Am I an Atheist, Agnostic or Pantheist?

[Anonymous]

I wanna spell out what exactly I believe in when it comes to God. As I am having a hard time trying to categorize myself when it comes to these kinds of things. So let’s start off with what I DON’T believe. I don’t believe in a personal, anthropomorphic God that has commandments or wants you to worship them. Nor do I believe God needs a vessel in the form of an age old book or prophet to carry out their message. And even if their IS a God, i don’t believe it to all knowing and all powerful. And I also don’t believe in an afterlife. Now what DO I believe? I DO believe in the unseen, I believe in spiritual forces like karma, power of the tongue, Deja Vu. I d believe some people can receive visions but not in the way religion made it out to be. Controlling the inner tug of war between carnal and spiritual desire. I believe in the POSSIBILITY of a higher power. That higher power may be a higher energy, could be the universe, could be a higher essence that’s ingrained in all of us. If there is a god, I think not only would it be beyond our understanding. But God would also be above our social constructs being that God predates all of those things. So I don’t believe God COULD be a person, let alone a he or her or them. I believe in the possibility of a higher power. I know this may not make sense to a lot of people. But I don’t even think we as humans are supposed to fully understand God and think we have spiritually figured out. Because if that stuff is real, it’s beyond all of that. So let me know what you guys think. Thanks for taking the time to read and I wish y’all the best.

[Subglacial]

You sound like an agnostic, deist, or maybe just "spiritual".

Agnosticism has more to do with knowledge than belief, so depending on who you ask, "agnostic" might be an adjective to describe a belief, but not a belief itself. One can be an "agnostic atheist" -- seeing no reason to believe in God but acknowledging that we cannot know for sure. I think most atheists fall into this category even if they don't use that term. People that believe in a non-specific, non-intelligent "higher power" might also.

I might hesitate to call you an atheist because you still hold some spiritual beliefs, even if they aren't God specifically, but it's kind of open to interpretation. Buddhism (at its core) is probably technically atheistic because there is no deity, but I don't know if Buddhists call themselves atheists. Maybe "non-theistic" is better.

Non-organized spirituality is kind of a Wild West of self-descriptions, but some people have really strong opinions on how these terms should be defined. Hopefully one of them will show up and give you a better answer.

TL;DR: I would tell people you're spiritual and elaborate if they ask.

[jshm2]

You're a dipshit deist, bordering on the pagan side.

Do better, kiddo.

[Asker]

Fasho mf

[DiegoO]

Pantheist