The Case for Agnosticism

So SicK · 09-08-2006

The purpose of this thread is to prove that agnosticism is the best way to go. To do that, I will present my best argument against all religious faiths (atheism included), because if those belief systems are called into question, agnosticism will be the only choice left.

Built into my argument is the assumption that there is no evidence to suggest that any one religion is more valid than any other. This assumption is based on the fact that I've never encountered such evidence. I'll concede that there is a large body of evidence suggesting the existence of a creator, but the incredible aspects of our reality don't support Christianity any more than they support Islam. If you think that I've missed something that proves one religion over all the others, present it in this thread and I'll consider it.

Since all religions possess an equally perfect lack of evidence supporting their metaphysical claims, belief in any one of them can only be justified through faith. I contend that faith is not enough to justify one religion over the others.

Edit - Alright, so you've got the Quran in one hand and the Bible in the other. Each of them make divergent, irreconcilable claims about the metaphysical nature of the universe, and neither has any evidence to back up these claims (note that metaphysical claims do not include historical stuff like the existence of ancient cities and whatnot). Unlike all other kinds of beliefs, which can be justified soley through proof, religious beliefs only require faith, and due to the lack of evidence, faith is the only thing that can be used to justify religious beliefs. So, Muslims have faith in the Quran and Christians have faith in the Bible. Due to the exclusivity claims made in each book, they cannot both be right. It's either one of them or neither. So, how do you know if one of them is right if you only have faith to guide you? How do you choose which one to put your faith into?

What I hear mostly is that you feel God's presence in your life. For most of the religious kids on these forums, you feel Him telling you that Christianity is right. Here's the problem. Muslims say the exact same thing. That should be a big red flag waving in front of everyone's eyes. All the stories you hear about powerful experiences at a summer youth camp, where you could feel God in the room with you and it was so obvious that Christianity is right, Muslims say the same thing about Islam. What other reason could you have for picking one religion over all the others? Maybe you have a vision in which God specifically tells you which path to follow. Well, those kind of experiences aren't exclusive to a single religion, either. Miracles are attested to by people of every faith. You're probably insane if you've had a vision like that. So, that's no good. Whether or not a certain belief system's moral code agrees with yours is probably the worst way to pick a religion. People make up morals as they go. Most of your sense of morality is derived directly from your environment. So, if you're born in the Middle East, you are a lot more likely to find it blasphemous for a woman to show her forearm in public. Likewise, if you're born in the States, chances are good you'll disagree with the Quran and lean more towards a Christian morality. So, that's not a good way of picking a religion. What does that leave?