Conversations With An Agnostic

Do you believe in the existence of God or a God?

Yes, I do. It's absurd to deny that a higher being created all things that exist and that existed. To me, the creator or these creators are God.

Do you subscribe to any religion?

No, I don't.

Why not?

I don't believe that any living person really knows about God - this being's nature, this being's intentions, etc. Here on Earth, we can only guess or make up answers.

Are you saying that Christianity, Islam, and all other religion out there are false?

I am not in a position to judge every single religion out there yet. My knowledge as of the moment is limited to Christianity.

The foundation of the Christian religion is the Bible which Christians generally believe to be the source of truths.

There are a lot of stories about God or Yahweh in the Old Testament. Yahweh was an active participant in many of these stories - communicating with prophets, participating in battles, etc. In the vast Christian community, disagreements about the nature of these stories abound. Are these stories literal or symbolical?

If these stories are symbolical, then its usefulness as evidence to the authenticity of Judaism and Christianity is not much. If, however, the involvelment of Yahweh are proven to be factual and not biased or miscontrued interpretion, then that's going to be a pretty solid plus to these religions. The problem is that no one has proven the authenticity of Yahweh's involvement in these fantastic stories.

This is also the case for the stories about Jesus in the New Testament - the Immaculate Conception, the many miracles, and the Resurrection. No one has proven the authenticity of these out of the ordinary events.

Others would say that the witnesses, Jesus' disciples among them, verify that Jesus is God. Sure, they might have sincerely believed that Jesus is God or is the son of God. I don't question their sincerity. I just question their reasons for believing.

In trials, if the evidences presented are very solid, you can expect any judge whom you assign to the case to come to the same verdict. The same goes for scientific findings. For instance, absolutely nobody in the world can deny that gravity exists because it is verifiable.

In the case of Christianity or other religion, obviously, the evidence presented are weak hence the differences in verdicts as to which religion is the correct one.

Notice how the choice of religion, for most people, is linked to geographical or cultural background. If any religion is truly defendable, this should not be so.

Let me just add that there are people who find the teachings in the Bible to be correct. Because they agree with its teachings, they conclude that everything else in the Bible is true. I think that this is a flawed way of arguing for the Bible. Its like saying, "this guy, so far, has not made a mistake. Therefore, he can never make a mistake."

Why do many people subscribe to religion then?

I think that there are many reasons.

You know how, sometimes, because of the lack of a better answer, you stick to the one at hand or to the answer everyone else seems to believe in? During Aristotle's time, for instance, the world was believed to be flat and for the lack of a better answer, everyone agreed to it.

Not many people question religion, especially religions that seem so universally true because everyone you know seems to believe in it. That's one reason.

For those who do question, well, perhaps they think it is safer to just believe even when they are not logically convinced. I think the philosopher Pascal's reasoning captures this point well.

The philosopher Pascal proclaimed that the optimal strategy for human beings is to believe in the existence of God. For if God exists, then the believer would be rewarded. If God does not exist, he does not have anything to lose. - from Fooled By Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

I read something just now that says we all see what we want to see. This is also another reason. We tend to justify things that we want to believe in.

I, on the other hand, choose to say "I don't know" 'cause I really don't instead of settling for an unconvincing answer.

How did the popularity of these religions come about anyway?

I am not sure. I am trying to get to the bottom of it by reading about the history of these religions, but let me try answering your question.

Have you read Da Vinci Code? Many people were shocked by the theories about Jesus Christ's life presented in the book. His possible marraige to Mary Magdalene, etc. While those grand theories are interesting, I found one subtle theory more interesting and revealing - the theory that Christianity got its start after it was promoted as a political move, rather than a move driven by faith. It was used to unite people during those times - pagans, Christians, and others.

Ok, this theory is not necessarily accurate. I am not saying it is inaccurate, but I am definitely not saying that it is accurate. In history, only the actual events are somewhat clear. The causes and motives often times are less clear.

We know that Christianity spread like wildfire eventually becoming one of the biggest religions in the world today. We do not know what tipped (coined from "The TIpping Point") the religion into this stature. But I speculate that the cause is probably a series of political events that legitmized the religion. One such event - the conversion of an emperor, Constatine, into Christianity in the 4th century which got Christianity one of its big political break.

What do you think of people who have religion?

I respect people who have religion. I know many smart people who are religious. Many of the greatest minds in history were religious. I respect them and their rights to choose.

At the same time, I would like to urge religious people to be accomodating of other people's beliefs as well. Many people who do not subscribe to any religion have given the subject a lot of thought and attention. Their refusal to not choose is not necessarily out of spite to any religion but rather from geniune uncertainty. After all, many of history's most intelligent people are/were agnostic - Albert Einstein, Milton Friedman, Bill Gates, etc. Surely, these people did not just reject the religions of this world without giving them some thought.