What's a religion you don't believe in that you find interesting and what about it piques your interest?

Sikhism.

> Sikhism rejects claims that any particular religious tradition has a monopoly on Absolute truth. Sikhism emphasizes simran (ਸਿਮਰਨ, meditation and remembrance of the teachings of Gurus), which can be expressed musically through kirtan, or internally through naam japna ('meditation on His name') as a means to feel God's presence. It teaches followers to transform the "Five Thieves" (i.e. lust, rage, greed, attachment, and ego).

All sounds pretty cool, but I have always liked that it's one if the few that outright rejects any religion's monopoly on Absolute Truth.

Great quote. It makes me want to learn more about Sikhism.

I was raised Catholic, but I've been an atheist for—oh fuck I'm old—more than half my life. But... Monastic life seems pretty dope. Why can't there be a secular order that's just devoted to knowledge/contemplation for its own sake (or the betterment of humanity). I know it kind of sounds like I'm describing a university, but I mean with the personal discipline, strong communal bond, and simple lifestyle.

You and me both. Also means giving up certain comforts, but that's kind of the point. Maybe that's why the secular monastery doesn't exist- it'd be a huge sacrifice for those who would participate in it and still require some cooperation/consent/aid from others in the community/society (as much as self-sufficiency would be ideal). I'm thinking about how much people (and governments) already don't want to fund universities which give tangible benefits, and how much worse it'll be for secular monasteries.

But hey, I also want this, and it'd be interesting to see what insights would come from a place of thinking unconstrained by the trappings of modern society.

(Or it could basically just be libraries and being a librarian but more extreme lol)
Religion of science. Where sheeps just believe whatever these so called "experts" spout without doing your own research.
- When people talk about “doing your own research,” I think they underestimate how difficult and slow actual research is. For physical and biological sciences it also requires heavy investment in equipment, but you can save money by sharing resources and collaborating with others doing similar research. For social/politics/history/economic research, I would imagine you need access to primary sources, maybe some modeling software, and years of learning to understand the context of anything you’re researching. I think people who say “do your own research” don’t understand the significance of understanding context, which leads to some…interesting ideas.

Buddhism in the sense of the actual forsaken nirvana and reincarnation aspects, but the dedication to enlightenment and what I perceive (as someone not in anyway well versed in the totality of it) as a willingness to guide and teach but not seeking to compelle others to abide by it are refreshing in the modern 'my way or fuck you' world.

Jainism, their core tenet of Ahimsa (non-violence) applies to literally every lifeform, even plants and bacteria. Jain monks that take this to the letter make your standard vegan look like a hypocrite - they cannot even eat roots, as that would kill the plant it comes from. They also must take extreme care not to accidentally harm any lifeform, so they have to take measures such as turning off all fire during the night so that insects don't accidentally burn themselves in them, or brush the soil they'll walk on to avoid stepping on an animal by accident.

I find Sikhism interesting. My reading thereupon suggests that it has generally positive pro social values. There’s some gender stuff that I don’t like, but no major religion is free of that. Moreover, I can really get behind the dictate to carry a knife to defend the innocent.

The "you will be judged by how you treat the least among you" and "when you do good works, do it in secret" parts of Christianity are cool.

Not sure if this qualifies, but the Church of Scientology. Not cause I think it’s got some good points or that I vibe with any of their ideas, I just think everything about the structure to the Bridge to the mind of LRH is super fascinating

Zoroastrianism. I don't know anything about it, but I should really pick up a book sometime. It's one of the world's oldest organized faiths, and was the state religion of ancient empires. Also, the Mazda car company is named for its god, Ahura Mazda, so that's cool I guess.

Angra Mainyu

Mormonism, because it’s particularly absurd (and considering the competition, that’s saying a lot). It’s grotesquely fascinating. Joseph Smith was obviously full of it, but the con he called a religion succeeded anyway.

I try to respect all religions, but Mormonism takes extra effort on my part.

I’m a Muslim but the one where you’ve someone in a small place sitting (I think, the pastor?) and someone can just confess their entire sin history.

For example, you have committed fraud or murdered someone and you can confess and if I remember well, the pastor is not allowed to do anything (IE: going to the police).

I think it is Catholic or Christianity.

Yea Catholicism is weird, but so is Islam. Don't Muslims pray to an invisible deity in the sky whenever they commit one of their sins? I don't see a very big difference between the two.

I find all of the Abrahamic religions weird for that matter. They follow the writings of people that lived thousands of years ago while denying modern science. I can't imagine thinking that the people who lived thousands of years ago know more about the world than we do now. We have learned a great deal about ourselves and the universe around us since those times.

I want to make it clear that I have no hate for anyone who for just following these faiths. My own family has both Muslims and Christians in it. We are all just thrown here into this existence with no explanation, and it makes sense that people would search for any sort of meaning or explanation for why. I just wish these religions didn't cause so much hate towards others.
- I don’t think it is weird, I find it interesting.
  
  So, yeah, you could see it like that. We do pray to Allah and ask for forgiveness, however – it has to be sincere. I hear a lot of people say ‘’do crimes, pray and it is forgiving haha’’ but that’s not case.
  
  The repentance has to be genuine from the heart. The difference is we pray to Allah, the One we believe created us and we do not tell anyone else ours sins. Why tell another human your sins when you can connect to the One who created you and (genuinely) ask for forgiveness?
  
  I cannot really go into the conversation regards Science and Religion, I’m not the right person for that. Though, we do not believe that the Quran was written by people. More so, revealed by Allah to the Prophets (PBUH).
  
  I could go on because, I genuinely love my religion by heart and even I’m still learning a lot about Islam.
  
  The hate part though, I fully agree with you. Wish we could all just live our lives without bashing one another. My own family is quite split Islamic, Atheism, Catholic and Reformed Church (I’m not sure what the name is of the last one in English).
- I don’t think it is weird, I find it interesting.
  
  Currently busy with something, so can’t make a decent comment back. I will edit the comment when, I can.

One of my favorites is democracy. I find the displays of loyalty they have where they self flagellate through outrage fascinating. It's also interesting how they've built a whole mythos around ideals of equality and justice that the elected high priests never stop preaching about, but evidently do not follow themselves at all. I also find it insane how seriously their intellectuals take their purity wars and how viciously they denounce blasphemy for any kind of doubt they perceive over their hugely dogmatic beliefs.

Another interesting one is Empiricism, but since their apostoles seem to be unaware or unwilling to accept it being a belief system at all, rather considering it the unquestionable nature of reality itself and can get so defensive and upset when faced with other highly speculative and superstitious bliefs, I'll just say I find its apotheotic aspirations for mankind inspiring.

Orthodox Economic theory's intricate divination rituals and soothsaying clergypeople also wonder me, and their sacred sport of "business", a game of complex trading systems and rule circumvention has a crazy rich pantheon of heroes, profets and deities.

Good observation! Democracy, at least in the US, could be considered religion where the concept worshipped is miney and power

I think Judaism is pretty interesting. No hell to speak of. Strong community focus. Traditions seem not-evil. Seems to foster a sense of curiosity and knowledge seeking. At least among those I know.

I'm Jewish by heritage now only. Growing up on the Old Testament, I can say it was very fire and brimstone fear-driven.
I've always found the kabbalah and jewish mysticism fascinating, I don't personally believe in any of it, but it's so morbidly curious and esoteric.

I've always liked the personal empowerment and coupled responsibility of Wiccanism.

Also the driven personal improvement aspect of Buddhism.

I'll also give a point to the church of the FSM. Not for any sense of it being realistic, but that such absurdity was originally used in a challenge to the teaching of 'inteligent design' by public schools in scientific classes and then people just kind of ran with it writing up a whole scripture and doctrine to go with it.

Sikhism was already mentioned here. Also, Scientology. I find it quite fascinating and would love read the SciFi story behind it.

Also, all these smaller groups where something weird is behind it. Jonestown, Waco, and so on.

Scientology may seem interesting out there with especially the attandence of famous people but before making assumptions check this out: https://youtu.be/NDAZOCakXVo
- Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/NDAZOCakXVo
  
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  
  I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

As mentioned sikhism but also i find occult and exoteric stuffs pretty cool. Even though they are not real, some teachings are systematic and that makes it fun to learn

The newest one. Politics. I find interesting how his followers believe that the world problems will be solved by politicians.

I read most religious texts when I was a young teen, cause I was a little nerd who loved to read and had nothing better to do.

The Vedas (Hinduism) were really intriguing. Some of their stories very much sound like a futuristic post-human society, with stuff like nuclear warfare.

A meme comes to my mind. 'If you need threat of eternal suffering to be a good person, then you are not a good person.'

Sikhism. I've picked it a lot in my playthroughts of Civ6 just because its icon there just looks so cool.