About the agnostic vs atheist discussion

I started reading Penn Jillette’s book “God, No!” today, and it has been an entertaining read thus far. I just got done with the section regarding agnosticism, and I had a few issues with it. I am a self described agnostic (also a self described absurdist, which is probably the more instructive label as to what my feelings on the god issue are), and I resent the notion that I am simply an atheist who is essentially trying to hedge and that I would pray in an effort to fool a god who may or may not exist (though I understand that he uses the modifier “most” agnostics, I still take the blanket assumptions personally, though I like the majority of what I’ve read 80 pages in). I am not attempting to show religious people respect, and in fact I believe that religion does more harm for society than it does good. Do I believe in god? Essentially no, but at the same time, I am not really passionate about it, which brings us top the core of where we differ, I believe. The question is posed Do you believe in God, and I don’t know is described as an insufficient answer because the question is described as “The most important fucking decision a human being can make”. Here is the key. When I say I essentially don’t believe in god, I am saying I don’t believe in the Jewish/Christian/Islamic idea of god, and I make no claims one way or another about a creation myth, but the overall point is that it’s not the most important decision a human being can make. It’s completely irrelevant, aside from the power that the institutions who would manipulate those beliefs to control people derive from these beliefs. It doesn’t matter whether there’s a god or not, it doesn’t change that religion has profound negative impact on society, while everything positive that comes from it could easily be reproduced by simple acts of human kindness independent of religion. I can’t think of a less useful question which aspires to describe the nature of the universe in which we inhabit aside from the question of belief in god. I don’t know and I don’t care whether there is some sort of cosmic force at play that someone might be able to label as god. I agree with the notion that family and friends are what matters. I don’t feel like I am being intellectually dishonest or dodging the issue, I just don’t care about the answer, so I am not going to sweat the question.

Thanks for reading, hopefully this will get me back into posting regularly. Don’t be surprised if the next one is about Kyle Orton.

johnmarkvenrick

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