Except in this one, I don’t want to know why you believe something. I just want to know what you believe. I just want a poll, not a debate.
I would describe myself as an atheist, agnostic and apatheist.
By that I mean I believe god doesn’t exist, that it’s impossible to tell either way, and that it doesn’t really matter anyway.
I’m open to the possibility of god. I just think it’s not likely. As an analogy, I also believe it’s possible, but unlikely, that physics doesn’t actually follow consistent laws, but rather, just by dumb luck, every experiment done shows they do.
My idea of god is that of an analogy to an author. When you write a story, you’re the god of that universe. You’re perfectly omnipotent and omniscient in that universe. This neatly sidesteps the logical paradoxes that come with those two attributes. Any other conception of god, I believe, does not deserve the term “god”. (I don’t really like it because that means nothing actually causes anything else, everything just does what god wants. But hey, I don’t think it’s actually true, so…)
This is why I don’t believe it’s possible to know whether or not god actually exists. If the hand of god were to come down and say “I’m God. Worship me” in a thoroughly convincing manner, that could be god’s avatar in this universe or it could just be an extremely powerful being, which as I said, doesn’t deserve the name god. Of course, if god wanted us all to worship him, we would, since he would control our actions.
And that’s also why I don’t think it matters either way. If he exists, then we act exactly as he wants us too. And if he doesn’t exist…
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a belief quite like mine. Maybe I should name it…
So, what do you believe?