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Feel conflicted on what position to take religion-wise? Are you unsure whether you personally think God exists or not? Do you just not care, but still have the issue of not having a response when people ask you about your religion? Are you doubtful about whether God exists, but don't want to take the position of atheism and in some cases constantly have to defend your stance?
Subscribing to agnosticism or apatheism might be the answer for you.
Gnosticism As a side-note, I wanted to mention that the typical layman or "normal" person who subscribes to a specific religion and believes that God does exist is known as a "gnostic theist". Gnosticism is the opposite of agnosticism, claiming that proof of God does exist. Almost no one actually refers to themselves as that, but that's in actuality what they are: "gnostic theists". Someone who absolutely does not believe in god is a "gnostic atheist". The word "gnostic" essentially implies knowing or certainty while "agnostic" is the opposite of that.
Why? The idea with both of these religious stances is that you're not really taking a position on whether God exists, nor are you in many instances subscribing to a particular religion, if you don't want to. It can often be a very neutral position. That's the commonality between the two stances.
What's the difference? Agnosticism is the opposite of "gnosticism" claiming that the existence of God is unknown and can't be proven nor disproven. Apatheism on the other hand is simply being indifferent toward the subject matter in addition to not taking a stance.
Agnosticism There are two types of agnosticism. One is an "agnostic theist" - one who despite being unsure about the existence of God still subscribes to a specific religion. So one can technically be an "agnostic Christian", "agnostic Jew", "agnostic Muslim", "agnostic Hindu", etc. The other type is identifying as an "agnostic atheist", and with this stance you are not subscribing to a specific religion, however you are still different from atheists in that you still are not taking a stance on the existence of God. Agnosticism at the basic level is about the uncertainty, doubt, and not knowing. Above that layer, you can still choose whether or not you want to subscribe to a specific religion or believe in a deity or deities or not. You can also have it be a status thing where you're open to fluctuating back and forth between agnostic theism and agnostic atheism. The beauty of this flexibility will be discussed later in the take.
Apatheism Note the common root in the words "apathetic" and "apatheim". The definition of "apathetic" is "showing or feeling no interest, enthusiasm, or concern" and that is exactly the attitude an apatheist has towards religion. The knowledge of whether God exists is insignificant to him or her. He or she has no interest in the matter and just lives his or her life as if God does not exist. However, an atheist cannot be an apatheist, and is not by definition as atheism is taking a clear one-sided stance and thus implying some interest or regard for the topic. An apatheist is still unsure about God's existence like an agnostic, but in addition to that, also lives his or her life without any regard for even if its existence or lack thereof was proven.
What if I believe in God but not a particular religion? This one is a little more unclear as there are many words that can describe such a person. This can exist in many forms such as deism or panatheism, which the discussion of is beyond the scope of this take. If you're in such a position, you'd do best to first look into deism and panatheism and do some additional internet research of other terms that may fall in this category and see which one most nearly represents you.
Conclusion The most advantageous aspect of many of these stances is how nicely they can simplify and convert your ambiguity, doubt, and/or indifference into flexibility and open-mindedness. If you want, as an agnostic atheist, you can as I mentioned earlier, have it be a status thing where by default you're like that, but are open to converting to agnostic theism if for example, your significant other demands it. You don't have to, but it's an option. You can also do the same with apatheism and choose to follow a particular belief system if need be, but at the basic level still be indifferent on the subject of whether God exists and still live your life without regard for that, or again, you don't have to. The same can be done if you fall in the category of believing in God, but not a particular religion. It's really up to you on how you want to define youreslf and how flexible you're willing to be. But these have the potential to be the most neutral of positions because often you're not taking a clear stance on whether God exists or following a particular religion. You'll mostly be "in the clear" as far as hate and disagreement goes as you're not really being anyone's opponent as far as religion goes, which maximizes the pool of people that you can get along with. So if you're having a hard time defining your religious identity because you don't have a clear opinion or are simply very open-minded about the subject, these are some more options in terms of a simplified label you can use to describe your ambiguous beliefs or convey your flexibility.
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