I currently describe myself as Wiccan, but I manage to do without the forty pounds of junk jewelry and the obsession with *magick!* that seems to characterize many Wiccans.

Do I believe in magic? Yes, same as I believe in prayer, but I don't believe you need a special ritual/spell for every moment of your life. I regard Wicca as a religion that uses magic, not a system of magic with religious overtones.

I generally espouse the Wiccan ideal of "harm none" and the concept of the Threefold Law ("fuck me over and the Powers That Be will fuck you over three times as bad"), but I'm not a fanatic about it. If someone comes after me with intent to commit mayhem, rest assured I'll commit a little mayhem myself and worry about the consequences later. I've done it before; I'll do it again if the need arises.

The Wicca I practice is kind of freeform, not according to any particular "Tradition". (For Non-Wiccans, "Tradition" = "Denomination".) So I'm an eclectic Wiccan with an attitude....

I could be described as eclectic.  Religions and spiitualities have always held my interest and I love collecting various religious icons from around the world.  I have some great crosses/crucifixes from Rome even though I'm not Christian.  And I have some cool Buddhist stuff from Asia.  Since childhood I have studied many ways.  I grew up in Arizona which was heavily influenced by Native American culture.  My elementary school was called Kachina.  Kachina dolls are fascinating!  I've studied Native American Shamanism, Wicca, Satanism, Santeria and Ifa.  I currently blend elements from those. 

I used to go to a Pentecostal church for entertainment purposes on occasion when i was a kid.  The holy rollers speaking in tongues, dancing around with tamborines was a trip!

This is my first post on darksiders, so I shall ramble on incessantly hehe.

 I call myself a Christian Basicist.  To nutshell that, I believe in the Christian God and Jesus.  Logic however has pressed me to realize that the Bible is mostly from the human imagination.  The Old Testament, especially the first half, is obviously Jewish myth on how the world was created and how their people were born.  There are too many conflicts with reality and logic for these to be actual.  The later parts become more based in reality of course because it comes closer to when it was written and they integrate their myths with their own history.

As for the New Testament, Catholic Power mongers from the ancient Roman Catholic Empire obviously manipulated and chose which books to use as the Testament for their own purposes. Protestants tried their best to weed out fact from fiction with their versions of the New Testament, but when it's all said and done, who's to say they were correct in their judgments.  The Bible simply can't be depended on to give a true and accurate account of what or who God is.

 
Therefore as a Basicist, I take the words of Jesus as an example of what a person should be.  And as far as practicing, I do so as a follower of logic.  Logic is the best way i can describe how I live my life.  This of course is the complete opposite of the "human animal" view.  However to consider that view, one must consider that the human animal is social and therefore requires certain rules within the society to function naturally well.

 One of the posters here said, and I'm paraphrasing, that we as animals are caged by societies rules.  I would argue that we as social animals require many of those rules to function naturally.  This is a very long and drawn out argument of course, but this is the Philosophy section heh.

There is one other point made by another poster here that all religions carry some truth and  whatever works for that individual is best.  This is certainly an open-minded and well intentioned ideal, but I can't see the logic in this assessment.  There is only one truth as to the deity or non-deity of this reality.  In all probability, none of us are remotely close to the truth about what's real.  The odds of the human imagination coming up with how things are in a spiritual world we can't know, is even greater than if we were to try and guess what life is like on another planet if it exists.

Simply put, these are my beliefs, but I know logically that i can be wrong and choose to believe them anyways.  That is what is needed to be understood.  No one knows the truth and we are all likely to be completely wrong, so there is no reason for persecution over another's belief.

Still with me?  Hehe, told you I'd go essay crazy. 

Ok Here i agree with Starstream----but have to question my religious beliefs as calling myself a Athiest, for the native American religions believe in nature and a higher being, not neccesarily a "god" if you will. So I guess Im asking for some clarification on this matter. If anyone has any good web sites to recommend on The native American beliefs, would you please share?

First of all, let me try to explain what i believe to be the concept of religion:

For me, Religions are the way people find to understand their nature and their role in the world ("why are they alive?" i mean). There are several things people are unable to explain (such as the question i just quoted) and, when you don't have a belief - which would be sustended as an "explanation" to these same questions - it gets to a point where your life turns to be very dificult to live (I can speak for myself on this one).

From 11 to 15 years old I read almost everything about lots of religion and cults, but I only confirmed what I allways believed - in nothing. lol. Until that period, I considered myself as an atheist. But then I found out that Atheism is considered to be a beliefe, so... When people ask me, I just say I am nothing.

I have a question to everybody: what does the concept of Religion means to you guys? 

I'm pagan, and wiccen. I do mess around in spells/wichcraft.

I believe in EVOLUTION!!!!

I believe there are MANY higher powers, and that they are all equal.

Harm none do what ye will!!

Screw me, and get screwed 3 times over.

What goes around comes around.

KARMA! 

I have huge issue with christianity in general. bad experiences as a young child have made me hate all in-your-face christsians. My childhood best friend told me i was going to hell because i didn't go to church. I was 5. Nice huh?  

I am not saying i am against all CHRISTIANS. just 3/4 of them, and the religion in general. If you are christian and don't bash/trash/put down or anything else anyone/thing i or other people believe in, we will get along GREAT!!  

 I hate "praying" seriously wtf do you think your going to acomplish asking some FAKE over advertised "god" to help? NOTHING. Having a sis with cancer and hearing "we will pray for her" all the time has made me hate it more!!!

My sis was in her wheelchair and people were actually STOPPING THEIR CARS to yell out the windows "god bless her soul, save her poor little body!" I mean really WTF?? We had one lady hug her in a resturant and SAY A PRAYER!! she tried then to make AVALON say it with her!! She's FIVE!! I mean thats RETARDED