:: Friday, December 16, 2005 ::

Fun with definitions.

I'm always looking for a way to define my religious beliefs, not to pigeonhole myself exactly, but to make conversation easier. I waffle between considering myself an atheist or an agnostic, which are both broad definitions anyway.

Tonight, however, I found a term that really appeals to me: Ignostic

From wikipedia:

"Ignosticism is the view that the question of whether or not deities exist is inherently meaningless. It is a popular view among many logical positivists such as Rudolph Carnap and A. J. Ayer, who hold that talk of gods is literally nonsense. According to ignostics, 'Does a god exist?' has the same logical status as 'What color is Saturday?'; they are both nonsensical, and thus have no meaningful answers."

note: the above quote is a sub-section in the wikipedia page on atheism.

I shy away from saying that I'm an atheist, that I do not believe God exists, because I don't have any evidence to say he doesn't. But then when I say that I'm agnostic, that I do not believe we can know whether or not God exists, I want to laugh at myself for allowing the possibility. To say, rather, that the whole question of his existence is nonsensical and therefore not worth considering is a much more comfortable statement for me.

I know I will never be able to define my beliefs, and I think that's a positive thing. But definitions are fun to play around with sometimes.

:: Katy 2:38 a.m. [+] :: ::