Re: Angels, Religious?
I support other people's right to believe what they want to believe . . . as long as they don't try to force those beliefs on me or use them as an excuse to persecute other people. I'm a Deist, which means that I reject revealed religion and books of "God's Rules" written by men. I believe that the only bible God has ever written was written in Nature. His Laws are things like gravity and the turn of the seasons - and as far as I'm concerned, those are His miracles too.
That said, I do enjoy a little pomp and circumstance and choir music, and the best way to get my occasional fix without feeling like a hypocrite is at the Episcopal Church. They don't care about the details of what I believe, as long as I believe and try to live a good, honest life in accordance with those beliefs. Works for me, works for them. They're also the most liberal denomination, while retaining so many of the beautiful aspects of Catholicism.
I fell like I've worked hard for my beliefs. I was even a religious studies major for a while, and that included Buddhism and Hinduism as well as Judaism and Christianity. I also studied Wicca, Chaos Magic, and LaVeyan Satanism.
Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that all these systems were man-made, and I wanted to believe at the source. Details of my system are constantly being revised, but it wasn't until a little while ago that I came across Deism and was like, "Oh . . . so it *does* have a name."
"Someday after we have mastered the winds, the waves, and gravity, we will harness for God the energies of love; and then for a second time in the history of the world, human beings will have discovered fire." - Teilhard de Chardin
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