I came late to the overflowing comments section from Darksyde's "What It's Like to be and Atheist" and Pastordan's "Ten things Religious People Want Atheists to Know".
Both were great pieces, but I was overwhelmed by the lack understanding when it comes to Agnostics (what I like to call myself).
So, here are ten things Agnostics would like Atheists to people of faith to know.
[update]
wow, this is a great eye-opener for me, since I'm not used to debating this stuff. So, I see I need to clarify one thing.
Let's try this: the existance of God is knowable. It can be proven. Atheists that say there's no evidence for God, therefore there is no God have stopped short. They've come to a conclusion before the experiment is over. After we die, we'll be able to prove the existance of God. Anyone who says that they're sure there's nothing after death is really just speculating.
As to the flying spagetti monster, read point 2: reason. We can still conclude that some things a probably not the case (spagetti is a lot younger than the universe, therefore it probabably did not have a part in creating the universe, etc.)
- There's a huge difference between an atheists and an agnostic. We don't like being mixed together, especially those who often separate the two with a slash. In reality, religious people and atheists have more in common than agnostics and atheists. After all, both atheism and religion are exercises in faith. We don't know where we came from, why we're here, or where we go after we die. You can't test it, prove it, etc. An atheist believes there is nothing, but can't prove it; religious people believe there is a God, but can't prove it. Both are in a faith-based mindset, and agnosticism is completely separate. Agnostics believe that humans do not have enough information to determine whether or not there's a God.
- Agnostic's are still willing to use reason. Just because we're agnostic doesn't mean we give the same weight to ID as we would give to evolution. An agnostic using proper reason would be likely to conclude that evolution is the most probably answer to how the human species came to be, though there are obviously many questions that aren't answered. Evolution really has little to do with whether or not there's a God. Does the earth being round or flat, the center of the universe or not, have anything to do with whether or not there's a God? I suppose if there was a God and He wanted to create a random universe, that's His business. Who am I to judge?
- Agnostics don't stop at "I don't know." Agnostics are eternal searches. We don't just throw our hands up and give in to ignorance. We constantly seek for higher meaning and consider life to be a long spiritual journey. We are climbing a mountain with a peek constantly obscured by clouds, but we never stop climbing, learning, growing.
- Agnostics suspect that most Atheists are actually Agnostics. If you're an atheist, ask yourself: where do we come from, why are we here, and where do we go after we die? If you can't answer any of these questions, then you're an Agnostic. If you're fairly certain that the answers are: nowhere, no reason, and nowhere, but can't prove it, then you're an agnostic.
- Agnostics suspect that most religious people are actually Agnostics. It seems fairly suspicious to most agnostics that religious beliefs change every ten years. Think about religious beliefs of the 1700s compared to today or even the 1950s. So, if the basic beliefs and morals change, what is religion but individual interpretation. Put another way, if you go to the buffet of beliefs that are offered up by, say, the Bible and you pick the things you like and leave the things you don't like (such as the way women are treated), then your beliefs are rather relaxed. This is not much different from agnosticism. You certainly couldn't call yourself strictly religious. (I can actually do a whole diary on this one, so I'll stop here)
- Agnostics also feel that jell-o with fruit inside is one of the highest forms of cooking. However, we believe that it's important to mix the right fruit with the right flavor jell-o. For instance, for lime jell-o you use pears. Anyone who uses peaches must also live in a cave of some kind.
- Agnostics should be very understanding and open to other people's beliefs (after all, they might be right!). I think the problems that atheists and religious people often run into is not the beliefs themselves, but the certainty. Whenever anyone is 100% certain of anything, then he automatically has to consider everyone else wrong. Think how much nicer fundamentalists would be if they weren't so sure they were right. So, it's not the fundamentalism that's a problem, it's the certainty. Atheists can have the same problem with certainty, and can be as boorish as a fundamentalist.
- Agnostics are open to change. We'll be the first ones to alter our beliefs as humans grow and progress. Our only stipulation is good evidence and proof.
- Agnostics are not unimaginative. This one is more a response to a section from the book "the life of pi" (great book) which takes a dig a Agnostics. The main character calls them lazy and unimaginative for "giving up" on the question. It's not that agnostics can't imagine the idea of God, it's that were are not willing to call something created by imagination "the answer."
- We could be wrong. This is essential to agnosticism: don't be sure of anything. We're human, after all.