I was born and raised Catholic (Western Belarusian and Irish parents) and I went through a once-a-week religious class, but never felt especially attached to Christianity. I became an atheist over time and have been going through difficulties currently and I find that I still have a faith deep down. I’m interested in Islam because I read a tiny bit of the Quran as a kid out of curiosity (during the height of Islamophobia in the US, George Bush, early Obama era) and found that it wasn’t “terrifying and inhumane” as Fox News would say on the TV set at my grandparents’ condo. What resources would you point to for a beginner/ on the fence person to learn about Islam? Thank you in advance.
Sounds like you were never an atheist then, just an undefined deist maybe?
I completely forgot the word “agnostic” when I was typing the post and used atheist instead lol my bad, I identify much more agnosticism, maybe that’s similar to an undefined deist
Agnostic is more about the level of certainty - you can have agnostic atheists or theists, who overall believe in their position, but would be open to evidence that disproved it. They’re saying it sounds more like you’re fairly certain there is a god of some type, you’re just not sure what the “right” way to worship or respect them is.
Precisely. I vaguely feel a slight inclination towards believing there IS a god rather than believing there isn’t one. And I believe there is only one to clarify.
agnotism seems like the most rational perspective for me too OP; I try to follow a scientific mindset and making a definitive ‘no god’ statement imo implies some level of definitive proof of that. It shuts down promising ideas like the simulation theory; I’d rather just be highly sceptical of any religion that claims to know higher truths without also using scientific investigation to backup there claims.
strictly speaking you’re not (and if that’s a consistent belief haven’t been) an atheist, then. Good luck converting, or not.
Yea I used to be an atheist for a few years, a few things happened and it awakened a realization that I still believe in A god, not sure exactly how I would pray to them
Deism is when you believe in a god but not necessarily a particular religion’s version of one. Agnostic is when you are basically undecided one way or the other. Since you said that you still had faith i assumed you meant faith in some kind of god, even if it’s not the Christian version anymore.
That’s not necessarily what deism means but it can. Wikipedia says it’s ascertaining that there is a god through reason. My previous impression was that it was basically saying there is a god who in some way created the universe but hasn’t intervened in creation much since. I find this view compelling, but I have yet to see a logical argument for the existence of god compelling enough for me to move beyond agnosticism.
Not really believing in a specific god but still being spiritual doesn’t disqualify one from atheism.
Depends what you mean by spiritual.
Maybe, but I wouldn’t say you need to believe in a god to be spiritual and strongly believing in a god is the only thing that disqualifies one from atheism. Even worldviews like deism that assume a god to exist can be practically atheist if they don’t think worshipping that god really matters.
i wouldn’t lump deists in with atheism, that does a disservice to both groups. Maybe add a third axis to the knowlidge/belief square and call it “effort”. Deists are more like nominally religious people who don’t attend services or do a good job adhering to the tenets they claim, on the opposite end as Ned Flanders. atheists of course run the gamut from anti-theistic activists who want to arrest the pope and liked soviet policy to people you couldn’t differentiate from the slacker theists without asking directly.
atheism and skepticism are separate as well, you could be a big alex jones bigfoot and aliens guy and just not believe in any gods, or you could leave a religion because you examine the clams and (lack of) evidence and make a euphoric logical conclusion. All the prominent ex-atheists i’ve heard of seem to be people who didn’t reason themselves out of their supernatural beliefs in the first place, but there are probably exceptions.
I agree. My thought was coming from listening to a podcast by an orthodox Christian preacher where he was saying that if you don’t believe god’s intervening in everyday life like the deists or even some others who are theistic on paper can be considered practical atheists. Not that this means they are atheists, but they act like them if they act like the divine and real world are separate. (This podcast was recommended by some dude on revleft for people who see the world as binary, so they could understand dialectics).
Strangely I find myself on both sides of this divide. I left Christianity because I don’t think there is some loving god consciously intervening, but I still do silly rituals like making the sign of the cross when I want a certain outcome. I see the universe as a unified thing that is in some way divine even just in the spinozan way, but in daily life I’m a practical atheist. I guess I’m agnostic, I don’t believe in a magical heaven or hell, but who knows? The Buddhists could be right, the deists could be right, the pantheists could be right, and the anti-theists could be right. All I’m certain is that I don’t trust anyone who thinks they have a god that cares about your rituals and will intervene on behalf of you. I don’t trust anyone who’s very certain about exact realities, but I could see something like Buddhism where you’re supposed to see for yourself working.
That’s not Christianity though, that’s electoralism