Religion and scuba

[Sonnylynnvick75]

If this is the wrong place please have an admin delete or move this post.


Preface: I am by no means trying to start an argument and am asking everyone to please please be civil. Lets please do this in the name of academia and everyone respect each other. no name calling, no rudeness, no belittling, no hatefulness, etc. please, I'm doing this in the name of research

Prose:
I have been studying the religions of the world and have come to an observation. It seems to me that the majority of Scuba divers choose to consider themselves agnostic or atheistic. I'm just curious as to the majortiy of Scuba divers in correlation with religion.

Question:
What religous or non religous camp do you take camp in and can you nicely, and respectfully give me a short reason why you choose said option.

 

[agilis]

Religion and scuba?

This topic reminds me of an essay entitled 'Lincoln, The Man And The Car'.

How did you come to your observation?

At what point in life do people typically "choose said option"?

Are there, in your experience, many different non-religious camps?

Do most people experience a free selection process during which they are able to fairly and impartially evaluate the claims made by a representative range of specific religions and, after due deliberation, choose the one that makes the most sense to them? Assuming, as you seem to be doing, that people do experience this free selection process, are they then also free to make combinations and modifications from the list they consider, like a blend of Islam and Hinduism?

What about syncretic religions, like Candomble? As a long time child of the sea with some Brasilian ancestry, I've always had a thing for Iemanja.

If people decide that 'none of the above' meets their requirements for logic and observable truth, do they automatically fall into the non-religious camp, or should they then be regarded as 'undecided'? Or does that make them an agnostic?

 

[drrich2]

I am a Christian. I was introduced to the basic teachings as a child, fortunate to be in a culture where this was prevalent. Over time, I took an interest, pursued more knowledge, observed personal experience (including answered prayer) and considered that of others, was persuaded that there is a evident spiritual reality to the conscious experience of life which is not adequately explained solely by a biochemical substrate, believe there to be legitimate supernatural phenomena, and find the wisdom of the Bible compelling and the witness of its dedicated servants likewise.

Had I not been taught Christian truths until adulthood, I might not have accepted it. Hard to say. Then again, if I hadn't been taught the concepts of right and wrong, the worth of human life, and a number of other things until adulthood, I might not have accepted them, either.

Richard.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Agnostic. Why? Because science beats bull****e every time.

 

[divad]

Never mind.

 

[dfx]

Anti-theist, because I'm convinced that religion is the biggest cause of evil in this world today.

 

[Tony387]

Anti-theist, because I'm convinced that religion is the biggest cause of evil in this world today.

Agreed.

 

[garyh]

Interesting thought, not sure why I'm posting to this, non religious camp 4 the most part, closest I'd say I've ever come to religion and diving is 2 or 3K back in a cave, all is good with the team and the only sound is that of your breathing

 

[Russoft]

I myself am a Christian as is my dive buddy wife, as is my ex-dive buddy father and ex-dive buddy sister and her current dive buddy husband.

If you actually decided to try to find a correlation between religion and scuba diving, I'm betting you'll fail to find one. In fact, I'll bed the proportion of religious to non-religious will line up pretty closely with the general population.

 

[tbone1004]

in technical diving, the majority fit at least one but usually more of the following
type-a
engineer type *doesn't have to be an actual engineer, but they usually think like one*
gun-toting
plane-flying

that pretty much sums up 90+% of the ones that I know. That circles back to Jim's point.

I was raised Catholic, I firmly believe that the bible is a great source of teaching you how to be a good person and I have almost died too many times to believe that there isn't someone looking out for me. I like the thought of organized religion, I like the traditions that the old religions have, Buddhism, Catholicism, Judaism, etc. There is something peaceful to me about that, but at the same time science says many of the things that are in there may just be good metaphors.

from Robin Williams
"God said let there be light. Could it be a metaphor for the big bang?"
"No, God just flipped a switch and said click"

That hits the nail on the head for me.