Agnostic Or Atheist? Not A Full Believer, Anyway …

My son was helping my husband and I to fill in some forms today, to get visas, for an upcoming trip overseas. There was a qestion that had to be filled in so my son asked, what was my religion, Agnostic? I said Atheist actually, but was content to leave it the way he had assumed.

As long as he didn’t name an actual religion, of the many on offer, I was fine with the name given to what I did or didn’t believe in. To my understanding, someone who would name themselves as Agnostic, isn’t sure about the reality or otherwise of a God, or Gods, while an Atheist is sure in their minds there are no Gods at all.

I’ve certainly waivered in my beliefs over the years, from no belief or knowledge at all of any Gods, as a young child, to an older child attending bible classes, at least for perhaps half of a year. Then work came along, adulthood, where drinking and looking for love took over, and there were no thoughts of anything spiritual, except for the spirits that came in bottles, and went well with coca cola!

Photo by Zac Edmonds on Unsplash

Then as I’ve aged, the whole idea of there being any God ‘up there’ in the sky, or ‘Heaven’ has become ever more unbelievable, as my mind looks at the various beliefs of various people and peoples. Some of the ideas are crazy, some are of good works, but tied with some mystical Being who may reward you for the good works you do, with a place awaiting you after you die.

Personally, I do good things because I believe we all should do that. It is good for both you, and the person/people you’re helping. Your brain and body both like it when you do good things, sending out ‘feel good’ chemicals, so if you can, why not do good? There’s no need for any God or Gods, just do good because it’s the best thing to do, that’s what I believe.

My undersrtanding is that this attitude to the question regarding God or Gods would mean I am an unbeliever, and so an Atheist. I have no problems about this label, and if anyone else does have problems with it, that seems like their problem, not mine.

And if I’m wrong, and there actually is a God? I think I have that covered. I have a friend who is an Anglican Nun who prays for me regularly, and if there is a God, that Being and my friend would be on good terms, so I would imagine God would look well on my claims when I finally die, and moving on to whatever may come next. If it turns out I was wrong, and my friend was right, I’ll be more than happy to say ‘Oops, I was wrong,’ and become a death bed believer!

If this attitude to such matters differs to your own attitude, or beliefs, that’s fine, we all should be allowed to believe what we want to believe, as long as nobody gets hurt! What are you beliefs, or are they too personal to you to discuss in such forums as this? That’s fair enough, if so. I just like to hear the points of view of all, whether I go along with what they believe or not …