Is Agnosticism Bad?

[Jon]

Sorry for starting such a serious topic but this subject has been on my mind for some time

I've heard a lot of different viewpoints on whether being (or staying as) agnostic is good or bad. I'm curious as to what your thoughts on this are.   

[rtil]

i don't think so. i'm an atheist, but i can see why one would be agnostic. while i do think the gods that man has invented are irrational and easy to disregard as non-existent, there is no rational way to disprove anything that by definition is unable to be proven. but for me that is not enough to suggest that there may be one. i find the idea that there may be one completely improbable, and if there is one, he/she/it does not care about this planet and what goes on on it, or perhaps is not even aware of it at all.

[Jon]

some people say it is sitting on the fence and intellectual laziness

[rtil]

well you are sitting on the fence, but i don't think there's anything lazy about it. it's not like you haven't thought about it. but i think most agnostics ultimately accept that the idea of god is manmade.

[funzop]

^

[logen]

i don't think so. i'm an atheist, but i can see why one would be agnostic. while i do think the gods that man has invented are irrational and easy to disregard as non-existent, there is no rational way to disprove anything that by definition is unable to be proven. but for me that is not enough to suggest that there may be one. i find the idea that there may be one completely improbable, and if there is one, he/she/it does not care about this planet and what goes on on it, or perhaps is not even aware of it at all.

Kind of agree with you, i think that this agnosticism is not that bad of a thing, compared to all those mindless religions that most people only follow out of fear. They make a few points, but all in all it seems like they are just avoiding a definite answer.

Well, not that I could give you anything that's 100% for sure. I don't believe in any deities or supernatural beings / happenings of any sort, but am a doubtful person to a lot of things. This might be strange, but I probably closely resemble a paranoid / skeptic person, because I don't believe that what we know right now about the world is the full truth, and are being constantly led astray. Whetever by someone, or by our own process of thought. 

There's also the fact, that out through history, people came to believe in something, until it turned out to be not completely true or rather false. The reasoning behind that was always: "because at that time we didn't have enough information or technology to come close to the real truth behind things." People of course changed their views, only to be broken again by another statement, with a similar reasoning.

For example, let's look at a simple debate about chocolate. How many times have we heard that it's unhealthy? A lot. How many times have we heard that it's actually healthy? A lot. How many times have we heard that it's bad for X, and later heard claims that it's actually good for X? A lot. I cannot really take a side in these situations anymore. Who is telling the truth? Who is lying? Where these people just payed by someone to make these statements, or are these actually true? In short: who the fuck knows anymore, I feel like a fucking paranoid. mindfuck time.

This seems like I kind of went off topic, but as far as I know it, agnosticism isn't solely connected to religion. If I am in the wrong, someone slap me with a fish.

Ah yeah, this quote also came to my mind while thinking about this, I don't know who said it, but imho it's an interesting statement.
"You have to prove something, before you can disprove it."

So yeah, if all in all we take into consideration what I've just said, I can say that there's logic in becoming an agnostic guy, but whetever it's a bad or good thing, is up to the people themselves. My past experiences kind of tell me it's bad, in situations where you are left to answer last, with you having the power to decide a debate, in which no one is willing to accept the answer, that you are not sure, whetever it's A or B.

[Sinitron]

being agnostic is all about being above such TRIVIAL concerns

[Brii]

I'm an agnostic, and obviously must be biased.

Even so I don't think any religion can be "bad" so long as it doesn't negatively impact anyone else. It's all a matter of opinion and belief, and while some may not agree with my beliefs or lack of beliefs,  I may not necessarily agree with theirs.

I'm an agnostic because I recognize that the the gods of other religions are in fact very real to those who follow that religion and it is possible that they are a certain way because of how that belief or dependence or support psychologically affects them.. Those gods just aren't real to me.

[Sinitron]

if god came down from above and beat my ass i would be the most furiously zealous asshole to have ever desecrated the heathen lands

[BluPhoenix]

and sin coaxes himself into another pizza point

[CoolDrMoney]

The way I see it, there's no way for us to really know anything absolutely and to think otherwise is arrogant

[BluPhoenix]

everything is law nothing is fact

[naturally]

there is no rational way to disprove anything that by definition is unable to be proven.

most of the time this is usually how i look at things. however, i understand an atheist's point of view as well. it gets me a little bit irritated when my friend says "being an agnostic is just a lazy man's athiest", which i think is a little unfair. i have opinions and arguments about these things just like everyone else.

but for me that is not enough to suggest that there may be one. i find the idea that there may be one completely improbable, and if there is one, he/she/it does not care about this planet and what goes on on it, or perhaps is not even aware of it at all.

this is how i used to think about things a lot of the time, and to be honest still pretty much feel this way, but not as strongly enough to call myself an athiest. i guess it really might be fair to call me lazy then. regardless, whenever i get into discussions about religion it usually comes down to the same thing:

most agnostics ultimately accept that the idea of god is manmade.

usually i'm more strong minded about this. oh well.

[cipher]

nothing is true, everything is permitted

[Philip K Dick]

spiritual beliefs cant be bad, rationalizing evil actions through beliefs is

[rtil]

The way I see it, there's no way for us to really know anything absolutely and to think otherwise is arrogant

i hope this is not a jab at atheists.

you can easily come to the rational conclusion that the idea of god is made in the image of man. there are other things we have discovered about the universe through thousands of years of human progress, there are things we know because we have things that work, things that have made our species flourish. these are tangible.

but the supernatural is by definition unknowable. it's far more arrogant for a religious person to claim they have a "personal relationship" with an obscure supernatural power than an atheist to claim they know there is no god. there is no evidence that god exists - it is not arrogant to assume there is not one.but it is a completely faith-based claim to say otherwise, especially if you are to say that this designer is intelligent.

[Sinitron]

spiritual beliefs cant be bad, rationalizing evil actions through beliefs is

good job this is a very valid statement everyone should read this so i am quoting it

[rtil]

spiritual beliefs cant be bad, rationalizing evil actions through beliefs is

good job this is a very valid statement everyone should read this so i am quoting it

at the risk of turning this into yet another debate thread i'm going to have to disagree with his statement. spiritual beliefs can often lead to people being indirectly hurt out of naive faith. for example, spiritual beliefs may cause someone to turn away from modern medicine in favor of healing through prayer, or thinking starving children need a holy book instead of food - and while they thought their intentions were good, people can easily end up dead because of them.

[Sinitron]

well denying someone medical aid pretty much counts as EVIL doesn't it

but as far as im concerned i dont give a shit if someone gets their asses kicked because they believe god will suck their balls or whatever as long as they don't fucking impose the god-licker of testictles on me

[psi43]

spiritual beliefs cant be bad, rationalizing evil actions through beliefs is

probably the best statement in this topic
if people like believing in something, if believing in a god gives them hope or happiness or whatever, then why not. It doesn't harm anyone.