Which do you most identify with? (more inclusive poll - 54 options)

[Alben Barkley]

Technically agnostic, and in fact I'd argue anyone who claims they are NOT agnostic is a bit nuts. By definition, all it means is you don't know if there's a god. Which is not something possible for anyone to know. Therefore, agnosticism is the only rational position.

However, what you KNOW and what you BELIEVE are separate things entirely. You can be agnostic and still BELIEVE there is or is not a god, etc.

So, with that said I consider myself an agnostic and a deist. Because I don't know but believe there probably is some sort of "god," but not one that resembles the god of any religion or one that interferes in "his" creation. I find a personal god very unlikely. More like some kind of supernatural force that is beyond the (current, at least) capacity of humans to comprehend and that set the universe in motion; the pantheistic idea that the universe itself is "god" also has some appeal to me. Combined, there's even "pandeism." But I'm not sure exactly what form the deity takes, so I just stick to calling myself an "agnostic deist."

I guess technically I could be considered a "Christian deist" as well, like Thomas Jefferson -- who famously stripped the Gospels of all references to the supernatural, but still believed in the importance and wisdom of the teachings of Jesus. And I have Christian values so internalized at this point due to my upbringing and culture that there's definitely still some of that sticking with me. But to be honest, I could now only still consider myself "Christian" in the very loosest sense.

In fact, in the eyes of most religious people, I have no doubt that I am essentially an "atheist" for all intents and purposes because what I believe is so far removed from what they do. But I do not consider myself an atheist. I think there's too much wonder in the universe, too much unexplained and possibly unknowable, to say it's all just a coincidence that came from literally nothing. That to me sounds almost as implausible and magical as the craziest religious stories. There almost has to be SOMETHING more going on, even if we can never know precisely what or why. And absent any other real explanation for the origin of the universe, calling whatever the hell caused it "god" sounds as reasonable as anything else.