h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello all, I have a question that relates to myself.

I believe in a God. That much I know. I also know that I am not part of any formal religion. However, due to the nature of my upbringing, it is likely that, for the most part, I exist using Christian morals etc - it is the rituals and preaching etc that I am not part of. Thus I come to the question, what am I? I don't think that agnosticism is the fitting description and I seem to remember there being a word for someone who beleives in a God but not under a religion as such. Any ideas anyone?
Not a major hurry to answer though, I have existed in this state of mind for a while without any labelling, I am just curious, t's'all.

BenniBi

I think it's natural to seek a name for 'what you are', but at the same time rather dangerous... As soon as we have a name for something we begin to define it, and therefore, ourselves. And then we end up being 'an xxxx' among other xxxx's, rather than having our own personal conciences about the matter.

I personally avoid thinking about religion/faith/God/ultimate truths as far as possible because I believe that it could never be catagorically defined or understood by the human brain. Any conclusions about 'it' would be incorrect (unless there was a massive coincidence somewhere along the line, and how would I know that anyway!?)

I couldn't presume to name any 'ultimate being'; to choose a particular method of worship would be to say that I know what such a force could want or appreciate (or even notice); to lay down rules about days of the week, foods, sexuality etc seems arbitrary at best and misguided powermongering at worst. Did you ever see the Red Dwarf episode where Holly explains that the Cat civilisation was wracked with 2,000 years of holy wars over whether hats should be red or blue?

I'm not sure this will help you much! Just my feelings on the matter as an escapee from narrow dogmatism.

Hello Idling

Glad to see another into the fold of the h2g2 site

I agree with what you say above yes, names and labels can lead to the use of names and labels in a surrepticious way to make bad things, however, curiosity is a strange creature (with feline-phobia I am told...).

I also get your views about not thinking about it due to our apparent humbleness.. however I am sure there are parallels to be drawn (probably with science) which we don't understand but use anyway. Physics (I think) has a lot of things that we, as a race, don't understand but people still think about it. Chances are that we will never totally understand the rules of the universe (whether they be unified or not) and yet people still struggle with it.. of course, this is a very (insert word that means not very solid) argument to be had and so, in principle i agree with you (although don't practise it myself, i enjoy philosophising X-D)

Oh, and I believe I may have seen that episode but not for a good long while.

Speak to you soon!

BenniBi

Well, hello again BenniBi.

I'm afraid I don't know of a specific word for you. The only thing I can think of is the common phrase, "spiritual but not religious." This generally describes someone who believes in God(s) and some form of afterlife or reincarnation without attaching any specific religion to that belief.

Considering the growing percentage of people said to be in this group, you'd think we'd have developed a lable by now. However, I would guess that the lack of an easy label says something about the world view that inspires the phenomenon in the first place.

Hello!

Yes, (although I had never thought of it) I do agree that "spiritual but not religious" is an apt description and I am sure there is a word that describes that somewhere in the english language but I guess it is an outmoded word and thus isn't used anymore.. although I reckon that there are lots of people that *could* use it!

Ah heck, let's just make something up!

BenniBi