Living Comfortably with Religion as an Agnostic

Though the world around us is transforming every day, allowing new spurs of individuality to arouse, there is something in the world that has been around for a very long time and will continue to be around very much longer.

I'm talking about religion.

Christians, Buddhists, Gnostics, and hundreds more. So many faiths are out there that so many people are loyal to. So many different Gods and traditions and cultures exist that it's impossible to know of them all.

Yet there are also those who don't believe.

I consider myself agnostic. 'Consider.' No matter who I'm talking to, I always use that word. It's more habit than anything. In itself, the only thing agnosticism holds belief in is the fact that it's impossible to know what to believe in. So am I agnostic? Yes. Do I believe in agnosticism? I can't say it's ever failed me, but I've gained no success from it either. It simply exists. There's nothing to believe.

Going to a Catholic school, I'm often surrounded by people who have held faith dearly to them for their entire lives. I'm not shy about my 'faith,' so when asked, I'm completely willing to admit that I consider myself agnostic. I get many different reactions. Some people may nod in approval with a careless shrug while others look at me, appalled, and go yammering about how I don't believe in God (which isn't exactly true) to the entire world. Some ask me what an agnostic is, and when I tell them, proceed to do one of the former.

Maybe you're wondering what an agnostic is yourself. Let me enlighten you. According to thefreedictionary.com, the simplest definition of 'agnostic' is: "One who believes that it is impossible to know whether or not there is a God."

Being honest, it doesn't get more complex than that. I don't believe in God. I don't not believe in God. I believe there is a possibility that He exists, but I don't know for sure, nor do I claim to know anything about the universe, God, and creation (Except, maybe, evolution. I'm pretty keen on that existing).

Another non-religion is atheism. The two are mixed up quite often, for if they weren't I doubt those people who yell about me hating God (also not true, for the record) would not be, in fact, yelling about me hating God.

Though atheism is far more complicated and requires much more 'faith' than agnosticism, it can also be summed up by our friend thefreedictionary.com: "Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods." Many atheists I've talked to tell me they've come to this conclusion of the world based on science, which I find completely reasonable. I just prefer to stay open-minded.

Between the screamers and the grossly large amount of people who don't know what an agnostic is, some may wonder how one like me would choose to be open about my 'faith.' It's not always easy, but did the women weep for Jesus? I think they did. Don't trust me on it though. Anyway, my point is that like you won't abandon your faith and beliefs, I won't abandon mine either, even if they maybe shouldn't be considered 'faith' and 'beliefs' in the first place.

There's also perks to being an agnostic, such as the fact that I rarely have to get up at the crack of dawn Sunday morning for church. Though I did go to church today, with a friend of mine. Though she's Mormon, I find her religion, or at least the members of her church, very comforting. I may not share their beliefs, but I do greatly respect them, and I enjoy taking part in their activities as long as my friend is there with me.

In two days, I leave for camp. I'm going with the same friend I just mentioned. The camp is organized by her church and though it's meant to be spiritual, we also learn things about nature, nursing, crafting, and having fun. Take out the religious stuff, and it's just like you're average camp.

I had to have a meeting with her Bishop just so he could confirm that I wouldn't be destroying the camp grounds and beating up the leaders, and while we were talking he asked me, not knowing that I'm agnostic, if I went to church regularly (other than his own church which I go to with my friend about once a month).

"Do you go to church at all, other than with (friend) every once in a while?"

"No. I was baptized Catholic but I haven't been to a service in ages. I go to a Catholic school but other than that, this is it."

I could tell he was shocked, but the subject changed and we continued on our conversation. That is, until, he brought it up again. And, once again, the subject changed as quickly as it had come up but it left a thought in my head that inspired me to write this essay.

Why was he shocked?

My first thought was that he found it hard to believe, or maybe just sad, that a 15-year-old girl wasn't attending church regularly. That my family had stopped bothering to go and left what little grasp of God I had to trickle between my fingers.

Or maybe, just maybe, he was surprised that a calm, open, and kind girl like me chose not to go to church. Maybe he didn't realize that my family had also stopped attending services years ago (which ultimately led to why I, today, don't believe).

Then another thought occurred to me, and this is the final one: maybe he thought that I, never having gotten a chance to know God, was lost and looking for some ounce of faith by coming to his church, where he himself must have found himself because I know for a fact that he was baptized Catholic as well and converted to Mormonism.

To be honest, my real story is closest to the first assumption, which also happens to be the most boring. In our early days, we often go to church and say we believe this and that because our parents tell us to. When my parents stopped telling, I stopped going, and eventually I stopped believing, too.

However, what I haven't lost is this thing I've mentioned a few times now: faith. Everyone has it, in some form or another, but everyone directs it differently. For me, my faith is focused on things like my vegetarianism and the concept of open-mindedness. I am faithful to these things because I don't ever try to give myself excuses to eat meat or to be bitter rather than letting go. I'm much more strong when it comes to the vegetarian aspect and, say I have an assignment dealing with faith in a theology class, I would easily find a way to talk about vegetarianism in it.

You can have faith about anything: Family, Nature, God, etc. You can have faith about multiple things without believing in God and you can have faith about multiple things and not even realize it because you're so faithful to God. You can believe God is the only being one should be faithful to or you can choose to believe God is a myth. You can believe in everything or nothing or the possibility of both, just like I do. That is the beauty behind it all. When it comes down to it, we can believe in anything we want to.

15 Things You Should Give Up to be Happy

I came across an article today from the website wakingtimes.com that I really felt the need to share. Living freely has always been important to me but I know I am nowhere near achieving that. However, this article, 15 Things You Should Give Up to be Happy, was very enlightening. You may even find that you're already on your way to living a happy life, and there are only a few more things to master! For me, I have some stuff down to a science while other things are as pesky as can be.