i once heard that there was something like 80% Christians in the world, so i'm taking a seveay to see the religion with the highest percentage on chess.com.

Really? You could be right, but I thought the biggest population was in china ... and from that thought there were more eastern religions in abundance.

Personaly ... I would say I am an agnostic, which is to say that I dont go to church on sunday but I do not necessarily believe that there is no god or other higher power.  I just dont think I can prove it one way or the other. Faith is something I have a hard time with. That and I am long winded, heh.

80% Christian???  I seriously doubt that!!  Christianity is the youngest of all the major religions (like the United States is one of the youngest Super Powers), and was considered nothing more than a cult or sect within the Jewish Religion for a long time.

I might believe that 80% of the people in the United States CLAIM to be Christian, but I'd guess that less than half of them even know what that really means, and less than half of that half are actually following the teachings of Jesus (which would drop it down to about 20%).

I see 5 different groups when it comes to Christianity:

1) the Anti-Christians.  They hate all Christians with a blindness like many countries hate America.  Many evil people have performed many evil things in the name of Christianity and/or America, so I can understand their misconception of our ideals.

2) the Non-Christians.  They do not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, but have a tolerance for those of us who do.

3) the Loud-Christians.  They are the people that the Anti-Christians hate, and they have an equal intolerance for anybody who's not exactly like they are.  They go out of their way to shove their beliefs down anyone's throat that they can (even if those beliefs are in direct opposition to what Jesus taught).  They hog the spotlight in the name of Jesus, and give us Real Christians a bad name.  They say things like, "Kill a commie for Christ," and "You are going to burn in Hell you wicked heathen sinner people."

4) the Pseudo-Christians.  This describes probably 80% of the people who call themselves Christian.  They acknowledge that Jesus was the Christ (even if they don't know what that means), but live their lives however they want.  Occasionally they may go to church.  When they're in trouble, they may pray for help (but never give thanks when they get it).  They basically just "try to be a good person," but only when it suits their needs/desires.

5) the Real Christians.  They acknowledge that they can't be a good person on their own.  They need Jesus' help, and pray for his guidance on a daily basis.  They say things like, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness," and "Love your neighbor as yourelf."  Their #1 priority is to be a servant of God, even if that causes them an endless amount of hardships.

I am more of an atheist than anything else.  I am comfortable around agnostics and pantheists.  I am tolerant of religious faiths as long as they are not too dogmatic, keep their religion out of education and politics, and don't use their religion to justify heinous actions.

 As far as the atheist designation, it depends on the definition and context.  Many of the early Christian martyrs under the   Roman empire were executed for the crime of atheism.  So within the context of the Roman (and to some extent Greek) religious system, a person who claimed to only believe in one God, who was not observable with any natural means, and who refused to worship any member of the pantheon was an atheist.  Then there is the kind of atheism that one is referring to.  For an atheist such as the philosopher Ayn Rand, the very concept "God" is rejected due to inherent contradictions related to logical primaries which she identified as "existence exists", and "consciousness", and "identity".  If you defined the universe as "the set of all that exists", and you defined God as "the creator of the universe", then either God is contained within the universe (some alternate of either pantheism or pan-antheism), or God doesnt exist.  This is not hatred of the concept, but simply rejection of the term as a valid concept.  Then there is the atheism of Madelyn Murray O'Hare which hates the idea of God, and so assumes that the word has  precise meaning.  I refer to these as "strong" atheism and "weak" atheism.  What I define as "weak" atheism is "without a belief in God". Others refer to this as agnosticism.  I don't.  When  Thomas Huxley coined the term, it wasn't intended to be a middle ground between atheism or theism.  If you include the concept for weak atheism, then everyone either has, or does not have, a belief about God.  Therefore everyone is either a theist or an atheist.  Agnosticism then would refer to either a philosophy about epistemology "it is not possible to know anything with certainty", or would be a specific term for a specific area one doesnt know. For example "I am agnostic concerning whether or not taxing AIG bonus payments by 90% is currently constitutional."    I think that one way to reduce dogmatism is for a person to study their faith's core doctrines and records with such critical scrutiny that they are forced to admitt piece by piece that elements of their faith are the result of natural origin.  I am against using anything to justify heinous action, including religion, politics, economics, and education.

I believe That Jesus Christ is the son of God

Nice post,Timotheous. I guess by Thomas Huxleys' definition I'm agnotstic, having definite beliefs based on things that can't be known. I say definite beliefs because I hold them to be true, but have no ultimate proof.

As for the Ayn Rand conumdrum of existence/exists, this is only a paradox when we view the universe in relation to time. Without time as a reference, there is no before creation since there is no creation.

Viewing the universe as infinite possibility, every imaginable and unimaginable occurrence of infinite phenomena then the only way we can see the universe is at a point in time. 'The set of all that exists' includes infinite fullness and infinite emptiness, whihc is about as close as you can get to God and before God.

Usingthe term 'god' with a little g to mean this infinite fullness and infinite emptiness as the 'universe', 'God' with a capital 'G' for the abrahamic monotheistic God, and 'gods' for pantheistic deities:

god exists outside of our experience of space and time, and from our perspective has always been. It is what we are and everything outside of us, we are god and god is us. God is the most basic and primal conciousness within this. A supreme being from which all other existence eminates, including gods.

Therefore all valid and serious religions are elementally correct in their understanding of the universe, however backwards and incorrect their explanations are. Without contradiction from any major Belief system or my own life experiences, I've come to accept this as the closest I'll ever come to having a 'religion', thoguh I have no idea what to call it.

As for 80% of the world being christian, I'm not sure if  Billium is saying the same thing, but Perhaps the data meant 80% of the world don't totally discount the existence of Jesus Christ. Islam says he was a prophet, the jews say he isn't the son of christ, 'christians' say he is, etc. Is there a religious belief besides hard core cynical atheism that says Jesus never existed? Perhaps 20% of the world jsut never heard of Jesus :)

But I've also always liked the idea that God was an astronaut :)

Here is a near quote from Terry Pratchets "Hogfather"

"The great philosopher" this is a discworld philosopher, not a real one. also i have forgotten the name "once said "you might as well beleive in the gods. Because if you do then youll go to a wonderfull place when you die, and if not, you havent actually lost anything, right?" When he died he awoke within a circle of gods with very nasty looking sticks "we'll show you what we think of Mr Clever dick around here"''

This is surprisingly wise for a childrens book were wizards fight shopping mall monsters and live on a giant turtle

God- A creator being may exist, but is assumed not to until evidence supports its existance.

God's role- If god exists, god does not demand worship from humans nor does it take interest in human affairs. God plays no part in morality.

80% Christian world: False

Not even close, less than half the world is christian, which makes you think of how many people "god" sends to hell.