Fighting the battle

We have an enemy.

It is not in the people that have different views from us. As agnostics we pretty much accept that no one person has the same views.

It is not in the people that pity or fear us, for we are not affected by another person's ignorance.

It is when that ignorance seeps through into the rest of our daily lives, then we must prepare for war.

We have an enemy.

The clean-cut Mormon boys with their bikes and their bibles might as well be packing Uzis.

The TV Evangelists with their oily voices and their 80's trapped closets shoot poison arrows through the airwaves.

The petitioners against free-will... well those ones are fairly self-explanatory.

We have an enemy.

And we will fight this enemy with laptop screens to light up the battle fields. We will fight this enemy with our bottle of wine and bag of Hershey's kisses to sustain us. We will fight this enemy in our underwear.

And we will win.

Mondays

We haven't yet decided whether or not we believe in Mondays.

But we most certainly do not support them.

That is all.

Sunday's Sermon - the truth about god

I could add a couple of deep quotes by noted agnostics of our time... unfortunately that takes a lot of effort to read. And obviously, we're not big readers, or else one of the most famous books in the world might have a little bit more meaning to us Agnos. That's right, Mr. Potter isn't happy about that.

So instead we're going to start in on a series of lectures that will probably continue until I get bored of them. Patience is a particular virtue of agnostics. If you can wait until death to meet your maker (or lack thereof) you can certainly handle a few minutes a day of a deluded person's ramblings.

Speaking of a maker... do we have one?

I'm serious, anybody?

No, really, somebody has got to have this figured out by now.

Alright... I'll forgive you this time, but only because of the mind-numbing variety of options.

- Either there is a god, we know his name, we've got the license number to his spaceship and we're waiting for the carpool.

- Or maybe there is a god, but we don't want to presume we know him. The average celebrity is annoyed with obsessive fans, can you imagine how the big G feels? Everybody always wanting to talk to him and get things from him... he probably just wants a day to relax without all the paparazzi.

- Then again, for all we know, god is a figment of our imagination. Well, not ours, but many people's that's for sure.


So, do tell - how did you know that there is/is not a holy supreme being monitoring our every move and debating with him/herself in a sadistic fashion how best to punish us for our minor indiscretions?

What makes a religion?

Let us refer back to the intrinsic http://www.dictionary.com/


Religion
–noun
1.
a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

(It goes on, but we don't care)


So, let us start with the common question, is Agnosticism a religion?

Does the average agnostic concern themselves with the cause, nature and purpose of the universe? Considering the previous post it is possible to say that agnosticism is based in disbelief which, technically, is a belief in and of itself. Atheism is a form of religion with a belief in nothing. Agnosticism is a religion with a belief in nothing else.

How about when considered as the creation of superhuman agency or agencies? This particularly poses an interesting concept. I think it would do agnosticism a great deal of good to assign ourselves a superhero. I call him Agno-man. He will save the world with his extreme unwillingness to conform to common beliefs. When the world says it is round, Agno-man shouts "Nay!" for he has yet to see it himself. When we spend the millions of dollars to send Agno-man to outer space to prove this fact he may then consider changing his beliefs. Until then, he just doesn't know.

Do we involve any devotional and ritual observances? I don't know about you, but I shower regularly, brush my teeth once a month or so, maybe even work hard if the day calls for it. I'd consider that a certain amount of devotion that deserves its own kind of recognition.

Finally, shall we consider a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs? We most definitely have this. I'm certain of it. Have you ever heard of the agnostic serial killer? Nope. We're a peaceful folk. In fact, don't we all just want to get along? All we want is the freedom to tell you how wrong you are.

So, in conclusion, we count. Sign the parish contract, donate your hard-earned wages, and, most definitely, drink the wine. I expect to see you next Sunday.

Who am I?

Since so many of us blindly align ourselves with thoughts or beliefs we don't truly understand, I think it's important to define agnosticism.


Per http://www.dictionary.com/

Agnostic
–noun
1.
a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience.
2.
a person who denies or doubts the possibility of ultimate knowledge in some area of study.


So let's break that down.

1.
Nobody knows. Stop pretending you know. Just because you say you know, does not mean you know.
2.
I don't believe you.


If, when talking to a religious fanatic, your response falls into one of those two categories, then **insert hillbilly accent here** you might be an agnostic.