After atheists, the next most well-known segment of unbelievers and other godless folks is the agnostics. “An agnostic is a doubter,” said Clarence Darrow, possibly the most famous trial lawyer of the past hundred years -- and an agnostic. “The word is generally applied to those who doubt the verity of accepted religious creeds.”[1]
Agnostic literally means without knowing, and it’s the viewpoint for people who aren’t completely certain what’s out there in the great cosmic void. Agnostics range from people who have no opinion at all to people who are pretty sure of their views but don’t want to shut other possibilities out. “I like being agnostic,” says a teenager who calls herself CassieCasey. “I think it gives me the freedom to be a little bit more open-minded about other religions.”[2]
The agnostic viewpoint is sometimes more complicated than atheism. “While I have the belief that it’s possible the Bible is true (although a lot of it would have to be symbolism), it is more likely that there is no God or at least that the God that there is is not interested in this earth,” says a teenage agnostic who uses the screen name Saltandvinegarchips. But, she adds, “I still consider the possibility of a God.”[3]
[1] Clarence Darrow, “Why I Am an Agnostic,” from Short Works of Clarence Darrow (BiblioBazaar, 2008), http://books.google.com
[2] CassieCasey, untitled essay, Teenage Writers website, December 17, 2006, http://teenagewriters.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-7197.html
[3] Saltandvinegarchips, “I’m a Teenage Agnostic. Ask Me Anything,” Experience Project website (March 14, 2010), http://www.experienceproject.com/uw.php?e=880974
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