teen. I thought, If there is a G-d, why would he let this happen to me? Needless to say, I was very hurt and angry for a while.

However, a few years after that, when I was in college, I was driving back up to school from my home in Boston during a really bad snow storm. Since the snow came on quick, there was still a good amount of cars on the highway. Anyway, all of the sudden my car spun around. It must have gone around at least three times, because I kept seeing the trees go past me. I didn't know what to do, and kept trying to turn the wheel to gain control. The next thing I knew, I was safe, in the median of I-95, and even though many cars were zooming by, neither I nor my car had a scratch!

Now you can call this luck, and perhaps it is, but I certainly felt as though G-d or someone gave me a hand that day. (I've even thought that it may be G-d's way of apologizing for all the other shit I went through in my life.) Who knows, but I thought I'd share.

nic :-)

I polled atheist here and BeliefNet says I'm a Secular Humanist 100%.

Cool!

Interesting question for me to face today, because I've been debating where my soul lies for the past week. I know it lies in tatters, is shattered, has been ripped asunder by this wretched condition, but I am prayin everyday. I keep doing it so I can get back to the faith I had before the attempt on my life. So, I believe in God, but I am trying desperately to believe he's not a malevolent SOB How's that?

Jesus Christ is the son of God. Without Him I would not make it through each day, especially with PTSD. He also intervened in my life and saved me from alcoholism. I also believe what you said HollyBerry that He is not what some Christians make him out to be.

God is my refuge. At times I get angry at him, but that is ok, he doesn't mind. However, I did change religious beliefs. I left the extreme fundamentalist religion of my family. My mother does not know. If she did I would be disowned. My friends and spiritual director say "good riddance", but I can't let go. This is a source of stress.

Since this is a poll, and we are all entitled to our beliefs (or non-) this is my .02
Most of us here have gone through he%# and back, so whatever may be on "the other side" is probably a cakewalk.
Personally, I don't believe in "A" God. I'd like to think our souls go to another plane and perhaps some can interact with the physical sides of those who still inhabit bodies; who knows. I think those who need to believe in a higher power have their reasons. We need to live our lives with fairness, honesty, and qood will, and if some need a church to teach them that, then there's nothing wrong there. I don't believe in the "my faith is better than your faith" people; that's why there's so much pain and death and hatred on this earth, and we have enough of that.
The 'bible, 'torah', Quoran (Sp) all are written by MEN for MEN. So I think they are just nice stories and someone decided they'd get a little more power out of this life if they sold those stories - convincing people to "follow" the leader, as it were. Again, mortal human failings, but handed down by God? Nah. Handed down by guys with a need for power. And grabbed up on by successive guys (and women) who need power.
So religion can be good, but mostly I think it's bad, because people refuse to think for themselves if they can have someone else do it for them.
That's just my opinion.