Hello, I wish I had found this site sooner, as I have ping-ponged between agnosticism and atheism for a long time. I seem to have settled into a more relaxed agnosticism, but I have had a very hard time finding people to discuss this topic with. Taking a middle approach has made theists dismiss me as an atheist and atheists dismiss me as a theist. I can't seem to win. I think this has actually cost me a few friendships in the past. But I guess if that's all those friendships balanced on, then they probably weren't very solid friendships anyway. Sadly, I have found many atheists just as intolerant and closed-minded as many of the theists they criticize. So I've sometimes experienced atheism as just "one more religious mindset." In any case, I don't practice any religion, but I have studied many of them and remain fascinated by religion and how humans relate to it. After having agnosticism in my head for years, I finally decided to read some books about it. I just started "Agnosticism: A Very Short Introduction." It seemed like a decent starting point. I look forward to surfing the threads.
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- Thread starter ewomack
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AgnosticBoy
Open-minded Skeptic
Hello ewomack.
I can totally relate to your experience as an agnostic. A good number of agnostics have had similar conversion experiences.
A negative or challenge that you brought up for agnostics is that they'll usually find themselves without a side to be on, or worse, they are labelled as being on the enemy side. In a sense, we are like the political independents (or unaffiliated) in the midst of Republicans and Democrats.
On the positive side, we're not restrained by having to preserve ideological commitments/sides (religious, political, etc.). Those that are on a side, or those that commit to on in a partisan way, tend to follow truth up to the point that it supports their side. In contrast, us agnostics are free to pursue truth wherever it leads or as far as we can possibly take it.
Besides that, I also think that there are a good number of agnostics that share our sentiments but we're scattered amongst other groups. We need to unite! Anyways, off of my soapbox. Welcome to the forum! Feel free to start a topic or chime in anywhere else
I can totally relate to your experience as an agnostic. A good number of agnostics have had similar conversion experiences.
A negative or challenge that you brought up for agnostics is that they'll usually find themselves without a side to be on, or worse, they are labelled as being on the enemy side. In a sense, we are like the political independents (or unaffiliated) in the midst of Republicans and Democrats.
On the positive side, we're not restrained by having to preserve ideological commitments/sides (religious, political, etc.). Those that are on a side, or those that commit to on in a partisan way, tend to follow truth up to the point that it supports their side. In contrast, us agnostics are free to pursue truth wherever it leads or as far as we can possibly take it.
Besides that, I also think that there are a good number of agnostics that share our sentiments but we're scattered amongst other groups. We need to unite! Anyways, off of my soapbox. Welcome to the forum! Feel free to start a topic or chime in anywhere else
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Thanks for your reply, @AgnosticBoy . Have you had any luck finding agnostics out in the real world? I really haven't. When it comes down to it, many people I've gotten to know have a solid preference for a world view (i.e., theism or atheism), they don't really like challenging it and they have grave suspicions for anyone who tries. I've been told by more than a few people that I have "an attitude problem" (mostly from those with theistic preferences) when I begin to discuss my world views. I've found that pretty much always leads to a dead-end discussion, if not to getting yelled at and being accused of much metaphysical naughtiness. Yet, I have past friends who are both atheists and theists. Both "types" (for lack of a better word) have the capacity to be really good people. But I find if I try to mix them, chaos can ensue and the theists accuse me of consorting with atheists and the atheists accuse me of consorting with theists.. So, in short, I haven't had much luck finding agnostics out in the physical world. They seem to hide pretty well.
Most people are not in an exploratory mode, most of the time.
When I went to college way back in 1982-83, I took a class called something like— Intro to Philosophical Inquiries. This guy who was a sophomore said, Doesn’t it just kind of f**k you up?
He brought up the example, Well, how do I know I’m not just a brain floating in a vat with electrodes attached to it, merely giving me the input of a fake and phony exterior world?
He wasn’t afraid of these ideas.
He just thought a deep dive would likely take him off track. And he main thing was doing well on his geology courses. And he wasn’t a superficial guy. For example, he had participated in at least one Nuclear Freeze March the previous school year of 1981-82.
AgnosticBoy
Open-minded Skeptic
I honestly haven't gone looking for them except online. Now that I think about it, I haven't come across that many atheists either. That could be because I usually don't get too deep into the topic of God's existence and other philosophical issues in my offline life.
The best place to probably find them is in college. Or we can start a group here and then start arranging group meetups.
I remember reading about Matt dillhaunty's starting the American atheist group. It started with local meetups, then he went on to have a radio or TV show, and now he has a full-blown atheist organization.
Edit: I originally said Matt Dillahunty started an organization. I got the name and history wrong.
The organization I was referring to was the Atheist Community of Austin. Source: Wikipedia - The Atheist Experience
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I prefer Matt Dillahunty’s speeches, and I’ve listened to a couple on YouTube.
On the radio show, and you’re right, he was one of the major radio hosts for a while but didn’t start the group or anything, Matt would sometimes lose his temper and start yelling. And the whole show seemed built on the model of smackdown wrestling. For example, they’d move theists to the front of the waiting line. And sometimes it was funny. On one occasion, Matt said, “Can we get a theist who isn’t high to call in the show!”
But more often, it was merely tedious. And maybe because he felt it wasn’t being all that productive, Matt no longer hosts the show.
