stephanie is: 
tired…
i took an online test that judges your religion. i feel i have no religion. i don’t believe in god or existance after death. yet i don’t claim to know for certain either way. i believe it is up to me to change my life and the world around me – not some higher power. i do have a slight belief in karma… but perhaps it is really one’s subconcious actions that make it seem like karma is comeing to pay you back…
so the quiz said my best match was “secular humanism”. it listed points i could agree on – all non-religious. so what is the point of calling that a religion, i thought? i looked up this page and read:
“Critics often try to classify secular humanism as a religion. Yet secular humanism lacks essential characteristics of a religion, including belief in a deity and an accompanying transcendent order. Secular humanists contend that issues concerning ethics, appropriate social and legal conduct, and the methodologies of science are philosophical and are not part of the domain of religion, which deals with the supernatural, mystical and transcendent.
Secular humanism, then, is a philosophy and world view which centers upon human concerns and employs rational and scientific methods to address the wide range of issues important to us all.”
i chatted with some people who felt my non-religous views were in a way religous… were they? i’ve always felt i have no religion… giving a fancy name to someone who doesn’t belivevein god doesn’t make them religious, does it?
well, the last listed definition of “religion” on dictionary.com is A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.
perhaps if i were extremely convicted about everything then that would apply to me. but i am not zealous or devoted to my life views – i take them as they come and change them when appropriate. i don’t feel my views are right or wrong, nor do i feel anyone else’s are.
i do like this passage from that site:
Secular humanists do not rely upon gods or other supernatural forces to solve their problems or provide guidance for their conduct. They rely instead upon the application of reason, the lessons of history, and personal experience to form an ethical/moral foundation and to create meaning in life.
perhaps my views have developed from being raised my an extremely smart and amazingly understanding rocket-scientist dad. i have never outright dismissed the idea of religion… i have been to many services over the years – i find it interesting to vist each type once. religious texts fascinate me, but i take them more as stories of humanity written from a particular view with a certain goal in mind.
i am very comfortable in my views right now and don’t expect to suddenly need some higher being to “save” me. if there is some sort of afterlife that is determinded by my time here, i wouldn’t expect to have any trouble. i have lived my life with compassion and thoughtfulness and i doubt any all-knowing being would dismiss that.
…
these are the kinds of thoughts i often have while alone or waiting to sleep. not nessecarily about this topic, but certainly more than “today i blah blah blah…” it’s just i am not thinking of it anymore by the time i am at my computer. sometimes i wish i could push a [save] button in my brain and plug it into my computer for download later on.
that said, i am going to go watch the victoria’s secret boobies on tv. w0rd.