Do you believe in God / a higher being?

Inb4 pacinoyes shames the board again for being full of leftist atheist heathens.

To answer the thread question, yes.

Not sure about a film that represents my specific stance, but I think Ordet is the best film about faith that I’ve seen.

Sorry to hear that.

I'm personally in total opposite: grew up in a secular household, liked religous teachers I met in highschool/University, met nice missionaries when I entered Europe... but their "friendship" seem pretty fishy now ngl   

Oh and a film would be The 4th Man but without all the man on man stuff because the male body is just gross - except for mine I mean .......

It's a matter of if you choose to see really ......

I used to wonder about whether there is a god or a higher being out there and wished someone to be real. These days i stopped wondering and just praying to a few gods (Hinduism has like thousands of gods) to give me strength.

I chose option 4, because, really, it isn't something that concerns me at all. I really don't care about religion (the God or afterlife part of it, to be more precise) and never have.

I am between the first and second choice. I consider myself to be a cafeteria Catholic. I go to mass sometimes, and do not take the Bible literally. But I am very spiritual - believe in God, destiny, superstition, and angels -- and pray on a daily basis. Went with A, because I go to mass.

I am culturally Christian - i.e. I was raised Christian, I believe in Christian values*, I celebrate Christian holidays... But do I believe in a higher power? I'm really not sure. 

Edit: *By this I mean the actual teachings of Christ - not the fundamentalist/evangelical perversion of the term.

Tom Cruise can be your higher power or Audrey Hepburn or Meryl Streep.

I have been raised Christian and have been facing a crisis of faith in the past few years. I'm a questioner, and the lack of "fairness" to biblical theology is something that bothers me greatly. If God is so loving, why Hell? Oh sure, it was created for the demons and man can only go there because of sin, but... why is there sin? If God is all knowing, why would he create a sentient race that would be damned for eternity because Adam chose to disobey a law? So God wants people to worship Him out of free will, but if we don't, we get yoinked to Hell? That ain't free will, it's *coercion.* Furthermore, the Law as laid down in the old testament is impossible to keep (as the new testament comments on). Man is inherently fucked, and cannot possibly match God's standards... but God supplied a scapegoat (in a literal sense) to catch the punishment for us if we accept it, which is great... but God also will not communicate openly with sinful man after the writing of the new testament, which means that he sent us a manual and told us to accept Jesus or be sent straight to Hell, do not pass Go, do not collect $200 that will be worth $20 in ten years because of rampant inflation. And if you're not somebody raised in that system, who is told clearly the good news of the gospel, you have far less chance of ever getting saved, for obvious reasons. So if you are not in the right position to start, you're statistically pretty well screwed.

I'm also uncomfortable with the guilt-tripping of Christianity - the whole thing is built around how horrible mankind is and how there can be no redemption in our own acts. If this is true, that is VITALLY important to know. But if this is so important, why won't God speak to us face to face? I have read (and loved) C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces, which asks these same questions, but I'm not sure I agree with Lewis's conclusions. (His conclusions make for one hell of a great novel and I think there is a lot to value in how he deliberately deconstructs every argument Orual makes against God, but I still have to question whether a truly good God would create a system in which He cannot show his face because of Man's sin... if you are the creator of all, surely you could create rules that aren't just "you have sinned and you are unrepentant despite the fact I gave a book to you, so you are damned for eternity.")

Which brings me to the GIF above, from my favorite movie: Madoka Magica Rebellion. A story about a Christian who wants so desperately for God to exist, wants that Divine power to envelop and guide her, praying to It for her deliverance... A Christian who is a fraud, whose religion is untrue, who fears that *God* is untrue. A Christian who reaches upwards to touch the hand of her Savior, only for it to crumble to dust. A Christian who repeats the words of Nietszche's madman in horror: "God is dead, God is dead, God is dead." What was holiest and mightiest in all that this world has yet known has bled to death under her knife. What water is there with which to wash herself? What sacred games, what festivals of atonement must she invent? Is not this deed too great for her? Must she not become a god herself, simply to appear worthy of it?

I believe in beauty and grace. Whether that comes from a higher being, a universal force, or earthly beings matters less and less to me as I age as I push more and more towards seeing God in all things.

grew up in a catholic house (went to a catholic school from kindergarten until grade 12). started having real doubts around grade 7 and now i’ve been an agnostic atheist for years. my core family isn’t really religious anymore either. mom worked at the school and the hypocrisy and anti gay themes pushed her away.

religion was never really for me. met a lot of great people at school and we’ll still go out drinking/partying once in the blue moon, but some of the teachers really sucked. especially in high school. felt like a lot of brainwashing was going on. i remember in elementary too how i’d lay in bed and think how i’d have to live an enternal life in heaven and the thought of eternity was stifling to me. fucking haaaated going to church too. shit was the most boring hour of my week.

while saying all that christmas is probably my favorite holiday and time of the year.