Hi. Believer here who went through an agnostic stage from 2002-2005. Husband is irreligious; I met him in 2004.
What keeps me in faith is largely two things. #1, I strongly believe in purpose, goals, order. Without these things, civilization struggles. #2, I think Jesus had the highest morality and the greatest purpose of all. Every person and every civilization struggles with lawlessness, injustice, imperfection, suffering, death. Jesus is the only one I think lived perfectly, rightly. So I believe what He says.
Hmm... interesting topic. And, judging by the "strictly enforced" statement about keeping this civil, I'm going to risk getting involved. I typically avoid any discussion about religion, because it's mostly over my head, and people tend to react negatively to my descriptions of what I do believe. If pushed, I often will settle for "spiritual, but not religious", which is not only usually acceptable, but becoming more common in recent years.
I do believe in order in the universe. I do believe in purpose. I do believe everything happens for a reason, even if we don't know what that reason is, and we may never know. I do believe there is more to the universe than we can explain. (For that matter, there is more to the human brain than we can explain, and that's only a very tiny piece of the universe as a whole!) I want to believe in the paranormal, within reason, but I was raised in a Western society, and therefore, have a Western mind which tends to default to "prove it to me, or it doesn't exist."
I cannot believe in some person-shaped omnipotent, omniscient being in control, because my life experiences have taught me that people are incapable of being that intelligent. As a general rule, people are stupid. Individual people can be intelligent, up to a point well short of omniscience. As a species, we engage in war and widespread environmental destruction, and cannot seem to figure out how not to. I'm not a pacifist, or an environmentalist. I'm not even a peace maker. I just call 'em like I see 'em.
Next to "people are stupid", one of my other default beliefs is "never underestimate the depravity of human beings." I believe kindness exists, I believe compassion exists. I've experienced a fair bit of both directed towards me. I try to practice both as continually as it's possible for a homo sapiens to do. However, I've also experiended abuse and maltreatment, and discrimination, and more trauma than anyone should have to in
several lifetimes. I've experienced, and witnessed (in various forms, with varying degrees of connection) people doing horrific, destructive, unspeakably cruel things to each other, including those helpless to protect themselves, just for the sake of it.
I do believe in a non-corporeal Creator. One akin to the Native American (or First Nations, depending on which country you live in) idea of a Great Spirit. I do believe animals, trees, water, etc. have spirits of their own. I believe those spirits can be Guides and protectors to those of us of the two-legged variety.
I do not claim any particular connection to anything that would infringe on things that those of Aboriginal descent feel is theirs alone. I would not want to be seen as appropriating another's culture for disreputable reasons. However, I relate better to the traditional Aboriginal ideas of spirituality than I do any form of organized religion.
Oh, also, many Buddhist ideas make sense to me, but I will never be a Buddhist either.
I do believe the universe wants the best for us, and wants to help us. (Goes back to everything happens for a reason), as much as an entity that big, and disparate, can. I have no opinion, or evidence either way, on whether the universe is sentient or not. I do believe that we do not exist only to suffer. The goal is fulfillment, satisfaction, and purpose. How any of that happens, and what it looks like is a very individual thing.
Ummm... and that's the end of my current brain power on the subject, whether or not it's the end of everything I hold in my head on the subject.
.
