I was born and raised Catholic (Western Belarusian and Irish parents) and I went through a once-a-week religious class, but never felt especially attached to Christianity. I became an atheist over time and have been going through difficulties currently and I find that I still have a faith deep down. I’m interested in Islam because I read a tiny bit of the Quran as a kid out of curiosity (during the height of Islamophobia in the US, George Bush, early Obama era) and found that it wasn’t “terrifying and inhumane” as Fox News would say on the TV set at my grandparents’ condo. What resources would you point to for a beginner/ on the fence person to learn about Islam? Thank you in advance.
I completely forgot the word “agnostic” when I was typing the post and used atheist instead lol my bad, I identify much more agnosticism, maybe that’s similar to an undefined deist
Agnostic is more about the level of certainty - you can have agnostic atheists or theists, who overall believe in their position, but would be open to evidence that disproved it. They're saying it sounds more like you're fairly certain there is a god of some type, you're just not sure what the "right" way to worship or respect them is.
Precisely. I vaguely feel a slight inclination towards believing there IS a god rather than believing there isn’t one. And I believe there is only one to clarify.
agnotism seems like the most rational perspective for me too OP; I try to follow a scientific mindset and making a definitive 'no god' statement imo implies some level of definitive proof of that. It shuts down promising ideas like the simulation theory; I'd rather just be highly sceptical of any religion that claims to know higher truths without also using scientific investigation to backup there claims.
strictly speaking you're not (and if that's a consistent belief haven't been) an atheist, then. Good luck converting, or not.
Yea I used to be an atheist for a few years, a few things happened and it awakened a realization that I still believe in A god, not sure exactly how I would pray to them
Deism is when you believe in a god but not necessarily a particular religion's version of one. Agnostic is when you are basically undecided one way or the other. Since you said that you still had faith i assumed you meant faith in some kind of god, even if it's not the Christian version anymore.
That’s not necessarily what deism means but it can. Wikipedia says it’s ascertaining that there is a god through reason. My previous impression was that it was basically saying there is a god who in some way created the universe but hasn’t intervened in creation much since. I find this view compelling, but I have yet to see a logical argument for the existence of god compelling enough for me to move beyond agnosticism.