High there

[Cyberman]

Around here and similar haunts, a fundamentalist - fundy or fundie, for short - is any species of religious literalist.

[Father Herman]

Around here and similar haunts, a fundamentalist - fundy or fundie, for short - is any species of religious literalist.

I am literally religious, but -- ha ha -- that's not what you mean.
So, "any species:" the species presently in question is "Christian." I suppose that in that case a "religious literalist" would be ... one who takes everything in the Bible in a literal sense?
Is there more to it than that?

Let me help you all.

Yes, I do believe in Allah. I'm a monk of the Orthodox Church.
Allah is the Arabic word for "God." Since I'm not Arabic, I just use plain English.

Anyway, my time's up.

Stimbo: I hope we may continue next week.

God bless.

H

[Whateverist]

Greetings padre. So around here you will find lots of people who don't believe in any gods, fewer who believe belief in gods is a detriment to the human race, and fewer still who do believe in gods (usually your "God"). Some of the latter are here to nudge us toward the light (Godschild), some are studying us for their own apologist purposes (Drich), and some I think just prefer a wide open, less conventional exchange of ideas than they can usually get within their own ranks (Fr0d0, ChadWooters). I agree with Stimbo that from our point of view any Christian who reads bible literally is a fundie.

You can count me in the first bunch, those who don't believe but aren't in a hurry to drive everyone away from religion. You might say I am a non-theist. Those in the middle who really think religious beliefs are holding us back or exploitative or evil or just unscientific I would call anti-theists. Anyone with a belief in any god we call a theist.

In addition to those who are what they are we also get theists posing as atheists in doubt and atheists posing as theists for humorous effect. Personally I prefer those who are what they are, unless they are very, very funny.

Again, welcome aboard.

[fr0d0]

I'm a monk. Monks have been called Father since at least the 3rd century.

Welcome pop. 1700 years old is pretty impressive.

[Angrboda]

Welcome, Father.

To my understanding, the term "Orthodox Church" can refer to a number of distinct religious traditions. Could you be more specific about which church and which monastery you hail from?


I've often remarked that if I had believed in God then I might very well have been a monk/nun. I've never spoken to someone with your background. Could you tell us more about the specifics of your path, how one becomes a monk, and why you chose to become one?

[Edwardo Piet]

I was going to go on a rant but this is the introductions thread.

[fr0d0]

I was going to go on a rant but this is the introductions thread.

WHEW!

[KichigaiNeko]

[Father Herman]

Also, I tend to be a bit of skeptic

I'm skeptical of this statement.

Since my time online is limited I downloaded some messages to respond to at home.

You're skeptical because you're not thinking in terms of having a skeptical mindset. You're thinking in terms of Skeptic Magazine, where the etiquette requires you to be skeptical of everything except the assertions of another skeptic.

H

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High, yourself! Hope you like it here. Whereabouts are you from? No need to be too specific, state, province, or country is close enough.

I’m in the SW corner of New Mexico. It's 101.1 miles east from my front gate to the nearest Orthodox Church, Saint Anthony of the Desert in Las Cruces; and about a three-and-a-half hour drive west to Tucson. Anyone in the neighborhood?

Someday I’d like to upload a street view of the front of my kellion to Google Earth. They let you do that, don’t they?

H

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Which living God do I mean?
Well ... since there's only one ...
H

You seem to be under the impression that there is only have one god you could believe in. ... I think they are all fiction.

O, no. I don’t think there’s only one you could believe in. See, you're under the impression that they’re “all fiction.” And indeed, all but one are fiction. So while there are many that you could believe in, there’s only one you should believe in.

H

[pineapplebunnybounce]

I'm curious, Herman, why is your time online limited? Do you not have internet access out of choice due to some personal philosophy (if so, please share ), or is it related to religion?