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My religious views
I was raised in an Orthodox Christian in my early yars, and, before going to school, I finally approached my parents with questions about faith, and was told that they have none. I had grown out of any religion by th time I finished grade school.
It was until my marriage (which we held a religious ceremony for, for the sake of our guests and extended family) that I found out that i had in fact been baptized as a Catholic, at the insistence of my paternal grandmother. I like to tell this as a funny fact, as I have never practiced any Catholic rituals, as I did not even know I had been one.
I am now an atheist, and have been so for many years.
Why atheism?
I hold no belief in any being that transcends this reality. I find that there is no verifiable evidence for any part of consciousness being separate, in any way, from the body. In fact, for every part of the definable consciousness which I had any interest in, I could find either studies on the effects of the material world on said part, or, maybe, a disease or condition that affects it. I consider that there is no “spiritual dimension” of human beings, thus the case for a transcendent being grows extremely weak.
I have not been given any definitive proof that anything other than natural laws, a lot of which we have already discovered and coded in a way that is useful for us, are responsible for the functioning of the universe.
All areas in which there is not yet an explanation will most likely get one. History proves that where there are questions, there are also people that seek answers. In fact, I consider myself a cog in the grand mechanism of a society whose purpose is to evolve, understand, discover, and create, and take pride in knowing that whatever I strive to do will somehow benefit in either science directly, or indirectly through allowing for better machines, higher safety or simply by relieving the pressure of chores necessary to living, so that people might focus more on the endeavors mentioned above.
I appear capable to work with concepts of infinity, in both time or space, and do not find myself in need of anchor points. I also appear to be confortable with uncertainty or lack of knowledge, and, while I do tend to either infer or rationalize an explanation, I am also confortable with adjusting my view should new information be available.
In light of the above, I have concluded that atheism is the path that most logically follows.
What about agnosticism?
I do not consider agnosticism to be an alternative to atheism, nor do I consider it to be a part of the array of possibilities of religius beliefs.
Agnosticism, as etymology implies, is a state of not knowing. The state of not knowing is a natural state of mind, and also a default state of mind. It can be applied to anything (although I will admit that it may be strange to express things like “I am agnostic about baseball”, even though, in the technical sense, it is correct).
Religious views, however, do not tend to concern themselves with knowing, but, rather, with believing. We can have a perfectly homogenous account of the Council of Nicaea, and both historical and religious canons will agree as to who took part, what has been discussed, what the timeline was, what the conclusions were, etc. - in other words, a state of gnosticism towards the events. At the same time, religious views will go on and believe the guidance of a god on the proceedings, whereas the historical account cannot concern itself with this belief (other than noting that there was such a belief among people).
Therefore, I consider myself to be agnostic towards the question of whether a superior plane exists, and my belief is that it doesn’t. A belief that is adjustable given proper evidence, and which makes the question of agnosticism irrelevant to the topic of religious views.
Why not any of the world’s religions?
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