Religion vs. theism?

Yes, people can believe in God and not be a part of any organized religion. There are many kinds of theists and atheists alike. I, as an atheist, detest organized religion and find it irrelevant whether or not there is a god. Many other atheists state there is definitely no god. Other people are agnostic and they vary widely, as well.

And people can believe in religion and not God.

@Rarebear Yes, I missed that. Thank you.

I’d prefer “Religion” juxtaposed with “Spirituality”, reason being – I feel I believe in a God, but nothing of a tangible nature. For instance, God could be many different things, not necessarily this fatherly “all knowing” and “all powerful” being he/she or it is conventionally made out to be. I believe that you may speak to God many different ways and that he/she/it may speak to you many different ways – I believe there is definitely a spiritual reality that exists.

I call that spirituality. I find (personal preference) most organized religion to be extremely confining, restrictive and domineering – it seems like some followers are brainwashed by an institution, and I dont like the amount of control associated with that. I feel religion serves as a government for one’s soul, which isn’t to say that’s always a bad thing.

Religion is a collection of dogmas and practises, as well as beliefs. A lot of people in the UK claim to believe in god but do not follow any religion (only go to church for weddings and funerals).

Yes, me. I am in the nonreligious category but believe there is some higher intelligence or force we can’t comprehend. I do not think Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism or any other religion is accurate because we have no way of knowing. However I believe each religion has a part of themselves that is correct on some things.

I’m in the category that believes something is there (like a God) but we have no way of knowing, at least during our lifetimes. I have my own opinion (from personal experiences and reading up on things that matched my experiences the closest) on what this “creative force” was and how it came to be but I’m not getting into this here. I don’t think any atheist/agnostic/deist or theist knows all the answers let alone any certain religion invented by man.