Re:Should More of Us Be Moving to Live Near Friends?
by jhardy54 on Saturday December 28, 2024 @09:03AM
(#42531114)
What you’re describing isn’t really agnosticism. Agnosticism is about not knowing if gods exist, not about thinking their existence doesn’t matter.
The mix-and-match approach you’re describing is seems more closely related to religious syncretism.
Re:Should More of Us Be Moving to Live Near Friends?
by speed_spread on Saturday December 28, 2024 @05:30PM
(#42535394)
Once one admits that God's existence is undecidable, s/he can either live in fear of both possibilities or live free of both possibilities. Having no use for unfounded fear, I personally much prefer the latter option. God, if it exists, is irrelevant. Any spiritual activity I perform is for my own benefit and for the good of those around me, never for the consideration of a possible being that couldn't be bothered to manifest itself and make clear what its moral rules (if it has any) actually are.
Re:Should More of Us Be Moving to Live Near Friends?
by whiskiss on Sunday December 29, 2024 @11:26AM
(#42540881)
It could be argued by the religious that in some cases they did manifest(according to their beliefs), and there's actually an excess of copies of the rules if considering the amounts of the Quran or Bible printed.
Unfortunately atheism has the side effect of weakening the social constructs that organized religion brings. Not being a religion itself, it does not prescribe any replacement rituals.
The Japanese stance you describe would better be described as agnosticism, the belief that God's existence doesn't matter. This allows to mix and match existing rituals and beliefs into a coherent whole and puts the individual back into the driving position. It's a very sane way of handling fragmentation of belief and what I believe more people should be doing.