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God, Faith and Doubt

Just what is a believer (theist/deist), an atheist and an agnostic? For what it's worth, here's my (simplified) 2 cents worth . . .

Believers

Whatever their religion, believers are defined by faith. There's no doubt about it. Their god is The God. Period.

Atheists

Atheists are also defined by faith. There's no doubt about it. There is NO God. Period.

Agnostics

Doubt is what it's all about. There is NO evidence for OR against God. No way to know.

How can you look at the heavens and not be filled with mystical wonder? The fact that we're alive - that there's life at all . . . that we're sentient beings capable of worshipping and emulating God . . . hasn't everybody experienced this sense of awe?

Having said all that, I must confess that I'm an atheist. There was a time, decades ago, when I leaned heavily toward Christianity. Now it appears that, if there were a Creator, he didn't need to create the vast universe, Genesis-style. All he really had to do was spark the Big Bang. The difference in scale makes the concept of God more feasible to me.

At this point, I feel it's necessary to separate religion (ANY organized religion) from God. I speak of God, here, as The Supreme Being, The Creator, The Eternal, The Omnipotent, The Omniscient. Such a God could be the God of any Abrahamic religion (Judaism, Christianity or Islam).

Because nobody, even after thousands of years, can offer evidence either way, belief, or disbelief, in God boils down to faith.

Faith. For something so important, it seems to be glossed over or taken for granted. What exactly is faith? My observations and experience tells me that faith is the willfull suspension of disbelief. There is no bridge between reason and faith; you have to leap. Faith simply can't be arrived at through logic. Faith is a personal position - not an objective conclusion.

What about doubt? How can you have faith without doubt? That is blind faith (perhaps all faith is blind). If we humans are special for any reason, it is because of our minds. Why would God bestow this great gift upon his special creatures only to require that we don't use it to "know" him? Indeed, without doubt, there is no meaning, need or purpose for faith . . . is there?

And organized religion? Yikes! Don't even get me started. That's a whole different subject; and one that's covered in other essays, here at AtheistExile.com.