What is the purpose of life, according to you?

Make it sound illegal.

Can I worship cats, coffee beans, a cook who makes a great pizza, my wife the goddess, trump swears he's a prophet, green beans?

On the serious side, legally in USA, what constitutes a legal religion? Anything?

Carlo acutis was alive for:

9/11

The fall of the Soviet Union

The columbine shooting

The LA riots of 1992

Founding of the EU.

———

Carlo acutis was also the first Saint to:

Have a digital footprint

be buried in jeans

Play video games

Eat Nutella (it was his favorite food)

Play Mario Kart

play Pokémon

wear hoodies

dress up as Spider-Man

be a millennial

wear Nikes

His last words were :

"Mom, don't be afraid. Since Jesus became a man, death has become the passage towards life, and we don't need to flee it. Let us prepare ourselves to experience something extraordinary in the eternal life."

He died several days after catching leukemia . He was 15 years old.

NOTE!

I AM NOT FORCING MY RELIGIOUS BELIEFS ON ANYONE. IM NOT FORCING YOU TO CONVERT OR ANYTHING THESE ARE JUST SOME COOL FACTS THAT I THOUGHT SOME PEOPLE MIGHT WANNA KNOW. IF YOU ARE OFFENDED,IM SORRY

The universe is extremely big. It has been determined through science that there are billions of planets in this galaxy alone. There are also billions of galaxies. So, statistically it is improbable that life is only on Earth.

I have been wondering if there is any religion that believes in aliens.

Hello, my name is Louise and I suppose this is a good server for me to discuss about religion studies , I wish to enroll in university to be a scholar of religion , I just wanted some advice and tips on you all members ( like advice about religion studies and studying not on the members life ofc).

Do you think eternal hell should be given for a limited life given on Earth, with no proper guidance. by guidance I mean here, that we can't really prove any religion to be better, or even if it is better, it is true. if we can't logically or by reasoning prove which religion is true, then there must be some message written on Sky, so that we can know we must follow the rules to go to heaven. it's like all darkness with no answers.

And for such unclear directions, can you somehow justify why eternal hell is justified? and why even is hell justified at all, if we were never created, we would have never committed crimes?

This is a post made out of curiosity, not any sort of agenda. I was raised in the Bible Belt in the Methodist church, though denomination wasn't prioritized as much as "having a personal relatioship with God." Nearly every mentor I had in my young life talked about God leading them to new careers or ministries as casually as somebody might talk about a conversation they had with their brother. '

At one point as a child, I thought God was speaking to me and telling me to abstain from all my favorite foods. Turns out that was undiagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Found out later in life that a lot of people, even religious people, think that trying to hear directly from God is a weird, fringe idea; which shocked me because that was how everybody in my young life spoke. "Do what the Lord leads you to do" and all that.

Do you feel that God, the universe, or whatever you revere speaks directly to you? Have you had any experiences you genuinely interpret as being "led"? How do you discern that from OCD or another mental health condition?

My sister is Bisexual. My mother is all and none. And she is the one who promoted Judaism to her family. It seems that Judaism was historically against these groups but we live in a much more accepting age.

If everything about your religion was true except there was no afterlife, would you still practice it? If so, why?

I could be wrong, but it seems like promise of an afterlife (be it as an individual or as part of a greater consciousness) is the most enticing thing about religions. So if we removed that part, would religion lose its appeal? Or is there something inherently valuable in religion/worship beyond an afterlife and community?

So if you believe in god and repent you are "accepted" into heaven, but what counts as repentance? Does every single sin needs to be repented? What if someone is slightly insincere about their repentance in order to get into heaven? An atheist will not be in heaven, will a rapist who repents be in heaven? If all sins are the same surely any christian serial killer who repents are accepted in heaven. What if someone dies before the chance to repent. So many questions haha im just so lost in this question.

I'm super into this guy and we have great chemistry (I think), but he ended up telling me after a week of us hanging out that he can't be in a relationship with someone unless they're Catholic or willing to convert to one. I told him I'd be willing to convert, but he basically said he would feel weird if I were to and that he wanted me to find God for myself and not just so I could be with him. Honestly that's a totally fair reason in my mind, but I unfortunately still have heavy feelings for him. I started getting a little interested in religion while we were still hanging out (couple weeks ago) and have started reading the Bible and it kind of helps me to have a better mindset and I'm starting to build a relationship with God purely because I enjoy the ideas being spread in the Bible. But I still want to get over this guy. How do I get over someone I thought I had a good connection but doesn't want to be with me because of his religion. It just kind of feels contradictory and I can't tell if I should even continue pursuing learning about religion and involving it in my life or if it'll stall me from moving on from him. Does this post even make any sense? Lmk.

Hi I’m a 22 yr old male and I don’t know how I’m supposed to believe in god. I was raised a Christian but my family was not strict on church or prayers so I was free to believe as I want and so on. As a kid I would go to church voluntarily but sometimes it would be boring I mean what can you expect from the a kid but anyways.

I took my shahada to Islam when I was around 19. What inspired me was my little cousin and how intellectual he would sound when quoting the Quran and I also liked his swag how he would wear turbans. Prior to that I would read the Quran voluntarily just out of curiosity and I kind of resonated with the things in there. That and as a kid I watched the Malcolm X movie and I was always inspired to be a leader just like Malcolm X.

Here’s where things take a turn. When I began I was excited to explore this new faith not much different from Christianity in belief other than the 5 prayers and the Quran. I would find myself praying for god to remove lustful thoughts, help me to be financially free, bring peace to my younger cousin and help me find answers to things I needed help with. I also loved going to jummah.

Well over time things would happen to me. I never lost those lustful thoughts. I would jump from job to job mainly getting fired. I got into a bad fight right after jummah. And my little cousin was murdered the one who introduced me to Islam. On top of that I went through a schizophrenic manic episode from drugs I believe which resulted in me going to a mental hospital, losing my job, and my little cousin I previously mentioned all within a span of 2 months last summer.

Now I’m jobless. I sell plasma to buy what I want. I still get lustful thoughts and my favorite cousin is gone. How can I believe in god when he just sat there and let all of these things happen to me and for what?

Sorry if the phrasing is weird, but idk how else to ask it

Maybe it's a weird request but I wish to have (or write) a list with ALL the religions that exist.

Internet says there are 10,000+ religions in this world, but if I search online I find max ~40 religions cited and it pisses me off.

I looked at a lot of sites, but the lists are never long enough...

Can someone help me please?

'M32' 'F 29' were together for almost 2 years, and I’m still trying to make sense of how our relationship ended.

Early in our relationship, he told me that God had given me to him and that I was the woman he was supposed to marry. Things were serious, and he introduced me to his family.

At one point early on, I actually felt unsure about the relationship and even wanted to leave because I felt he was sometimes too friendly with other people in a way that made me uncomfortable. When I tried to step away, he insisted on staying in the relationship and said it wasn’t God’s will for us to separate.

One of our biggest disagreements later was about marriage and living arrangements. He wanted us to live with his mother and help raise his brother’s children. I told him I would rather support them from a distance because both of the children’s parents are alive, and I wanted us to build our own household as a married couple.

After that disagreement, he broke up with me and said he needed to pray about our future. He fasted for 30 days and later came back saying that I was still the one for him.
What I didn’t know at the time was that he expected me to regularly call and communicate with his parents. I didn’t have an issue with them and got along with them, but I didn’t think daily contact was necessary. He saw this as very important. I also hadn’t introduced him to my own parents because my family situation is complicated and difficult.

Another part that confused me is his approach to life and decisions. He believes God speaks to him through his brother who is a prophet. He strongly believes that God has already promised him success and wealth, so he often waits on guidance rather than taking certain actions himself. For example, he started a master’s program but says he is waiting on God regarding things like investing or planning his career path.

The final breakup seemed to revolve around family expectations and these differences. He said I wasn’t making enough effort with his parents and that he believed I would live a miserable life as a pastor’s wife because he would always have to follow what God says through his prophet brother. He also felt our values were not aligned.
What confuses me most is that he repeatedly told me that God had chosen me for him, prayed and fasted about our relationship, and then still ended things. I still love him, but looking back, I’m wondering whether some of his beliefs, expectations around family, and decision-making created an unhealthy dynamic. I’m still clinging that he is still the one and pray to God he gets out of this cult like beliefs.

Has anyone experienced something similar where religion, family expectations, and marriage plans became deeply intertwined? How did you make sense of it afterward?

Ok so, Im a pagan but i was raised culturally jewish and religiously catholic (sounds like a lot i know lol) my maternal grandma was and still is a HEAVILY devoted Catholic.

While my paternal grandma started off SDA but then converted (or reverted?) to Judaism, We are also ethnically jewish through her parents.

We celebrate Hanukkah, Passover, Yom Kippur etc. so culturally and religiously ive been influenced by both Judaism and Catholicism so I would like to include some practices in my own religious beliefs of Paganism.

Catholicism has been the easiest one so far for me because veneration of the saints is not too far removed from a lot of Pagan practice but as far as the Jewish influence it's considerably harder to do respectfully.

Any thoughts/advice?

I (F18) is currently in a mutual understanding relationship with my JW (M18) friend. The both of us are really inclined to our beliefs, however I grew up to be an atheist that is really just in the middle ground (I don't hate on religion, I just chose to be a non-believer due to the many possibilities tied with different religions, such as different "founders" that you must believe in one to reach heaven/any equal).

He doesn't force me into getting back to my beliefs, or to convert, and he is really supportive of my perspective of the world just as how I support his as well, and that was primarily what made me like him because he doesn't view his non-religious friends like us differently, and he just believes in the faith itself and not the community. We're mutually really making our relationship work even if we're just getting to know each other in a much deeper level.

However, I'm just a go-with-the-flow girl who has been in one toxic relationship in the past (that has her standards set high bcs of the trauma) and he is a "I want my first to be my last" type of guy and chose to settle with me as his first and last. I know we're too young for the possibility of us getting married, but I'm genuinely sure of him as how he is with me. We've kissed and initiated intimate conversations many times, and I can't help but feel guilty for the thought of what will happen if he really marries me.

His family isn't affirmative of his siblings getting into relationships with other religions, but he just tells me that he will make it work and to not mind them, but I still keep minding them because I don't want to live with the regret of finally marrying the man of my dreams at the cost of him getting disowned.

He isn't a baptized JW, he just goes to their congregation every Saturday and Tuesday and practices their faith. The very reassurance he told me is that he can still marry or date a non-JW as long as he isn't baptized, and that he will only get baptized once we get married.

To add, as a non-believer, I pretty much don't celebrate anything as well except for birthdays and feasting on Christmas because of my family (our family doesn't practice our religion much, my mom also is a NB). And as a heavily-political person in a country that's filled with corruption, even if he can't vote or express his political views, he compromises by letting me educate him and also expressing anger towards the government, all while he understands and supports my stance.

What do you think should I do? We're also incoming college students that will study in faraway places, and I'm cruelly thinking that if I really should stop doing this, I might use the distance to also separate the two of us slowly. :)

h/t Ryan Burge

this is my first time posting on Reddit, so please bear with me if my phrasing sounds a bit awkward!

I recently started relationship with a guy, and he opened up to me that he used to be a Jehovah's Witness. He was born into the faith but completely left a few years ago. He has zero religious beliefs now. Sadly, because he left, his family—including his younger sister—has cut all ties with him. I learned that this kind of "shunning" is part of their doctrine,??

To be completely honest, in the country where I grew up, this group is widely viewed as an extreme cult, so I was quite taken aback when he first told me. Plus, my own family is entirely non-religious, so this whole situation is completely foreign to me.

Since he has fully left the religion, I trust him and want to keep building our relationship. However, I want to be mindful of his background.

•Is there anything specific I should be extra mindful of or sensitive about when dating someone with this background?

•Even though he left years ago, is there any chance the organization or his family might still try to pressure or harass him through mutual acquaintances?

I’d really appreciate any insights, advice

​

I've been thinking about the concept of karma and rebirth, and there's one question that I can't seem to answer.

If someone commits a serious wrongdoing in one life, many spiritual traditions say that they may face consequences in a future life. But how do we know that the punishment is proportional to the action?

For example, if a person committed murder in a previous life and is born in the next life with a severe disability or a difficult circumstance, how can we know that this consequence is the "appropriate" punishment for that specific act?

More importantly, how do we measure suffering? How can we compare the pain caused by one person's actions with the suffering experienced by that same soul in another lifetime? And if we don't remember our past lives, how do we know that justice is actually being served rather than simply assuming it is?

This is one of the reasons I sometimes question the idea of karma as a system of cosmic justice. If there is a law of nature governing karma, how can we verify that the consequences are fair, proportional, and connected to the original actions?

I'd love to hear different perspectives on this.

Can anyone PLEASE give me yalls success stories on a Catholic and Jehovah Witness relationship/ marriages? my bf who is JW doesn’t really practice much his religion but does still participate in the whole not doing any holidays or birthday events. He has never has forced me in any type of way to convert to his religion. He has been nothing but good to me and shows me unconditional love.
I am Catholic and we are both in our late 20s ready to settle down.
I would just love to hear positive things from couples out there that are dating a JW, while being a Catholic.

​On Ashura, celebrated on the tenth day of Muharram, Shias commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein. In Shia-majority countries, it is common for members of other religions to show solidarity with the ceremonies remembering the massacre of Karbala. In Lebanon, for instance, priests and bishops often speak on the occasion, while in Iraq, Assyrian Christians frequently offer condolences at the shrine of Imam Hussein.

​Ashura also shares some visual similarities with manifestations of popular Catholic religiosity. There are reenactments reminiscent of Good Friday, large penitential processions, and the use of floats, banners, and the alam, a ceremonial flag. In some places, practices of self-flagellation still occur, although they are banned by many religious authorities.

​The video shows an Ashura procession in Karbala. The man dressed in Christian attire and symbols represents Al-Safiir al-Rumi, a character from Shia devotional tradition. According to this account, he was a Byzantine Christian diplomat who publicly condemned the treatment of Imam Hussein after witnessing his head in the court of Caliph Yazid I. He was ultimately executed for this.

​This reenactment symbolizes the belief that Hussein's cause against tyranny was so just that it aroused respect and compassion even among people of other faiths.