Reply #62: I'm agnostic. Here's why --

[SteppingRazor]

I will never know whether or not there is a god. So, there's no point in even considering it, as it's a question that will never get answered. And thus, if there is a God, I'll never know what he/she/it wants out of me. Any notions I have of goodness, decency, or righteousness are not based in the idea of a higher power. What is good is intrinsically good, without a higher power branding it as so. I don't really understand the concept of "faith" -- it seems to me to simply be belief based on nothing at all.
Why believe in Allah? Because Muhammed came out of a cave, said an angel spoke to him, and told you to?
Why believe in Jesus? Because his body mysteriously disappeared from a cave three days after he died, and his followers all claimed to have seen him afterward?
Why believe in Mormonism? Because Joseph Smith said an angel spoke to him, and only him, and told him how everything works (where have I heard that before...)?

I think you can look to the stories of Jesus or Buddha as role models of a good, altruistic life. Too, you could look to Ghandi or Mother Theresa. Moreover, I wouldn't be convinced that any of those people -- or any one else, ever -- had everything right. You have to deicde right and wrong for yourself, and then accept the consequences of your creed.

You'll never know whether or not there is a god, so why bother trying to answer the question? It's a useless endeavor. Live a good life simply because it's the right thing to do. You'll find out everything else after your dead. Or you won't. If the former, and you lived a good life, you're fine. If the latter, then it won't matter anyway. But at least you were a righteous person, and you did it not out of fear of eternal damnation, but out of the simple conviction that doing right is, in and of itself, the right thing to do.

I don't think anyone can be asked to do more, or less, than that.