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I am religious and believe in free will

70 (27.6%)

I am religious and do not believe in free will

10 (3.9%)

I am not religious and believe in free will

113 (44.5%)

I am not religious and do not believe in free will

61 (24%)

Total Members Voted: 249

[Naturegirl1999]

Sometimes my ears generate noise during silence, mostly it is ringing, but other times, when I lay in bed, I hear voices call my name that are unfamiliar to me. This isn’t scary, just am curious why this is

[Egan_BW]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinnitus

[Naturegirl1999]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinnitus

thanks
Now to talk about railgunsreligions, what does it take for a set of ideas to be a religion rather than a cult? They seem similar, I’m sorry if I asked this before

[HmH]

It seems to be a subjective distinction for the most part.
If the person who says the word dislikes the set of ideas and can get away with insulting its members, then it's a cult.
If they like the set of ideas or don't want to be rude to its members, then it's a religious organization.

There are also 'objective' criteria of what constitutes a cult such as 'worship of a specific leader' and 'a totalitarian control over their members', but for some reason these 'objective' criteria are only applied to ideologies the given speaker wants to disparage, and not to their own religion or political party.

Generally, the idea seems to be that religious organizations are adults and cults are teenagers: cults are far more extreme, insecure, and likely to pull a knife on you than old established religions are.

[MaxTheFox]

I have converted since I last voted (many months ago). I wish I could change my vote.

[Sime]

A cult is a religion startup.   

And tech startups are often cults.

[IndigoFenix]

I could argue that the longevity of a religion/cult adds to its legitimacy as a viable cultural organism, which could arguably be the difference between a religion and a cult.  Many new systems fail to last more than a single generation or two, since they lack any effective means of propagation from one generation to the next. or revolve so heavily around a living leader that they fall apart as soon as that leader dies.

Cult is to religion as mutant is to species.

[delphonso]

Scientology is a good example of fitting both the modern meaning of cult but also having enough influence/commanding enough respect to gain the title religion.

[MaxTheFox]

Honestly Scientology just seems to me like what happens when a cult survives long enough and expands.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

All religions start as Cults. Christianity was a Cult.

[Naturegirl1999]

All religions start as Cults. Christianity was a Cult.

Yes, I learned this ina Western Civ class, telling this to other church members didn’t go very well if I remember correctly

[delphonso]

All religions start as Cults. Christianity was a Cult.

In both the historic and modern definition, for sure.

What I find interesting is the genesis of religions - seemingly falling into reformation, continuation, or invention.

Reformation, such as Lutheranism to Catholicism, is basically a new religion but does not really change the narrative or introduce any new elements. This seems to be the best way to make a new religion which lasts.

Continuation though is like Christianity to Judaism, where Jesus is meant to be the fulfillment of the messiah prophecy. I think most cults work this way, and only a few seem to survive for a long time.

Inventions are pretty rare, but to completely create a religion wholecloth has happened. Scientology had elements of other religions, but is pretty clearly a totally new beast. These seem pretty hard to get people to believe in, as there's only been a handful that have continued to exist on earth.

[ShinQuickMan]

Sometimes my ears generate noise during silence, mostly it is ringing, but other times, when I lay in bed, I hear voices call my name that are unfamiliar to me. This isn’t scary, just am curious why this is

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia#Sounds

[Naturegirl1999]

Sometimes my ears generate noise during silence, mostly it is ringing, but other times, when I lay in bed, I hear voices call my name that are unfamiliar to me. This isn’t scary, just am curious why this is

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia#Sounds

Thanks

[MetalSlimeHunt]

This kills the religion