Do you have any strongly held beliefs?

Yes I do, so much so that I see red when someone else belittles those beliefs. I won’t detail them, but a few such beliefs fall into the categories of religion, politics, and parenting.

@WillWorkForChocolate Ohhh. . . parenting, that is one I didn’t think about. I completely understand that, people seem to all have found the absolute only way to raise good children, and the ideas tend to conflict. Plus, there is so much at stake, even more so than with religion and politics.

I strongly believe that I have the same rights, abilities, and inherent value as those who happen to be of the opposite gender.

I strongly believe that my sexual orientation in no way detracts from those rights, abilities, and inherent value.

I strongly believe that I have the right, nay, the responsibility to express, support and defend the aforementioned beliefs.

waffles are so much better than pancakes. More like bland-cakes.

I’ve shifted around and changed many of my beliefs over the years. All beliefs should be questioned if one is to grow, short of basic common decency.
I don;t do hardcore extremist anything, I’m a live and let live type.
The only beliefs I won’t budge on are believing in humane treatment of animals and children and that anyone who reads romance novels is certifiably of low IQ. lol

I also believe in freedom. As long as you hurt no one, then you should do or be whatever you want. As for self harm, I don’t go quite as far as you, but pretty close. If someone does drugs and stuff like that, I do believe that it should be looked into, and that something should be attempted to help them. I don’t think there’s enough of that going on, and in many cases it could probably help a lot of people who have potential but don’t currently see, or believe in other alternatives. It shouldn’t be forced no, but at the very least, considered. But yes, say what you want, be what you want, do what you want, freedom is great and everyone should be allowed to have it. I also strongly believe that everyone should have access to food, medical care and decent housing. If you want a car or a PlayStation 3, then go work for it. But everyone should be allowed the basic shit. I suppose it would be a very different world if things worked like that though.

I also strongly believe everyone should hug a pillow at least once a day.

I am a big believer in a woman’s right to an abortion.

Some of my beliefs will fluctuate, and some will stay with me until I die. Also, Androids are better.

I believe that people should own up to their mistakes so that they can learn and grow from them.

I believe that an ounce of common sense is worth a ton laws and regulations.

I believe that people should take charge of and responsibility for their own health. Doctors can’t make you healthy they can only manage your illness/injuries.

I believe that evolution is a fact and that the Earth is at least 4 ½ billion years old.

I don’t believe in any of the many religions of the past or present.

I don’t believe much in believing. I would rather withhold judgement till I have some evidence in hand suggesting one value is superior to another, or more likely to match the facts. But evidence suggests that supporting individual freedom is a useful, empowering value. Evidence tells me none of the ancient religions make any sense—that all are the inventions of men. That doesn’t mean the Universe created itself or poofed out of nothing. I have no evidence to suggest how it got here, so that’s one area I have to remain an unbeliever on. I do believe I could go on and on with this, but I’d bore you all to tears and besides I believe that between @syz, @Symbeline, and @jca; it’s all been said.

And here’s to sitting down with @Michael_Huntington to a big stack of waffles to finish my waffling on beliefs.

Cats are better than dogs.

I love cats (can’t you tell?) but if I were home more often and perhaps had a bigger house I would love to have a dog, in addition to the cats.

I try hard not to be dogmatic because, in fact, one of my strongly held beliefs is that one should be convincable when evidence arises. However, I have a very hard time imagining that anything will happen to convince me that victimless behavior is morally wrong, that the scientific method is a bad way to go about learning about the universe, or that caring for those less fortunate than ourselves is unimportant.

All of my beliefs are strongly held – that’s how it ought to be. I believe that all people are equal, that gendered and racial and sexuality-based divisions are completely pointless, that religion does more evil than good, that justice and love and compassion are more important than anything else.

Coffee should be caffeinated and hot. If it’s decaf or iced it’s not real coffee.

@jonsblond Coffee should be caffeinated and hot. If it’s decaf or iced it’s not real coffee a sin.

Power man, power.

I have strongly held beliefs with a small dose of self regulation. The self regulation comes into play when/if a situation arises where those beliefs may need adjustment due to new knowledge or understanding of things.

I strongly believe everyone should have the same rights. I doubt that will ever change. Other than that, I am open to new evidence and will modify my beliefs based on it.

I don’t ‘believe’ in anything really, at least no more than anybody else. Rather what I do is come to opinions based upon my personal experiences, the experiences of others, systematic patterns, common sense and research. This is true when it comes to everything in my life, not just politics, religion or science. I’m also open to changing my viewpoints as well, but I have certain criteria that must be met before doing such a thing.

I don’t believe very strongly in anything other than the importance of the individual. That is where you see Mankind. Governments, religions, politics, corporations are not of such great importance. History is biography.

Dwarf tossing should be an olympic event & cats are evil fuckers.

I believe in curiosity and free thought.

What I have are more working hypotheses than beliefs.

I’m not an aikido practitioner, but I do remember reading something by the founder of aikido to the effect that you should sit down on a chair in such a way that if the chair were pulled out from under you at the last moment, you wouldn’t end up on your ass. I feel the same way about my conceptions of how things are. I don’t have anything at all figured out, just a few workable notions that seem fairly reliable. But if they were pulled out from under me—always a possibility—I wouldn’t be astonished.

Life is not worth living without sugar.

^^ I second that.

I third that.

I have some strong opinions on certain topics. I believe that one’s rights end when they intrude on others. I guess that I could say that I support personal freedom above personal safety, but at what limits? This is the problem I have with libertarianism and/or Ayn Randism, when you have the freedom to oppress others simply because you have more money and power, that is not freedom anymore but a backdoor version of an aristocracy. We would all eventually become oppressed under the freedom myth of objectivism, because eventually order comes to chaos, and sometimes this ‘order’ is amoral, if not outright immoral.

I do have some strong beliefs about the importance of remaining nonpartisan (for the most part). My spiritual/religious beliefs are somewhat up in the air at this point, but I do have a basic foundation which I go by due to my own research on these matters. I have many strong opinions/beliefs on many topics, but some of these I tend to keep to myself, and some I don’t, depending upon the circumstances that is. I’m not into conflict too much.

That consciousness continues after death and that the soul lives on. We just go somewhere else. A lot of research and thousands of case studies and personal stories to support that. Notice, I don’t bring religion into this. It is what it is.