I think my mother is an agnostic

[Ex Lurker]

We were having a conversation about someone we know being elected to a church position. I made some typically snarky remark along the lines that it was all BS (which I felt bad about, it was an unkind thing to say, though I do believe it.) She rebuked me, but only mildly, and not for the gist of my comment. Understand that she is a church matriarch and has been part of that scene her whole life. Maybe it's for the social aspect, or maybe she likes being part of something bigger than she is. But I don't think she actually believes, not really.

Then again, maybe I'm all wrong and just projecting my own views onto her.

[Syrinx]

1. congratulations!

Nobody really knows the answers to these questions. Being agnostic is being truthful, even if one belongs to a Sunday social club.

[Smarmie Doofus]

2. My mom was sorta like that.

She thought the church ( specifically the RC church) was essentially a force for social 'good'.... i.e. it encouraged people to behave morally and ethically where they otherwise would not have.


So she attended religiously... if you will.... and made us do the same 'til we were HS age or so.

But , no; she didn't really *believe*. OTOH, I don't think she thought that that ( i.e. the theology, the doctrine, etc) was either relevant or important.

[TexasProgresive]

3. Then the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe, help my unbelief!” Mk 9:24

Faith is not knowing so if a believer is honest they will admit, if only to themselves, that they are in a sense agnostic. It is something we cannot know- that God exists or not.

[qb]

4. Years ago I didn't want to tell my mother I was an atheist because I didn't want her to worry

about the fate of my "soul". My mother was very involved in the church during my childhood. As it happened, my sister told her. Her response: "Oh, I don't really know if there is a god or not. I only went to church because your father expected me to."

[PassingFair]

5. It blows my mind that you haven't had an open discussion with your own mother....

these issues were common dinner fodder in my family.

My mother is a believer, my dad was an atheist,
and ONE of us five kids wound up "believing".
(And it's not me...)

We openly discussed all subjects in my childhood home,
and my daughters feel free to talk to me about all
matters (even when I don't want to know!).

[Ex Lurker]

8. our family is different

we just don't talk about things like that. It's not forbidden or anything, it just rarely comes up.

[iris27]

9. You are lucky, PF. I'm pretty sure families like yours are a rarity.

The only religious topic discussed freely in my family is the faith and doctrines of their specific denomination.

I learned quickly, once I no longer believed, that I would need to keep my mouth shut (and in the face of a deliberate ramp-up in religious conversation and dickish jokes against atheists) if I didn't want a family gathering to dissolve into yelling.

Hell, even the two times they tried to "re-convert" me were pretty much just them screaming at me.

[PassingFair]

10. Both of my parents had fathers that brooked NO arguments.

They were little tyrants in their homes.

My parents were determined to be different.

My father's father died before I was born,
but I knew my mother's father.

Once I spent the weekend there and the topic
of unions came up at dinner. I stated my unabashed
support for unions and working people (my grandfather
had been a banker) and the little bastard
ORDERED ME AWAY FROM THE TABLE.

Told me he wouldn't have talk like that at HIS house!

I was FLABBERGASTED and just went into the guest room
for the rest of the night. I really had never had
ANYONE deny me the right to my own opinion before.

Needless to say, there weren't many sleep-overs after that.

[skepticscott]

6. So you're agnostic

about whether your mother is an agnostic?

[Ex Lurker]

7. basically, yes nt

[Goblinmonger]

11. Burn Her!

Oh, wait, this is going a different direction.