Religious/Philosophical Profile Thread

[Tarabonius]

I'm a non-Theist - for any theist.
I'm a non-Dogmatist - for any scientist.

My world views are based on reason. I don't believe in deities or dogmata of any kind.

And that said, there is of course no plausible reason to believe in creation or a causative big bang.

Still more: How can what we see just NOW, be distant (God - human) or dimensional (subject - object)? Think, pray! -- Bye, bye...

PS: Get it? Distance-vs-NOW... not possible!?...? Can A be distant to B; and at the same time A has knowledge of B?

PPS: If YOU are here and IT is there... what would do YOU see now? Is it possible to see IT now? No.

[Kaiser Quanah]

Howdy,

______I am non-denominational within the Protestant branch of Christianity, believing in only what I see as consistent with the Holy Bible and rational to the scientific world (only where science has authority). I believe in Old Earth Creationism, the belief that the universe is billions of years old and created by God in a planned, orderly fashion; I also no longer believe in theistic evolution, as I did in years past, but now rather, that God created things in stages of creation, allowing time to pass in-between these 'days' ('morning' and 'evening') so that Creation will be balanced enough and developed enough in time for other things to be added at a later date (it is true that God could have created everything instantaneously and orderly, but miracles are only done to show the superiority of God, as there was no sin at this time and thus no perversions of truth, I would think there would be no reason to do it this way). Creation ended with the Seventh Day, possibly the era we still inhabit, in the sub-period (so-to-speak) of Ante Deum.
The notion that genetic information mutates to create new genetic data that actually assists in the advancement of adaptation of a species is, in my ideas, absurd. Recorded mutations are either neutral to the organism, or harmful. Now, organisms may change and develop differently, but they stay within there kinds, never adding new data to their DNA (Wolves--> Wolves + Dogs + Jackals + Coyotes + Foxes; in the end they are still within there kind, canines. There are other things similar to this example). Another view I ponder about is that all things were created with no division with kinds whatsoever, but it is hard to process that personally with me being an avid evolutionist as a child and early teenager (simply raised with Christian values, I had to find my own way to where I am now).

__Things that make me believe in this type of Creationism include: The well established theory of a beginning to the universe, both philosophically and scientifically; the theory of a common designer (rather then common ancestor), the fact that everything is designed similarly in accordance to what it is shows there to be a single mind, rather then a multitude; the existence of scientific constants and laws all going together coherently, making the possibility of science possible in the first place (this kind of goes with the previous one, sorry if I am repeating myself); DNA itself, codes and data do not appear randomly, it takes intelligence to create intelligence (the symbols that you read here are but markings, but have predetermined data attached to them by an intelligent source, how is this not the same with codes found in nature before we discovered them?); the abrupt occurrence of the well-named Cambrian Explosion (I have read secular theories, some are not satisfactory, and others may be part of the way of how God allowed this to happen); the survival of certain animal groups in the event of a Mass Extinction Event; the fact that it seems impossible for there to be a transition of cold blooded hearts and warm-blooded hearts, any change to either of them would kill an organism (looking at you, therapod-bird theory, those things didn't even have ornithological hip structures); and more, but my apathy handicaps my will to go on. The only thing that makes me question Old Earth Creationism, is that I remember reading somewhere that a frozen wholly mammoth had varying degrees of carbon dating depending on the areas of it's body. I do not know the validity of this, so I often put that aside. Now, do please remember this, this is my current view on this subject, I am not dogmatic about the nature of the creation, just about the creation itself, and the following.

______The main thing that makes me a Christian, rather then a deist, is the fact that something happened to the lives of the Apostles of Jesus of Nazareth. With their leader slain and their hope of a conquering messiah vanquished, why would these followers suddenly abandon much of the theology they had attained and start spreading the news of a resurrected carpenter at such a rapid rate, going as far as Rome and (if tradition holds true in the following case) Ethiopia and India, and die for this? What would they gain from a possible collaborated forgery that made them look like rude fools who did not listen clearly to their teacher before His resurrection, have women discover Christ's empty tomb while the men cowered in fear, and then die for it? Only thing I can see is that they became insane and yet retained enough sanity to write letters to the churches of cities they visited and carry on intellectual debates with their contemporaries while always having a sense of compassion and love abound them, or, Jesus actually resurrected from the dead, an event so shocking that it left an impact event on the minds of the Apostles, helping to remember almost everything they did with Christ and giving them enough spiritual fervor to go on the missions they enacted on, even with the realization of execution.

__And to those that say there are no contemporary records of the Gospels of Jesus Christ, you must remember that most of those writings were destroyed with the persecutions by the Roman Empire, especially that of Diocletian. Those that survived are either the writings that we have in Holy Bible, or the forgeries that make up some of the Dead Sea Scrolls (proved, both in there contemporary period and modern, by lithography). While three out of the four Gospels are most likely written after the Death of Christ (and most likely before 70 A.D. however), most scholars will conclude that the Gospel by Luke and his other book, Activities of the Apostles, are indeed contemporary.

______Why I am Protestant: I feel that with the Dark Ages (Early Middle Ages), the Roman Catholic Church fell from it's former glory and became corrupted by power, mostly from the forged document known as the Donation of Constantine, which supposedly states that Constantine the Great gave the Roman Catholic Church complete authority to not only all the lands the Empire held, but over all Christians. Such power can corrupt people, and so it did, especially with the height of the document's usage in the course of the Levant Crusades and the 1300's. It was only until the mid-1400's that an Italian priest discovered it's forgery. Though proved false, the Roman Catholic Church still held claim to such powers with no authority to back it up, relying on the traditions it had set up and the reputation of authority it had mustered in the past millennium. With attitudes of revolt against Papist rule starting even before the forgery of the Donation of Constantine was proved (John Wycliffe, Jan Hus), one can only imagine the rage of the Protestants as their movement had started to rise.

__Though now the Roman Catholic Church has been cleaned up to a large extent, the fact that such corruption was possible and even happened, and how the Bible was twisted with non-Biblical traditions and beliefs, brings me to think that an establishment with such a history could not be worthy to be called the true Church of Christ. But they are not heretics, what makes a Christian a Christian, is our faith in Christ as the paid bail for our jail sentence. That is how we are all still one, despite our Earthly schisms. I would speak about other denominations, such as East Orthodox, but truth be told I know next to nothing about their history beyond the Russian Empire of old. So excuse my ignorance. I am non-denominational as I do not see all the views I have listed to fit into a single category, so I am just a Protestant Christian.


I hope you have found this writing to be of interest. Now, as I am tired as Hell and I wrote this in the dead of night, behold as I pass out upon my nigh-broken bed and forget about writing this and possibly never return here, lest this all be mistakenly taken as the memories of a dream!

God bless you all.

[KieKeBooN]

I'm a scientist, I believe in science.

Jokes aside, I'm zealous atheist and pretty much ideologically opposed to all forms of religion. Interestingly enough I also think people practicing religion should be free to do so as long as they don't bother others with it, it's their life after all. I believe in man, so I suppose you could call me a holistic humanist, a belief that's challenged on an almost daily-basis though, because I'm also a realist.As for philosophy/ goes, I am:A libertarian socialist, which may sound confusing to some. I believe everyone should have the freedom and liberty of men. (I support euthanasia for instance), Yet I also realize that we are born unequal by pure chance. Some are lucky and some are not. Mankind is not a homo-economicus thus errors are made and should not be used to stigmatize or exclude people from society. Furthermore i think it's the moral duty of those lucky born to help those that aren't as lucky to live a good life. That makes me a pretty hefty socialist.I'm also a hedonist, since human life is meaningless, life is about fun and thus money is merely a tool to achieve that end (I'm also very immaterial). Do be sure not to harm others in their pursuit of happiness, and even better try to aid them.I'm also a environmentalist: I believe we mess up ourselves if we mess up this planet even further, though more out of a pragmatic standpoint that an ideological one. However I don't support the idea of humans being superior to animals.That's pretty much it, I don't really do philosophy much. So most of it is all derived from my brain and inputs from society.

I guess you could call me a DIY philosopher

[basics]

I am seventy coming up seventy-one born into a Presbyterian family. Up until my conversion and membership of a Baptist church I had survived a headlong fall, being hit by a train, my ankle grazed by the fender of a car I ran in front of as well as later surviving four major car crashes with only four stitches in my knee. At one time I set out to murder a guy and the day I was set on doing it, God got there first because the guy in question choked on his own vomit and died. Since then I have had four hernia operations, three cancer operations and am waiting for a heart bypass, plus a new Aortic valve before the removal of my Gall bladder. I am still breathing.

All that aside, since becoming a Christian, I have witnessed and heard many things that God was involved in so when people say there is no God I have to object and ask on what grounds can you make such an assumption? For example at one time I moved into a newly built house and to stop my partner's kids getting at my Napoleonic book collection I put them up into the loft. And, when me and this woman separated I had to stand on the bannister to open the loft to get my books. What surprised me was one that I took down from that darkened place was a Bible. It wasn't mine and it certainly wasn't hers. Where it came from none knew. Nonetheless I kept it and eventually opened it. That was when things started to happen.

I got the offer of a franchise in Elgin of a toy shop and then another which I accepted not knowing that this so-called friend was eventually going to rip me off. But then the dreams started just after I went into this Baptist church. Oh and by the way I had been divorced for some two/three years at this time. I saw my little baby daughter just after her birth lying in her incubator thing in a hospital I knew not. Some six odd years later I walked into that ward exactly as I saw it in my dream to see my little girl just twelve hours old. On an other evening I lay in bed with my new Bible and the next thing I knew was that I was up in the air moving in darkness towards something below and I must admit I was scared. What it was I couldn't tell until a head looked up and beyond me, me recognising it because the eyes opened and the mouth began saying something but I never heard what it was. I remember shrinking with fear and the next thing was that I sat up in bed covered from head to foot in a cold sweat.

Getting showered and dressed I went to the garage for petrol and the guy there who happened to be the guy who persuaded me to go into the Baptist church said that I looked as though I had seen a ghost. I told him what had happened and made him promise not to say anything to anyone about it. A few days later when in the manse after evening service someone started speaking about the crucifixion and that made me blurt out what I had seen. The place went deathly still as everyone stopped to listen. Now I must say that for all that I had read, the crucifixion was not one of them, but from that night I poured over Scripture, realising that God had given me to see Jesus on that cross just before he died.

Some time later I was introduced to an evangelist at the Full Gospel Business Association in Inverness. This fellow wrapped his arms around me and my pal and went into prayer. When finished he looked at me to say that I would be a lone voice in the wilderness something that I pondered for a long time without knowing exactly what he meant. Way back in 2004 I came into this site after the RTR finished and I guess I have been a thorn in the flesh of all the religious and atheists here ever since. Who knows but God how much time is left for me but the thing is that I have enjoyed telling of Him who saved me as well as enjoying the fellowship of those that have contended with me. The thing is that there is much more still to tell but not tonight. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you all and give you peace.

[Mary The Quene]

I am a young one born in a relative religious free family.

Never cared about religion in my earlier stages of my life but then a few years ago i suddenly became intrested in the crusades of Jerusalem and believed the propaganda the church gave about muslims in the medieval ages portraying them as cowardly dogs etc'

Then i luckily came out of this nonsense and then i didn't care about religion at all anymore for the next months.

But Three months ago i deceided after long reading about Ancient greece that i would research The hellenistic religion and how beatifull it is! Now i'm very critical of the monotheistic religions.
Now after i've been researching about it , i found it one of the most intresting and beautiful religion out of there.

So i came from an Conservative monotheist to an progressive Polytheist.

[Sir Winston Churchill]

Raised Catholic, became Buddhist for 2 years, and then jumped over the fence to full-on Atheism.

Philosophically I believe being a good person is the only thing you should worry about, just throw out any rules religions try to say you should follow and focus on being what you believe is a good person. If there's a God, I doubt he's going to blame you for not choosing his one religion out of the oodles of other ones throughout history, nor doubting his existence.

I borrow a lot of my personal guidelines from Buddhism, despite not being a Buddhist. Things such as the Middle Way and moderation. I've read a bit of Plato, my favorite part of his ramblings being the idea that a true Democracy, where everyone votes, is a horrible idea and that it should only be the educated who vote.

TL;DR: Atheist.

[MaximiIian]

delete

[Cyrene]

Born Muslim, then became Agnostic, then Muslim.

[Mithridates II the Great]

Born Muslim, then became Agnostic, then Muslim.

That's somehow happened to me .

Was born Muslim , then became nonreligious , then Muslim .

[Mithridates II the Great]

I was baptized and raised a Catholic christian, being quite religious until I gained complete conscience and capacity of critical reasoning (that is, until the age of 10 or so). Then by neccessity I became agnostic, and at 14 I was already an atheist, openly denying the existence of God. I used to be an atheist materialist, empiricist, logicist and humanist. I've always felt attraction towards philosophy, specially classical and medieval. I developed personal theories about the Universe and its functioning; all speculation, of course. I called two of them, for instance, the "Theory of complex simpleness" and the "Theory of cycles". Not very serious, solid theories in any manner, but anyway, I was a teen

I remained in that comfortable, "don't give a ****" state until learning enough history, both universal and specific to my country, as to get my interest directed towards Islam as a cultural, civilizational phenomenon. A while passed until I started becoming interested in Islam as a religion, given that I only knew christianism and was rationally unacceptable for me to regard a man to be the, literally speaking, Son of God, or worse, God Himself. My idea about a possible God was very abstract, and certainly christian theology didn't have the slightest sense in my view.

Then, at the age of 22, I learned about Islam and found it a religion that surprisingly conformed to my previous views of existence. Far from being a smiling, bearded old man sitting on a cloud, God was presented as an unmeasurable force, impossible to define, impossible to fully comprehend to the flawed human reasoning. The "founder" of Islam as a religion was no more than a man and not himself nor other muslim claimed otherwise. Then I started reading the Qur'an and, after an initial cultural, temporal shock, I digged in its wisdom, discovering things that started my way to conversion.

Later on I recited the Sahadah and became a muslim, and my life, perceptions and character have changed, undoubtely for the better. I started being a somewhat unorthodox muslim, retaining many of my previous materialistic views. I've learned a bit about Islamic law, theology, philosophy and the Ulum ad-Din (religious sciences, namely the Qur'an and Sunnah), but there is a long way to knowledge. I've devoured with curiosity many different theories and philosophies inside Islam, and I am also interested in learning Medicine, Arabic, Astronomy and Advanced Mathematics to a reasonable level, Insha Allah. All this, on my way to become a purely spiritual being, gradually losing interest in the boring, squared, materialistic view of things. So I am also learning the way of the Sufi.

And so here I am right now

I enjoyed reading your post .

I think what you've gained is far more valuable than what I or other Muslim born people have .

If you're interested in reading , Apart from Qur'an check this book : http://www.uploadmb.com/dw.php?id=1351934598

[Ariamanesh]

I am a bit different!
Born Muslim!
Was a pure faithful Muslim
Now the only thing i have faith on it is my signature
I think it tells you everything
I believe in god but in a way far different than the others
I love my kind and wise god
He is the only truth i believe
He was wise enough to set the most important laws for creation and he was kind enough to give me mind and logic to find out that!
I love my kind and wise god!
He is the reality ,he is the perfect,he is the creator and he is my destination
My god never sending any prophet for humans but instead he gave humans a big mindful head
He gave me eyes and ears and nose and all other needed senses to input the evidences and also gave me a big brain to judge, calculate, process and finding out the truth!
I love my kind and wise god
He is watching over me every seconds and guiding me to the truth whenever i looking for it
He brings the goodness for whoever doing good and bring badness for the opposites!
And do not forget that he is KIND and WISE
I love him

[Cyclops]

I'm an agnostic.

[Ariamanesh]

Be anything but do not forget somethings!
Don't harm anyone
Don't lie to anyone
Don't judge anyone
Don't cut any tree
Don't stain the waters
Don't harm the nature
And be moderate!
Just pay attention to these and you will ASCEND

[Ciloron]

I was born into a protestant family and baptised after a few weeks, becoming a member of the Dutch Reformed Church. I don't have much memory of my years as a child, but I know I attended sunday school, went to a christian school, etc. I went to a semi-public/christian high school ('t was more of a public school than a christian school) and eventually chose a scientific profile. (Chemistry, physics, math, biology, etc.) I was an agnostic atheist for about three years, age 13-16. I realized that being an atheist was as irrational as being an atheist, so I lost the atheist part. I did still go to church, but more out of respect towards my parents, than out of faith.

I got my diploma, and went to study history. (Though I could have studied astrophysics, biology, chemistry, etc.) After half a year, I needed to get surgery and I missed a lot of college, which resulted in not being able to get through the first year of the study. I had to find a new study, but I couldnt come up with an idea.

Then, on a sunday in church, something within me told me to study theology. I shook it off, didn't want to do that, but over time, the idea returned and grew, until I couldnt think of studying something else. Now I nearly have my prop in theology.

I consider myself a christian nowadays and though many (especially those who knew me as agnostic or atheist) ridicule me because of it, I can't go against what has been revealed to me. And mind you, though my faith's only foundation is within God and His word, I do value ratio greatly and I am able to explain my vision on rational grounds. (Unlike some people who can only talk about the feelings or push holy scriptures in your face.)

As for philosophy, I've read the great philosophers of the classical age (Plato, Aristotle, etc.). But also the philosophers of the late antiquity, medieval era and modern era. (Augustine, Aquino, Avarroes, Nietzsche, Levinas, Wittgenstein, Hegel, etc.) I have no favorite, though I find Levinas and Wittgenstein to be intruiging.

[Squiggle]

Christian Protestant.

At the time I was a Conservative or a Libertarian conservative Protestant (I cant quite recall at what stage that was posted). I'm an individualist market anarchist and an anti-theist Atheist now. How times change!

edit: I'm bored so I'll give a bit of a rundown of my history with religion, such as it is:

Born into a pretty typical Canadian family, which pretty much means entirely secular and 'post Christian', with maybe a few mutterings about God on a personal, non specific level by my Mom. My Dad as a kid was actually virulently anti-Christian and would scream "if Gods real, let him strike me down now!!" and things of that sort, if it was brought up. I always had some kind of belief in an anthropomorphic God as a kid. When I was an early teenager I briefly was an Atheist mainly due to depression, before returning to a sort of tepid and undefined 'faith'. Around 17 or so I started becoming more interested in Christianity due to philosophical readings, and of course, delusional hope. I guess it was really just a desire to change myself in some way, and being a contrarian had its upsides. That said, I never really 'felt' Gods presence, and in the back of my mind always thought it was a bit silly. I stopped self describing as Christian first out of respect for Christians-- I couldn't really bridge the gap between thought and feeling 'the holy spirit'-- but pretty quickly maturity and the changing politics that came with it, made me realize that Christianity was a pretty vile religion. Namely, I grew out of that repressed sort of internalized homophobia, and became more and more consistent in my anti statist leanings. Frankly, a belief in Liberty and a belief in God are incompatible. God allowing evil, and slaughtering billions of people, an undue amount of suffering for animals etc-- the frailty of life, you might be able to rationalize that all away if you think God has the right to end your life when he pleases, but this is a master and a slave relationship. No one, not even "God" has any moral right to kill, own me, or otherwise coerce me in any regard. If a being like 'God' existed, he would be an evil sadistic son of a , and as God is a 'maximally great being', he would not be God at all.

[Iskar]

Liberal Catholic, moderate constructivist, mathematician by profession.

Was raised in a liberal catholic family, cared little for religion then got back to it around the age of 16 because it appealed to me intellectually.
Studied mathematics, physics and some systematic philosophy with a large portion of epistemology. Seeing how science actually works together with Kantian and Cartesian doubt arguments considerably shaped my view of what we call "reality" or "world".
Learned early to separate the religious and the scientific sphere. Hence I find no conflict between my faith and my profession.
I deeply despise naive approaches to both religion (neo-evangelicals, etc.) and science (Dawkins et al.) as well as the tendencies in modern "debate" culture to let all positions stand alongside each other as equally viable perspectives without regard to provable intrinsic flaws.

[Kyriakos]

I am a sophist (paid to lecture on philosophical stuff).

[MaximiIian]

I do have to wonder, why was this thread not stickied? It's a good reference source, if nothing else, for board members' religious or spiritual stances.

[Hetman Khmelnytsky]

My religious views in a nutshell (My views, as I respect other peoples' views):

• Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which is in communion with the Pope in Rome but retains the traditions of Orthodox Christianity.
• I don't hate non-Christians and I respect other peoples' religious beliefs. Of course I don't shove my belief down peoples' throats (Which I don't endorse).
• Religion, reason and science are compatible with each other. I enhanced my understanding in my Catholic faith and its morals through the free use of reason.
• Nothing against atheists but I do feel uncomfortable about a few of them, especially on the Internet (NOT ALL) going extreme with their anti-religion agenda and bashing religious people.
• I view the ideas that Religion causes all of the wars in the history of mankind as well as creationism to be absurd and laughable.
• Very great interest with Slavic mythology and pagan beliefs.
• My girlfriend is from Georgia and she's Orthodox, and I've been with her for nearly a year, and it's still going solid with good and strong relationship goals. When I have kids with her in the future I'll raise them as Greek Catholics. She agreed when I told her it's the same thing as the Orthodox faith but in communion with Rome.

[MaximiIian]

I am a syncretic Roman reconstructionist. I worship many gods, from different pantheons, and in different ways. Alongside them, I do venerate guardian spirits and tutelary spirits, gods of the household, and spirits of the dead. I approach my religion with a methodology that gives attention to historical practices. I am syncretic because I give honor to many different gods and spirits, not limited to the traditional Roman divinities. I specifically aim at several Greek, Celtic, and Germanic gods that are either tied to my ancestors, or are gods I have a long-standing cult to.

Within this, I compartmentalize my worship into particular cultus or sacra, which makes my religious practice easier to digest and perform on a regular basis.
The ordinary religion is the sacra publica. I follow the Roman calendar and celebrate Roman festivals. I worship the Capitoline Triad, the Dii Consentes, and other Roman gods that the traditional festivals honor. In addition, I worship some local gods in a Roman manner, particularly Columbia, the personification and patron goddess of my homeland.
My domestic cult is primarily Roman in character, and I worship the lares, the penates, the local spirits, Jupiter, Juno, Janus, and Vesta in Roman rituals at my household shrine at regular intervals. I celebrate a series of three Roman and three Greek days of religious significance each month, as part of my household rites: the Kalends, the Nones, and the Ides to mark the beginning, first week, and middle of the civil month, and the Noumenia, Dikhomenia, and Hene kai Nea to mark the start, height, and end of the lunar month. I also worship my ancestral goddess Brigid/Brigantia in a sacra privata, as she too is a goddess of the hearth and home.
Connected to my domestic cult is a cult of the dead; this is an area where my syncretism is a bit obvious. As part of the cult of the dead, I do venerate gods that are involved with bearing the dead to the next life, primarily Hades, Persephone, Hekate, Hermes, Dis, and Cernunnos. The main festivals for this are the Roman festivals of Compitalia, Parentalia, and Lemuria; I also celebrate Samhain, and an extended period corresponding to Allhallowtide: All Hallow's Eve as a festival of license and enjoyment, All Hallow's and Samhain for my ancestors and the heroes, and All Soul's for all the dead.
I also practice the dormant imperial cult. I do venerate the spirits, or gods, of the divinized, deceased Roman emperors, specifically the Julian emperors, the Flavian emperors, and the Nervan-Antonine divines. I honor them on their nativities.

Outside of that main practice, I have several sacra privata, or private cults. These are syncretic practices I have, focused on particular deities or festivals, that lie outside of the main Roman tradition. But they are nevertheless an important part of my religion.
I celebrate a Hellenistic fertility cult, focused on Demeter, Persephone, Pan, Plouton, and Dionysos in their roles as agricultural and rustic fertility deities, and is based around the mythical abduction and return of Persephone. The main festivals for this are the Demeter festivals of Proerosia and Thesmophoria in October and Haloa in late December. I hesitate to describe it as Eleusinian, as the mysteries died out at the end of Classical Antiquity and it would sacreligious to pretend at recreating them without being initiated; but I am influenced by what is known about Eleusinian theology.
I celebrate the life and deeds of Dionysos. I would not necessarily describe this as Dionysian Mysteries, as it is not an initiatory faith, but it does involve my developing attempt at a personal relationship with Dionysos and what his mythical deeds mean to humanity. I have a pattern of festivals I follow, some ancient and some less-ancient.
I cultivate worship towards the gods of the British Isles, primarily those of South Britain and those of Alba/Caledonia. My ancestry is heavily rooted in both area, and I have long sought a connection to that heritage through spirituality and religion. I celebrate the main four Celtic high holy days, and I worship Celtic gods on these days, and on the days of the Full Moon each month. I also celebrate the solstice and equinoxes, and May Day, and honor my English ancestors' gods on those days. The Celtic gods I honor are Brigid/Brigantia, Epona/Rhiannon, Nodens/Nuada/Lludd, Lugus/Lu/Llew, Danu/Don, and the Continental god Cernunnos. The Saxon gods I honor are Woden/Odin, Frig/Frigga, Yngvi/Freyr, Thunor/Thor, Tiw/Tyr, Eostre, and Beowa. I also incorporate aspects of British folklore into my beliefs and practices, some of which are of Celtic origin and some of which are of Germanic origin, which are too intermingled to completely parse.
On occasion, I practice ecstatic rites in the conduct of both folk and ceremonial magic. I have not done so in some time, but my belief in folklore, fairy lore, animism, and magic leads me to never rule out the possibility. I began my journey through Paganism as a practitioner of witchcraft and folk magic. It's never entirely off the table.

My philosophy that organizes my daily living, that forms the moral and ethical arc of my actions, is a combination of the ancient principle of hospitality, the philosophical system of Stoicism, and modern Critical Theory.
In daily life, we welcome people into our homes and are welcomed into the homes of others, and it is sensible and just that we act as good hosts and as good guests. But to me, it's more than just good sense; hospitality is sacred. In performing rituals and making offerings, we are acting in a way that reciprocates between ourselves and the gods, we give and take equally. We welcome the gods and good spirits into our homes, and we are obliged to be good hosts to such patrons. Those who are inhospitable are liable to incur the wrath of angry spirits or, worse, angry gods to whom hospitality is one of their domains. It's not just sensible to be hospitable, it is a sign of virtue. By contrast, to be inhospitable is to forget oneself and do harm to others, to engage in hubris, and to offend both the gods and your fellow man. This principle of sacred hospitality is evident not just in Roman and Hellenistic culture, but in Gaelic culture, Welsh and Brythonic culture, Germanic society, in all of the Pre-Modern world. From antiquity up through the end of the Middle Ages, and even well into the Early Modern period. The value of extending a hand to a stranger and a friend alike, and having the decency to break bread with them, is common to human society.
This sense of virtue by treating people fairly informs my dedication to Stoicism as a philosophy. The four cardinal Stoic virtues-- justice, temperance, courage, and prudence --are guideposts in how to act harmoniously with nature and with others. Justice is the most immediate, the ability to treat others fairly; temperance is the ability to have self-control and moderate the passions; courage or fortitude is the ability to endure, morally, and do the right thing in adverse circumstances; and prudence or wisdom is simply the ability to know the right action for a given circumstance. But Stoicism alone does not suffice; its antiquity and simplicity also make it clumsy in modernity.
Critical Theory illuminates the modern condition and how we can alleviate its ills. Neo-marxism, critical race theory, feminist theory, postcolonial theory, intersectionality. These perspectives examine the world and urge an active form of justice. To me, a Stoic is not dispassionate or apathetic, but actively seeks to make the world right in accordance with the four virtues. Critical Theory, when combined with Stoic dedication to virtue and harmony, can lead to a real and lasting social justice.