I am an agnostic. Proudly so.
At the core of agnostic belief are the following principles:
- There may be a god, there may not be. I don't know.
- If there is a god, it is very likely that this god does not involve itself in human affairs.
- All religion is opinion.
- No book ever written, in whole and in part, literally or allegorically, was or is the word of god.
- Strong moral values are derived from a variety of sources. They include, but are not limited to, one's conscience, personal experience, logic, reason, socratic inquiry, texts, teachings, and other analytical tools available to all human beings.
Agnostics come in all shapes and sizes. Individually, you will find every type of person among us, good and bad. Collectively we are highly moral, highly ethical, highly spiritual people of strong character. (For the record, I also believe that the vast majority of liberal and reform Jews, progressive Christians, and progressive Muslims are also people of high ethics, morals, and character.) Arrogantly but truthfully, I also believe that the average agnostic has thousands of times more character and more morals than the stereotypical fundamentalist Muslim, conservative Christian, or Orthodox Jew.
Agnostics are the fastest growing segment of the American population. Our numbers are also vastly underreported and underestimated. There are tens of millions of us sitting at home who are agnostic but still openly identify themselves with some religion because of peer pressure and societal convenience. There are millions of us sitting there quietly in churches, synagogues, and mosques who secretly consider themselves agnostic (or atheist which is different) but are afraid to say so because of fear. My goal is to eliminate this fear and eliminate all bastions of bigotry and discrimination against agnostics, atheists, humanists, and all those who refuse to identify with a right wing version of a major religion.
Don't be surprised if agnostics become the majority of the American population 20 years from now although it's possible that we are already the silent majority. Demographic trends and the unprecedented availability of information fueled by the Internet all favor agnosticism and other non religious philosophies. And don't confuse religion with morality, spirituality or godliness. One can be moral, spiritual, godly, AND non-religious.
Right now, we lack the infrastructure that organized religion has. We do not have gathering places for services and sermon like organized religions do. We do not have the charitable and social groups organized like religions do. We do not have ceremonies or holidays like organized religions do. We do not have symbols or jewelry pieces like organized religions do. But someday, and someday soon, we will.
We do not have monolithic views on every issue. We tend to be progressive, moderate, or liberal, (3 separate and distinct parts of the political spectrum) but there are certainly leftists and even conservatives among us. We will have divergent opinions on most economic, social, and foreing policy issues but generally we are united by concepts of fairness, due process, and following the facts wherever they may lead.
We are all guided by The Core principles that all bibles are fiction, all religion is opinion, and that god may or may not exist. While I certainly don't speak for all agnostics, I've personally found these principles to be most common.
- Let It Be - Named for the Beatles #1 hit, the principle here is that if an adult person chooses to engage in an activity that poses no reasonable risk of harm to another person, let it be. While there is plenty of gray area here, a nuanced distinction between an adult and a child, and reasonable interpretations as to what the phrase reasonable risk of harm to another person means, this core principle is at the root of my spiritual, ethical, and moral being.
- The Bill of Rights + Civil Rights Amendments - Perhaps nowhere in the world can a few sentences best articulate the values that almost all agnostics share. (although sections of the Magna Carta come close.) These values are firmly embedded in amendments 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, and 15. Not only do these amendments enforce the principle of Let It Be, they enforce the principles of fairness, justice, equal protection under the law, freedom, liberty, and due process. Guiding these constitutional values is the principle of doing what is right and fair for people.
- Sunshine is The Best Disinfectant - Agnostics are generally very comfortable with their values. They believe that the best kind of society is an open society where the maximum amount of information is available for dissemination. Thus this often leads to solutions which actually are capable of accommodating everybody even though there are those out there (mainly conservatives) who simply want to impose their views on people and their views only.
I am an agnostic. These are my values.