Calling all agnostics!

[pepperbird]

Are you agnostic? If so, what is your experience like?

 

I was raised agnostic ( not atheist), but my whole life I have been inundated by christianity, and more recently, other religions.

 

I did all the school christmas concerts, got the red Gideon bible they used to give out in schools, saw all the holiday decor at easter, christmas, etc. I make donations to the Salvation Army's kettle drive ( they do a lot of good work) and try to be friendly to the JW ladies who come to my door. They really do believe they are helping.

 

I have friends who are very religious and others who are not. I have no problem with any religion that teaches kindness, compassion and caring for others and actually expects its followers to follow this. I see some of aspects of science as a form of faith,and there are just as many science zealots are there are religious zealots.

 

What about you? What are your experience like as agnostic ( aside of trying to explain that it's not the same as atheism:laugh:)

[alphamale]

you shall burn in hell pepperbird! no, just kidding

 

I used to be agnostic but now I believe in God.

[pepperbird]

you shall burn in hell pepperbird! no, just kidding

 

 

With the heat and humidity here today, it feels like I'm already there:laugh:

 

In all seriousness, if your beleif gives you comfort and meaning in life, I'm all for it. Religion can be a wonderful thing that way.

[Sparkyguy]

I'm sort of both agnostic and atheist I'm not really sure which.

I'm 38, born into a non-religious working class British family. Even in high school, other than a few Pakistani's and such no one seemed to have any interest in any religious beliefs, it was like everyone was atheists. Religion was old fashioned.

 

Until the 9/11 attacks, and then religions seem to be a thing again. I've always thought ever since how - sigh! civilisation is going backwards still believing in all that nonsense of some fairies in the sky.

[Kitty Tantrum]

I struggle with the use of the word "agnostic" because it's so widely used to describe someone who does not have any particular faith, or even as a sort of belief system/religion in and of itself - and I think some of its meaning is getting lost.

 

At its most literal core, agnosticism is simply the belief/school of thought that the existence/nature of God/The Supernatural is not knowable.

 

Knowledge being quite distinct from faith, agnosticism in its simplest form absolutely does not preclude having faith. Faith and lack of knowledge not only CAN comfortably co-exist, lack of knowledge is essentially the entire foundation for the existence of faith in the first place.

 

In essence, while the term "agnostic" is broadly used to describe religious fence-sitters, agnosticism can also be seen as the only possible foundation for true faith - as opposed to those who search for security in their beliefs by way of hard evidence or logic (although you would not describe these people as "Gnostics" - at least not with a capital G, that appears to be something else entirely).

 

I absolutely consider myself to be agnostic, and I will always be agnostic no matter how strong my faith in (whatever) might be. My faith is predicated on the fact that I can't possibly KNOW the truth.

 

This is something we talked about in my Philosophy of Religion class back in college. It led to an interesting discussion about how the evolution of language can inform the understanding and development of beliefs.

[pepperbird]

I'm in the "it's not for me to know the mind of god" group. I'm terrible at blind faith, and while logic tells me the universe may well just be the sum total of a bunch of physical and chemical processes that follow certain set natural laws, there are some things in the universe that we can't explain.

[Garcon1986]

I'm personally agnostic but started out as a Catholic. I'm disturbed by those who use religion as an excuse to persecute others all across the world. I'm even more disturbed by politicians who use religion as their guide to make public policy decisions rather than research, because the day has come where politicians now debate the correctness of science rather than debate the ways we can solve problems together. There are people around me who literally believe the Earth is 6000 years old. These days I preach the scientific method to all those who will listen - I'm agnostic all the way.

[littleblackheart]

I've neither interest nor animosity towards organised religion. I know enough about each of them to see good and bad in all, but I can't be bothered to pick one. I don't care whether there is one god, 7 billion gods or none at all and generally like to spend time thinking about anything but religion.

 

I prefer common sense and fairness but have a weak spot for Greek Mythology - the stories are more entertaining and complex, they're closer to nature, less dogmatic and better represent true human nature.

 

With that said, I have more in common with an open-minded believer who is respectful of all faiths than either a religion zealot or a bigot or people hating on each other bc of religious views.

 

As long as religion is not rammed down my throat, I have no issue with it.

 

It's just not for me.

[pepperbird]

These days I preach the scientific method to all those who will listen - I'm agnostic all the way.

 

My dad was a research scientist and prof. He used to be atheist, but as he got older, that changed. As he put it, there seems to be a human need to believe in something larger than ourselves, whether that's science, religion or something else.

 

Maybe it all goes back to a fear of death ( the unknown)and wanting to know what happens when we leave this life. I don't know.

[RecentChange]

I am agnostic. I say "all I know is that I don't know".

 

Over all I am a complete skeptic when it comes to organized religions, and I think most of them probably have a lot of it wrong - IF there is a supernatural power.

 

I was raised by an atheist and a "recovering catholic". I was exposed to religions growing up, and especially by my mother encouraged to explore and find something that works for me.

 

Over all I just found way too much of it nonsensical, magical.... just way too out there, and so far removed from my life experiences for any of it to feel "right" at all.

 

Add a sociology degree.... its really hard to accept religion when one looks at all the strife, suffering, wars, etc carried out in its name.

 

My "belief"? Is that we don't yet understand where this desire comes from, how interactivity works etc. I think its much like science - many things that were believed to be true 100 years ago are laughable today. And I believe that some day in the future, maybe 100 years, maybe 10,000 years or more, we will start discovering things that bring us better understanding.

 

Growing up in the CA Bay Area, religion was never pushed on me. Many in my social circle (including work) are atheist / agnostic or if they do have a "faith" aren't the type to push it onto others or even attend church / synagogue etc often.

 

Its been easy for me to be non religious. I believe in the inherent goodness of man and don't believe that they have to fear a god to be "good".

 

My husband (atheist) and I donate time and energy working with the homeless. I spend a lot of time helping people in hospice.

 

Religion when done right can really help people and do good. When done wrong, there are few things more destructive.

 

I struggle with the use of the word "agnostic" because it's so widely used to describe someone who does not have any particular faith, or even as a sort of belief system/religion in and of itself - and I think some of its meaning is getting lost.

 

At its most literal core, agnosticism is simply the belief/school of thought that the existence/nature of God/The Supernatural is not knowable.

 

Knowledge being quite distinct from faith, agnosticism in its simplest form absolutely does not preclude having faith.

 

Agnostic:

 

"a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God."

 

Well.... I suppose there are many definitions of the word. These days I describe myself as agnostic. For much of my life I would have said Atheist.

 

For me, being agnostic does not include faith. Faith is something I have tried to be open to, searched for in difficult times of my life - but boy, honestly the whole idea of faith is kinda against my core being. I am not a fan of "faith".

 

Faith:

 

a. complete trust or confidence in someone or something.

 

b. strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.

 

I rarely have complete trust, nor do I believe in a god.

[preraph]

I went to a Christian church when young and was raised in a very conservative cultlike religious community, though that wasn't the church my parents sent me to, thank God. My dad wasn't religious. He was the Native American side and they historically had very bad experiences with being starved out, buffalo killed on purpose to starve them out, and then missionaries trying to force religion on them for food. He didn't go on about it much, but just the occasional word and I read about the rest.

 

Anyway, I'm not putting myself in any category except "spiritual," because I am attuned to spiritual things. It doesn't much bother me who people attribute their spirituality to. I even think it's possible that there could even be different gods for different people and different spirits for different people and different after-death fates for different people.

[The Outlaw]

I'd like to believe in god, or at least I'm struggling to do so, but right now, I just don't know what to believe. I've been presented with many more questions than answers with some of the things that I've seen happen personally, and I'll just leave it at that.

[vla1120]

I was raised Catholic but I am atheist. I have no problem with religion, especially if people use it for a good purpose (to help others, to help themselves come to terms with the "bad" in the world we live in, etc.) My main problem with man-made, organized religion is that it is used to persecute other innocent people just because they do not look, act, talk, believe like your religious group, etc. That is when I have a problem with organized religion.

 

If the time comes and I find myself standing in front of the pearly gates, answering to Saint Peter, hopefully we can share a beer and have a good laugh about it.

[pepperbird]

complete trust or confidence in someone or something.

.

 

 

To me, there is an awful lot of science that is faith based. E.g.- we take it on faith that the theory of relativity is correct. How do we know this for sure? Who's to say that 100 years from now, it will be proved wrong and some other theory will replace it.

[LauraXX]

What about you? What are your experience like as agnostic ( aside of trying to explain that it's not the same as atheism:laugh:)

 

 

My experiences are pretty similar. I've always been interested in religion. I even studied religious history (mainly history of the catholic church) for a while and I know more about the bible than many of my religious friends. However, it's always been a scientific interest and I've never been a beliefer.

[MetallicHue]

I’ve had a bunch of experiences that pushed me to phrasing everything in spiritual terms but that’s about as far as I go.