Should I call myself an agnostic or atheist?

[Saturn500]

File me under Agnostic Theist.

[Witchyjoshy]

I'll go under Agnostic Theist, too.

[Sigmaleph]

I always found odd the fine graining of terminology we have for various degrees of belief in gods, even before accounting for things like varying numbers of gods, different distributions of worship of gods, and philosophical positions on the meaningfulness and answerableness of the god question.

[guizonde]

wait. i've always considered myself atheist (my belief is that you're born with Faith or without. it doesn't grow on you). yet i know i've been baptized under bacchus, and i (half-jokingly) swear by Pelor. i'm convinced neither exist, yet by those definitions, that would make me a theist...

help?

[Osama bin Bambi]

wait. i've always considered myself atheist (my belief is that you're born with Faith or without. it doesn't grow on you). yet i know i've been baptized under bacchus, and i (half-jokingly) swear by Pelor. i'm convinced neither exist, yet by those definitions, that would make me a theist...

help?

Wait, did you just say you were baptized in the name of an ancient Greek god?

Baptism usually doesn't happen with consent, so it's not a particularly good measure of whether one is religious or not. Also, jokingly swearing by a fictional god without believing in him is technically not theism, since you don't have the prerequisite belief in said god. I'm an atheist but I say "swear to God" all the time - that doesn't make me a theist though.

I personally doubt that religion is hardwired into someone at birth. There are a lot of people, some members of this forum included, who have gone from being devoutly religious to atheistic, and there are a handful of cases of people going the other way around.

[Sleepy]

wait. i've always considered myself atheist (my belief is that you're born with Faith or without. it doesn't grow on you). yet i know i've been baptized under bacchus, and i (half-jokingly) swear by Pelor. i'm convinced neither exist, yet by those definitions, that would make me a theist...

help?

Why do you think you're born with or without it? Children become religious through their family and culture, and are able to switch religions or bail on it at any time.

[Sigmaleph]

wait. i've always considered myself atheist (my belief is that you're born with Faith or without. it doesn't grow on you). yet i know i've been baptized under bacchus, and i (half-jokingly) swear by Pelor. i'm convinced neither exist, yet by those definitions, that would make me a theist...

What definition are you looking at?

[Radiation]

I just mentioned in another thread that I am somewhat a Muslim, as well as having an interest in Ifa/Vodou, however, I would put myself under Agnostic Theist in that I do believe that there is a higher power above all but I cannot say for certain that there is one. Mostly been told by my mom that I have to have "faith" but my skeptical and logical mindset makes it hard to just have faith.

I just go to where I need spirituality and try to find an anchor but yeah I am still ambivalent in what I believe.

[Vypernight]

I'll file myself under, 'Stubborn, Pig-headed Skeptic.'  I want to believe in a higher power and afterlife, but (and my wife has also pointed this out), a god or ghost could punch me in the face, and (assuming I'm still alive and somewhat as sane as before), I'd think it was just my imagination.

[Sixth Monarchist]

The OP should call themselves the Grand High Imperial Archduchess-Mage Goddess-Empress of Indeterminacy, Doubt and Scepticism and First Lady of Milton Keynes.

Because 1. it covers all the bases and 2. I'm pretty sure Milton Keynes doesn't have any nobility assigned to it, so it's there for the taking.

[Flying Mint Bunny!]

The OP should call themselves the Grand High Imperial Archduchess-Mage Goddess-Empress of Indeterminacy, Doubt and Scepticism and First Lady of Milton Keynes.

Because 1. it covers all the bases and 2. I'm pretty sure Milton Keynes doesn't have any nobility assigned to it, so it's there for the taking.

The Magic Roundabout could symbolise the confusion of not knowing which direction to take.

[m52nickerson]

I call myself an agnostic simply because I question.  Of course part of that is how fucked up churches are.  Hell if the Catholic church ever pulled it's head out of it's ass I would most likely go back.

[guizonde]

@Eva-Beatrice: yeah... the "baptism" involves being in a temple dedicated to wine and merriment, and being annointed with wine.

it was in '89, in a wine cellar, with a bartender/oenologist (bacchus' devout) annointing me with a bottle of jurançon '84 (white wine). i was a week old. it wasn't meant to be a true bacchic baptism, but i searched around and it's pretty much down pat. so i laugh it off. (helps explain my weakness to white wine, though!)

@sigmaleph: the ones from the start of the thread. must've misread something (again)

@sleepy: it's weird to explain, but i've seen atheists motivated by something i call Faith (with the capital F), like it's a divine pulsion. i've seen it in some curates or other church officials, like they really do believe what they preach. someone who is profoundly devout, but not bigoted. i've seen a lot of the reverse (me included) who can't grasp that. a physical impossibility to manifest those feelings and that ardour. it's not tied to religion, either. kind of an unshakeable, unchangeable thing. like being left-handed, or having blue eyes. you can't do anything about it, you have it or you don't. it's pretty cool to see it in action, really stimulating, makes you feel giddy, almost. hell, i feel awesome for them, but i'm wowwed by things i can't do/ perceive.

[Osama bin Bambi]

@Eva-Beatrice: yeah... the "baptism" involves being in a temple dedicated to wine and merriment, and being annointed with wine.

it was in '89, in a wine cellar, with a bartender/oenologist (bacchus' devout) annointing me with a bottle of jurançon '84 (white wine). i was a week old. it wasn't meant to be a true bacchic baptism, but i searched around and it's pretty much down pat. so i laugh it off. (helps explain my weakness to white wine, though!)

For a second I thought your parents were neopagans who literally worshipped Bacchus or something. I happen to know a girl who was given an exorcism using blessed cooking oil, but that's not the same thing, is it?

[guizonde]

@Eva-Beatrice: yeah... the "baptism" involves being in a temple dedicated to wine and merriment, and being annointed with wine.

it was in '89, in a wine cellar, with a bartender/oenologist (bacchus' devout) annointing me with a bottle of jurançon '84 (white wine). i was a week old. it wasn't meant to be a true bacchic baptism, but i searched around and it's pretty much down pat. so i laugh it off. (helps explain my weakness to white wine, though!)

For a second I thought your parents were neopagans who literally worshipped Bacchus or something. I happen to know a girl who was given an exorcism using blessed cooking oil, but that's not the same thing, is it?

my mom's openly anticlerical (spanish civil war descendant... not exactly friendly with the church), my dad's atheist. they just let the bartender do it for shits, giggles, and as an excuse to party. yup, first act after being born:"drinks on me guys, i'll catch up in 18 years!". (you could say that i worship bacchus openly, since praising him boils down to "eat, drink, be merry, and fuck subtlety because it's time to party!" but hey...)
as an aside, my best friend was raised neopagan. he sees it as a philosophy, but his mom actually goes on pilgrimages every solstice and equinox. she's a fun girl. crazy, but fun. 
i was never too friendly with organized church, but i do have a lot of respect for the devout. bigots, on the other hand... well, i AM on the boards and the forums, so you can guess... also, whenever i look at american christian doctrines, i always wind up screaming "HERESY!!" since it doesn't exactly fall anywhere near orthodoxy, catholicism, or protestantism (dominionism, i'm looking at you...). whenever people ask why i can quote scripture to offer counter-examples to bigotted claims off the top of my head, i always answer "knowledge is power, and you should know your enemy"... yeah, i guess i'm slightly anticlerical.