In answer to:
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What you can prove and what you believe are two different things. You don't choose to believe, you just do. You don't believe in God unless something has convinced you there is a God.

I didn't say anything about anyone forcing you to believe anything. I just said it isn't a choice. If I say it, it's obviously my opinion. I don't need to say, "I believe..." or "It's my opinion that..." because obviously, if I'm saying it, it's coming from my point of view.

As for where I posted my post, I wasn't sure where to post it. There should be a secular forum if there's going to be a spirituality forum. To expect me to post in General when there's a forum for people of certain beliefs, is discriminatory.


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People choose to be open to certain beliefs, and not to others. They choose what evidence or lack thereof they will or will not accept. They choose what to study, and who to listen to, or not. Choosing to believe in religion, God, spirituality, etc. is not any less a choice than choosing not to believe.

The purpose of this forum is that for many people, spirituality is healing, and many people also have questions, concerns, and issues that involve spirituality and which the guidelines did not permit them to discuss in the rest of the forums. This forum is not meant to exclude anyone, although it may not be of interest to everyone. For those who don't have an interest in spirituality, they are free to choose not to come here. The fact that this forum exists, and that some of us do benefit from it, in no way takes away from the benefit anyone receives from visiting the rest of the site. There are so many forums here now that I don't think anyone could keep up with all of them. We all choose the ones that benefit us the most, or that we care about the most, or that are the most relevant to us, etc.

All of the forums on Psych Central, except for this one, are secular forums. What would be the purpose of another general secular forum? It has been proposed to have seperate forums for various belief systems also, and we have decided against it. It would not serve the purposes of this community. If you want a place to simply discuss any religion, or lack thereof, there are plenty of communities on the internet that offer that kind of discussion. This is not our purpose here. Discussion of religion is permitted in the spirituality forum, with the purpose being support, healing, wholeness, etc. just like the rest of Psych Central.

If you want to post in this forum, no matter what you do or do not believe, then your opinions and beliefs need to be phrased in such a way that does not feel threatening to others who are here for support. When opinions are stated such that they sound like they are being presented as fact, people who disagree feel compelled to defend their own beliefs and opinions, and then we have debates, and no support comes of it. Please keep this in mind when you post.