Agnostic anyone?

[Anonymous]

Hi.The recent religion topic made me think about this. How many of you are just agnostic? I was raised Christian, but as I was growing up started to question. Decided I was not a Christian. Then I went totally atheist. Now I'm not either. I don't identify with any religion, but I pray. I don't know who I'm praying to, but I talk to someone I call God. But there's nothing really formal about it, no church, no religion. I live in NOVA and always feel like I'm the only person who doesn't go to church but who is interested in spiritual stuff. There must be other people like me out here, right?

[Anonymous]

Yep - me. Raised Catholic. When people ask me about my religion all I can really say is that I know for sure that I am not Catholic. I pray every night but I'm not affiliated with any religion.

You might be interest in "religion outside of the box" www.rotb.org.

From the website: "Rabbi Brian specializes in the issues of those not comfortable with 'one-size-fits-all' religion, those a bit anti-organized religion, and those who identify themselves as 'spiritual but not religious.'"

[Anonymous]

Yep. No clue if there is, or isn't, a God. Would like to hope so, but don't see any evidence of a participatory God at least. But I think atheism is a leap of faith too, a certainty there is no God. Agnostic just means I don't have all the answers.

[Anonymous]

I am - and was raised as such.

[Anonymous]

If you are "praying", I would not say your were Agnositc, just not belonging to a particular group or religion. Nothing wrong with that, there is no where in the bible that states anything about the man made denominations such as Lutheran, Episcopalian ect...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are "praying", I would not say your were Agnositc, just not belonging to a particular group or religion. Nothing wrong with that, there is no where in the bible that states anything about the man made denominations such as Lutheran, Episcopalian ect...

could just be an optimistic agnostic....

[Anonymous]

I was raised an atheist, but sometimes I say I'm agnostic. After all, who am I to say if there's a god? I don't pray though. I've never been to any kind of religious service, other than weddings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are "praying", I would not say your were Agnositc, just not belonging to a particular group or religion. Nothing wrong with that, there is no where in the bible that states anything about the man made denominations such as Lutheran, Episcopalian ect...

I thought agnostics believed it was possible there was a God, while atheists thought there was no God.

Anyway, OP, I fit the description you wrote in your post, except that I was raised by one intellectual who thought religion was stupid and another intellectual who kept their religious practice to themselves. I have spent my entire life looking for the right church and religion but haven't found it yet. I do pray every day and it is usually a very meaningful activity. I love listening to religious shows on the radio and watching them on TV. I find discussion of the Bible to be intellectually satisfying and meaningful regarding the day to day struggle about how to live "right" even though I wouldn't be caught dead joining the churches who produce these shows.....not sure what that says about me....

[Anonymous]

I am. I practice some Catholic traditions (3 Kings...Spanish thing etc, had a big Cathedral wedding because it was pretty) but I don't believe in religion and not sure if there is a God either. I think its unlikely, but being totally Atheist would mean that I had answers that I don't think anyone has.

[Anonymous]

I believe in some sort of God (i.e., a higher being that created everything). I just have a hard time believing in our organized religions. I like to think that whatever God is, he/she/it did not want us to create a bunch of different religions that separate people and cause them to start wars against each other...

[Anonymous]

If you've been following the other religion post, you would know about the UU conversation. Just to let you know many UUs self-identify as either atheist or agnostic. Go figure. Our pastor usually about once a year does an unscientific poll in church re: who believes in a personal god - only about 1/2 raise their hand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you've been following the other religion post, you would know about the UU conversation. Just to let you know many UUs self-identify as either atheist or agnostic. Go figure. Our pastor usually about once a year does an unscientific poll in church re: who believes in a personal god - only about 1/2 raise their hand.

Just curious -- what are they doing there then?

[Anonymous]

Sense of community with like-minded, tolerant individuals. Just because your agnostic or atheist doesn't mean your not spiritual in some sense - also, there is a sense of peace and tranquility in discussing issues of justice, tolerance, love, peace outside the day to day. Sometimes that involves "god-talk" - which the atheists either tune-out or talk to the pastor about having too much god-talk (seriously), sometimes that involves something as seemingly worldly as baseball - as in a lay-led service held a few months ago when one of our members gave an incredibly moving story about his lessons in tolerance and forgiveness that came out of his experience as a 10 year old in San Francisco during the Giants/Dodgers playoff game.