Article: My Time As An Agnostic

I've posted from Defeating the Dragons a few times here and have come to the conclusion that you should just spend an entire day reading her blog, because everything there is worth reading. This post really struck me as I read it, particularly in light of my own de-conversion and my recent post on agnosticism.

What Does It Mean to be An Agnostic?

 The term agnostic comes from ancient Greek and means "without knowledge."

An agnostic is a person who believes that the existence of a greater power, such as a god, cannot be proven or disproved; therefore an agnostic wallows in the complexity of the existence of higher beings. 

Agnostics on religion (Christianity, Islam, Buddhists, etc): Religious zealots are often viewed as ignorant by agnostics’ because of their blind following of a supreme being which may or may not exist. Agnostics will often question the existence of a supreme power because a lot of modern religious beliefs have no basis in modern logic; therefore blind following of popular religions is viewed as an easy out for people who chose not to think for themselves. 

Agnostics on atheism: On the other end of the spectrum, unlike atheists, an agnostic uses a more scientific approach to their belief system. An agnostic knows that just because there is no physical proof of the existence of a higher being, it dose not automatically mean that one does not exist. An agnostic views an atheist on the same plane as a religious zealot; often because the belief that human beings are the pinnacle of intelligence and there are few things that we do not or have the potential to understand. 

The realization of knowing that “we cannot know everything” is the backbone of the agnostic belief.