Reply #180: Thanks From One Stuck In The Middle [View All]

[MikeH]

Thanks very much, Az, for your thoughtful post.

I am a former Protestant Christian, now agnostic, but not an atheist.

I definitely have problems with fundamentalist Christianity, and with those who would impose their faith on others, and who believe anybody not of their faith is headed for hell.

Other than that, Christianity made sense for me to try out, and it was a major personal disappointment that I felt that Christianity turned out to be of no help to me in enabling me to better deal with my personal issues and frustrations.

That being the case, I have not wanted anything to do with going to church or any outward practice of Christianity for over 15 years now. In particular, I have not wanted to submit to any obligations like pledging money or making any vows of membership to a church. (I would not mind going to church for any special occasion; maybe for old times sake with some old friends.)

However, I do have theoretical and philosophical problems with believing that there is nothing or nobody higher than ourselves and the natural universe.

Thus, I consider myself to be just on the believing side of agnostic.

I definitely want to make my own decisions about god or no god (or anything else of personal importance), and do not appreciate pressure from either a Bible-believing fundie Christian or from an atheist.

I do strongly believe in separation of church and state.