The religion of choice: the agnostic's dilemma and the atheist's denial
When "free choice" becomes one's religion
I don’t write to make anyone angry, but I also don’t write to keep everyone happy. What a boring page this would be if I never said anything real - and, frankly, much that is “real” in today’s world is also controversial, which is bound to ruffle some feathers.
The beauty of the Substack experiment, or further still, the beauty behind the entire “free press” concept, is the opportunity to say what one wants without the murderous or extreme physical repercussions typical of human history. Yet if the free press is granted to every writer, then we are of course allowing ourselves and our work to be criticized, torn apart, even stripped naked and attacked head-on. That is the price we must pay for the freedom to speak, support, and ourselves attack the words we hear, read, and write. Somewhat fearfully, I’m allowing for that in today’s piece.
Today I’m discussing an especially sensitive topic - religion - through the lens of our modern-day obsession with agnosticism and atheism. It is somewhat taboo today, at least in some places, to be deeply religious. If you’re a white Christian, you’re racist, or a “Karen,” or, better still, a hypnotically blind follower of the modern-day religion of the murderous Crusaders. If you’re an Arab Muslim, you’re ostensibly not a terrorist, and yet, you also ostensibly are a terrorist (how confusing!). If you practice a small, native religion (in virtually any nation), to some you must be “Satanic” - but to others, you aren’t Satanic, but surely deluded. Yet, of course, the “delusion” you are accused of cannot stop you from being “respected” for your outside-the-box individuality! Please hear me when I say that my point here is not that any of these beliefs about different religions (of course, there are countless more religions and opinions on religions that are left unmentioned here) are right or wrong or are my personal beliefs. My point is that it is truly difficult to discuss religion today without offending someone - in fact, if you’re offended now, I’ve already made my first point. I sure hope I’ve not yet crossed that bridge.
I’m also not here to discuss the accuracy or inaccuracy of any particular religion (or any particular belief regarding a religion). I am here to discuss the shockingly strict religion of the agnostic, and the even more dogmatic religion of the atheist. An agnostic may declare themselves to be areligious - not completely opposed to the idea of religion, sometimes even self-identifying as “somewhat spiritual.” Some state that they believe in “something more,” usually referring to either a smoky, snake-like spirit who floats through the air and slithers in and out of our lives, or a semi-creator who sits outside of our world without intervention - essentially, a man who got a woman pregnant and ran off to attend to whatever affairs he finds more appealing.
The stress of the agnostic religion is that it leaves a person open to an overwhelming, never-ending stream of choices. Many agnostics are agnostic because they are uncomfortable with the idea of choosing something concrete - of “identifying” themselves with a belief system, of being forced to obey a set of rules imposed upon them by the fear of eternal suffering, of becoming the blind follower of some tyrannical religious oligarchy. I find that there is something ironic in the fears of the agnostic - the agnostic prides himself on his freedom of choice, the supposed freedom to do whatever he wants whenever he wants and the option to leave his options open. Yet, the agnostic becomes somewhat trapped in his “freedom.” If the agnostic makes a definitive religious choice, he believes he will be permanently enslaved, so the agnostic doesn’t choose. He floats, he lives, he may even consume more and more material about religions. Alternatively, he may ignore religious signals and faith-based notions for fear of finding truth in a religion.
The agnostic can do anything he wants to on this earth except choose a religion - for to choose a religion would be to give up the freedom to do whatever he desires. But the agnostic believes there may be a god or correct religious system out there - thus, theoretically, it should be the agnostic’s top priority to sort out his religious beliefs. If there’s a religion and he’ll suffer eternally for lack of following it, and the agnostic truly believes this may be possible, the only sensical thing to do would be to drop everything else to wade through the heretical religions to find and follow that correct set of beliefs - right?
This is the religion of the agnostic. It is confusing and somewhat nonsensical, but it is the religion which most people settle into during the course of their lives. But now I must address the still stranger religion of the atheist.
Before I discuss the atheistic religion, I must make a vital distinction between the true atheist and what I will refer to as the “agnostic atheist.” The true atheist is the one who understands the difference between agnosticism and atheism and still opts to identify as an atheist. The true atheist understands that he would be more of an agnostic if he believed there may be a god out there, if he considered himself “somewhat spiritual,” or if he’s not a “religious person” but is actively searching for a religious or faith-based identity. The true atheist chooses to identify as an atheist because he truly believes that there is no god, no spiritual realm or additional religious element(s) to the world (Anselm would turn over in his grave - or, perhaps, laugh from heaven!). The agnostic atheist is the person who is not set in these beliefs - he believes that there may be something more, perhaps a spiritual element to our world or a god of some kind. However, he does not understand or is uneducated about agnosticism and thus ignorantly refers to himself as an atheist.
The true atheist (as defined above) has adopted a still stricter belief system than the agnostic or the ignorant “agnostic atheist.” He is so deeply convinced that there is no god or religious truth, so sure that religion is all a bunch of nonsense, that he has chosen to identify himself as completely nonreligious (and, often, decidedly anti-religious as well). Like the agnostic, the atheist considers himself an agent of free choice - but, ironically, his choice to declare himself an atheist has stripped from him his ability to choose to believe in anything except that which he has already chosen - that there is definitively no god or spiritual reality. Better still is the religion of the atheist who is outspoken about the absolute correctness of atheism. This true atheist has declared himself the utmost authority on all things - in fact, he is so sure that his limited mind is unlimited that he can assert to the entire world that they are simply foolish for their beliefs in any religion. If he is wrong, he has successfully damned himself (and perhaps led to the damning of countless others), and if he is right, he will rot in the grave - but everyone will know he was right! Until, of course, they also find themselves six feet under.
How exhausting it must be to waste one’s energy convincing others that they are blind followers of gods who aren’t real! If this life is all there is, as the atheist believes, why does he care that others agree with him? Why doesn’t he spend his limited time doing whatever fun things he desires to do - why is it that he desires, more than anything else, to convince his fellow man that they, too, must join him in his absolute correctness? This is the deepest fear of the atheist: he cannot stand alone, just in case he is wrong - so he entices others to join him, to validate his beliefs. If it is real (although he is quite certain it is not), eternal damnation cannot be his alone to bear.
Dear reader,
Thank you for reading until the end of my piece today. If you are a decidedly nonreligious person, I truly do not intend to offend, but I do intend to entice you (as well as my religious readers) to deeply consider what you believe and why you believe it. 😊 Check out my page for more deep thinking, allegorical stories, and hot takes!