Recently, a discussion was posted on a group site that i subscribe to asking basically 'where are the agnostics.' Following is an edited copy of my response which i would like to share.
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It was actually not too long ago i had to be corrected on my definitions of agnostic and atheist, and the difference in how the terms are applied. To those of you who know what i am referring to, thank you. With that, i am proud to say that i am an agnostic who believes in the likely possibility (not necessarily probability) that a (or group of) supreme being(s) exist. But, to qualify that belief, 'God' is to be defined as omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent RELATIVE TO THE OBSERVER. i also hold that 'God' is far too expansive to be restricted/confined to a proverbial box. there is a poster posing "Understanding God ...good luck with that." i want it painted as a mural on my living room wall.
Atheist is not a title i can claim, since i do have a belief, but that belief is not something that guides my 'moral' character, nor provides me with a comfort of redemption/salvation that i must proselytize. It is a belief that our portion of knowledge is comparable to a grain of sand in the cosmos. We do not know, and probably will not know in our lifetime (the human existence as we know it today) enough to declare or disprove 'God.' My moral character and comfort come not from a 'religious' base, rather from humanity and all of its diversities/adversities. Life is my religion ...humanity is my conscience ...truth is my bible.
Ken and Humphrey [two other individuals in the group] partook in a discussion in the thread that i feel would be a good topic possibly for one of our 'Socrates Nights': telling others how to live. Is it anyone's right to tell another how to live or what to believe in? Who's duty is it to ensure the truth is spread, especially given that 'truth' is all-too-often relative to an individual's prescribed set of beliefs in something that most likely cannot be quantified by scientific measures (or, at least not yet)? What is (i.m.o.) our duty as people is to be ready to give an answer for our belief, without biases and rude/crude 'bashings' of the beliefs of others. Degrading another human for their inadequate/inaccurate religious base can and will only harm the process (and deservedly putting into question the degradors belief), whereas open and honest presentation of facts/truth are most often at least given an ear. There is enough out there to present from within the established/organized theocracies (namely christianity, judaism and islam, to include all their offshoots) that what they hold to is AT BEST a misrepresentation of the truth; More-than-not, a downright fabrication or distortion, and a tool for social conform/control.
So, i am proud to consider myself an agnostic. i am proud to acknowledge the fact that i do not know enough. i am proud to have relieved myself of the constraints of prescribed theism. i am proud to be a minuscule life-form in the cosmos looking up in awe and wonder. and i am proud to believe (i.m.o.) i am on the right track, accompanied by many other 'passengers' who proclaim they don't know s&*t.
Does that get me a brownie?
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Truth, Knowledge and Humanity ...get the point.
