Fellow agnostics

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Ah yes, coming out to the family can be hard. My granny doesn't hug me anymore, but she prays for me more than anyone else.

I "came out" a long time ago. My mother was not pleased, but my father was pensive about it. I don't think he'd ever given it much thought. By the time they were elderly, they were both rather atheistic (although my father did have a brief relapse for a few weeks, when he was under a lot of stress -- which I did not give him a hard time about...he later "recanted" that brief period of faith).Through my parents' illnesses, until their deaths, no religious issue ever came up. No one ever even thought about it.

OK, now I'm really curious. I know its rude to ask, but how old are you, Steve?

may be a stupid question but what's an agnostic?

An Agnostic is someone who believes that there is no way for humans to prove or disprove the existance of God.So an Agnostic person doesn't say that God does or does not exist, and if undeniable proof is given they will accept whatever the truth is. As long as the proof isn't "I feel God inside me".

oooh I gotcha... well that's about... 90% of my family lol and most of my friends. at least it doesn't lead to controversy.

Well there is always controversy because there are always jackasses on all sides trying to push their beliefs on others.People just need to shut up and believe what they want to believe. Nobody will make a fuss as long as you do it quietly and you don't hurt anyone.

XLVI years old. As I've said, roughly the same age as some of the mods/admins._____________________An atheist, as opposed to an agnostic, is a person who is certain that God doesn't (or gods don't) exist.For argument's sake (epistemologically), you might be an agnostic, but for day-to-day living (ontologically), you might be an atheist.

yeah I dislike when people try to push their beliefs on eithers. doesn't matter what religion you are give the person some space. IMO it just pushes the person farther away

It's part of the Christian belief system to proselytize. Jesus instructed his followers to spread the gospel (the "good news").

wow i wouldve guessed younger than that, and for the original topic, sure i guess you could say that

Old, like many belief systems, but immature, like many Greek gods.

"> I think it is possible to knowHow / why? If you can't answer that question (and if you can, you'll be the first person in human history to do so), then you are not an agnostic. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't an agnostic someone who believes that nothing is known OR can be known of the existence or nature of god?I only said it was possible to know, I didn't claim that I or anyone else knows. We know so little, why isn't it conceivable that we don't know a way of knowing/finding out about the existence/nature of god?

Change that "OR" to a "NOR" and you've got it.It's conceivable that someone believes it's conceivable to know, but if you believe it is, it makes you a non-agnostic.

Call the grammar police, I'm sorry for paraphrasing the dictionary badly. Here it is verbatim:agnostic n. a person who believes that nothing is known of can be known or can be known of the existence or nature of God. (Oxford Concise 11th ed.)Or we could go with dictionary.com:1. a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience. 2. a person who denies or doubts the possibility of ultimate knowledge in some area of study. In definition 1. I think I agree with the part that human knowledge is limited to experience. That is why I claimed I was not a full blown agnostic.

Those definitions sound good to me; they're unambiguous. (Disambiguity is the raison d'etre for legalese.)In any case, there is currently zero real evidence for the existence of God. There is no more rational reason to believe it than anything else for which there is no evidence.You might want to look into the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

"In any case, there is currently zero real evidence for the existence of God. There is no more rational reason to believe it than anything for which there is no evidence."I'm with you there. If someone asked me "is there a god?" and expected a yes or no answer I would say no. But for the possibility of god .I'm all for rationality when living my everyday life, but when I ponder things are much more interesting dealing with the "what ifs" rather than the "QEDs".

It's fun to transcend the realm of logic and ponder the "what if" questions, but problems arise when people confuse speculation and faith with truth. You wind up with things like people pushing the oxymoronic "creation science" in American public schools.

Some months ago, I told my family that I don't like to associate myself with any specific religion, but I am taking a great liking to philosophical Taoism. At first, they were just kind of like, "huh?" My family is very open minded so they did not make me feel like I was separated from the family or anything. In fact, once I explained some of what it was, they liked it. My sister was having some issues with the Christian belief and now she's really interested in Taoist philosophy as well.If I were to make a scale on whether I believe in God / a God / Gods, and it were number 1 to 10.1 being not believing in God / a God / Godsand 10 being absolutely believing in God / a God / GodsI would have to say I was an 8 or 9. But does that really matter? Honestly, isn't it all just speculation.

It's speculation about something for which there is no concrete evidence. It makes as much sense to speculate about the existence of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.