Is It Possible to be Agnostic but still be religious?

I was born into a Christian family. My mother used to be a Catholic, but converted to Methodism. My dad, no idea. But, as I've grown older, wiser, and more observant, I became agnostic, yet, I still find myself talking to God every once in a while, which led me to think: Can you be agnostic but still believe in a religion (such as Christianity)?

Dictionary.com states agnostic as

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.

So, it's saying that we can never be sure (which is actually soft agnosticism, if I do believe.) if there is an existence of God, but does that mean that we can still believe?

Post your thoughts.

Of course it's possible; there are plenty of agnostic theists. Being agnostic just means that you admit there's no way we can know for sure. There's nothing built into that to stop you from choosing to believe in God anyway.

Of course you can be agnostic but religious. Agnostic simply means you don't know for sure.

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Agnostic theism is the philosophical view that encompasses both theism and agnosticism. An agnostic theist is one who views that the truth value of certain claims, in particular the existence of god(s) is unknown or inherently unknowable but chooses to believe in god(s) in spite of this.

Apparently so, I never knew that.

I think agnosticism is a very weak belief system. It would do you no good in the eyes of God to go have way anyway. So why bother? Commit to one or the other.

But agnosticism is technically just a modifier, not a separate party. And it doesn't necessarily imply weak commitment. There are agnostics on both sides who feel very strongly about their stance, despite admitting that there's no hard empirical evidence to base their beliefs on. I believe the fence-sitters you're referring to are called "weak atheists". (Although being one myself, I'd prefer there was a different "official" term for it, as I don't identify with strong atheists at all and think the theist/atheist split has an absolutist stigma around it whereas I see a gray area between the two.)

That said, I've never understood the logic behind fully committing to one side of the other. It's not about fearing whether I'm right or wrong, it's about a lack of convincing evidence from both sides. That and the fact that I really don't see what difference it makes either way; it's just not important to me.

Actually it is much better for someone to not be sure that there is a God then to out right deny it.

Originally Posted by Avalanchemike

Actually it is much better for someone to not be sure that there is a God then to out right deny it.

God isn't taking you into heaven either way. So I don't see what is to be gained.

Originally Posted by Eldin

I think agnosticism is a very weak belief system. It would do you no good in the eyes of God to go have way anyway. So why bother? Commit to one or the other.

I'm agnostic and I really don't think it is a very weak belief system. What is weak about admitting that you don't know something that you really can't prove or disprove? Why should we commit to one or the other when they are both saying that their view is right, when neither theist or atheist really know the truth. There needs to be some sort of middle ground. I'm sorry if this is flaming or anything but that stament really pissed me off.

Originally Posted by Eldin

God isn't taking you into heaven either way. So I don't see what is to be gained.

And I'm realy sorry about this but have you ever died? cause if not I really don't think you can say whether people are going to Heaven or not can you?

And I'm realy sorry about this but have you ever died? cause if not I really don't think you can say whether people are going to Heaven or not can you?

Well, to hear some of the people here talk it would seem that being anything other than a fundamentalist Christian would doom you.

Anyways, you can be agnostic and religious, but it strikes me as a rather...odd stance to take. If you cannot know if god exists, why worship him? Just to make sure you get into heaven? That seems like a rather shallow reason that I doubt any deity would accept.

Besides, why believe in the Christian god, then? Why not become a Muslim? A Jew? A Hindu? I mean, they've got about the same level of evidence (though if you're agnostic I suppose that means that they've all got no evidence, but meh.) so why stick with Christianity?

And I'm realy sorry about this but have you ever died? cause if not I really don't think you can say whether people are going to Heaven or not can you?

I would suspect my post pissed you off because it scared you. Face it. If we are to believe the Christian bible, God isn't going to take you into heaven for going half way. It makes no sense.

Originally Posted by Eldin

I would suspect my post pissed you off because it scared you. Face it. If we are to believe the Christian bible, God isn't going to take you into heaven for going half way. It makes no sense.

Actually I really couldn't care less about going to heaven to be honest. My agnosticism has nothing to do with wanting to get into heaven and if you think your post pissed me off because it scared me, then I don't think you read it because if you had you would know that it pissed me off because you called my belief system weak.

Originally Posted by VoiceOfNoOne

Actually I really couldn't care less about going to heaven to be honest. My agnosticism has nothing to do with wanting to get into heaven and if you think your post pissed me off because it scared me, then I don't think you read it because if you had you would know that it pissed me off because you called my belief system weak.

If that was the case, why mention this:

And I'm realy sorry about this but have you ever died? cause if not I really don't think you can say whether people are going to Heaven or not can you?

You must have had some reason for saying that.

And I still think agnosticism is weak. It implies that there is a roughly equal chance that god exists versus god not existing. Why don't we apply this same convenient "benefit of doubt" to other ideas that have little to no evidence? Like fairies. Are you an agnostic with respect to fairies? Probably not. I'm willing to bet you're willing to bet fairies don't exist. Not because god is any more likely to exist than fairies, but because fairies don't send you to hell.

Somewhere inside, the fear of hell affects you. And I don't blame you. But I am trying to not allow scare tactics to deter my rational thought.

If there does in fact exist a god, I am becoming more and more convinced it is not the Christian god, or a god of any specific religion, but a universal divine presence. If that is the case, Christian notions, like hell, don't apply anyway.

Originally Posted by Eldin

If that was the case, why mention this:



You must have had some reason for saying that.

And I still think agnosticism is weak. It implies that there is a roughly equal chance that god exists versus god not existing. Why don't we apply this same convenient "benefit of doubt" to other ideas that have little to no evidence? Like fairies. Are you an agnostic with respect to fairies? Probably not. I'm willing to bet you're willing to bet fairies don't exist. Not because god is any more likely to exist than fairies, but because fairies don't send you to hell.

Somewhere inside, the fear of hell affects you. And I don't blame you. But I am trying to not allow scare tactics to deter my rational thought.

If there does in fact exist a god, I am becoming more and more convinced it is not the Christian god, or a god of any specific religion, but a universal divine presence. If that is the case, Christian notions, like hell, don't apply anyway.

I said what I said because I genuinly don't think it's possible to know what happens when you die if anything. Also I just want to point out that I have never mentioned that I am theist agnostic which I aren't (sorry that may be the impression that I gave) I am just simply agnostic and don't believe theism or atheism, I'm not saying either is wrong just that I believe neither can truly know. I may fear hell but I really do not think the hell described by in the bible is actually scary. And what you said about God if it exists not belonging to any specific religion well I think that make a lot more sense than it belonging to a specific religion.

Originally Posted by Eldin

And I still think agnosticism is weak. It implies that there is a roughly equal chance that god exists versus god not existing. Why don't we apply this same convenient "benefit of doubt" to other ideas that have little to no evidence? Like fairies. Are you an agnostic with respect to fairies? Probably not. I'm willing to bet you're willing to bet fairies don't exist. Not because god is any more likely to exist than fairies, but because fairies don't send you to hell

Your logic here is shifty.


There is of course equal chance that fairies do or do not exist. It depends on empirical evidence that either proves or disproves the existence of fairies.

It's ridiculous to believe fairies exist simply because there is no real evidence to believe such a thing.


However, the general premise being that fairies exist in this world playing in the flowers or something, science can then deduce through observation and experimentation that there is no external or internal force or entity among the environment of a flowerbed that shows any proof of existence of what we would call a fairy.


God's premise being that he exists outside, above and beyond our realm, our sense of existence science cannot truly answer such a question, only show that there does not appear to be any noticeable force in the world that could be rightfully attributed to a god.

Eh, Virtigo, I don't think there's really an error in logic.

An idea that can't be tested is just as bad as one that has no evidence. Worse, even, since you can never have evidence for it.

In that case it only makes sense to assume that the idea is wrong. (Rather like string theory in physics.)