Opposite Corners’ religious debate: Agnostic

I am writing this piece today to give an insight into Atheism (well actually in my case Agnosticism) and the different ways in which it looks at life. Before I start ranting and raving about not attending church, never confessing, never taking communion and all other elements involved in my non-Catholicism, I’d firstly like to describe Agnosticism and Atheism, for fear that I get chased around college being sprayed with holy water and compelled with crucifixes.

When I was born my parents made the decision not to baptise me into any religion. They believed in giving me the freedom to choose whatever religion I agreed with whenever I was old enough to decide. As a young child, I decided not to make my Communion and in 6th class I also chose not to make my Confirmation. For years I was constantly told: “Oh, so you’re an Atheist then,” and I always agreed because I never really knew what I was. In primary school, when other kids asked me what religion I was, I used to just answer “I’m a nothing,” and laugh.

It was only in secondary school, while having a DMC (deep meaningful conversation) with my friend’s boyfriend that he explained that I was actually an Agnostic.

An Agnostic takes more of a philosophical view on life, believing that God, the afterlife, reality and ‘what life is’ in general is simply unknown. An Agnostic can be very spiritual and doesn’t necessarily believe in ‘nothing’, they just don’t know what it is, and (in my case) don’t think people ever realise what life and God is until they pass away.

An Atheist, however, is a firm non-believer who rejects the idea of a god. I do believe in some type of god, just not the type taught by the Catholic Church.

One way of showing the differences between my family’s beliefs and those of the Catholic Church is at funerals. At the funeral of a family member a few years ago a really nice service was held where stories and memories alone were read aloud. Instead of sacraments and hymns to glorify the Catholic God and send the person on to meet this god, stories were read out about the jokes they used to tell and the argument they once had with someone over how to make a banana sandwich. In my opinion this is a much nicer way of letting someone pass on because in reality nobody really does know what kind of God they’re going to meet. I don’t see anything wrong with expressing yourself as a Catholic, I just think it’s nicer to feel close to God in your own way rather than pledging yourself to a particular religion.

Going back to primary school, one thing that I do disagree with regarding the Catholic religion is the glitz and glamour surrounding communions and confi rmations. I don’t understand why small children should get so much money from their relatives for this and in some cases not even fully understand why their making it. If you were to ask a child: “Did you enjoy receiving the sacrament of the Eucharist?”, they would look at you as if you had two heads, but if you asked a child: “How much did grandad slip ya for the Communion?”, they would smash the piggy open with a hammer to flash a load of fifties at you. Even though there are no rituals concerned with Agnosticism, an Agnostic can still feel close to God in their own way.

Don’t get me wrong, I think there are lots of nice things about the Catholic Church, but there are some things I just don’t agree with. If a priest is meant to feel in touch with life and God and the power of man, then why aren’t they allowed to marry and have children? We’re all people at the end of the day, I just don’t think I’ll be damned to hell if I’m not pure on my wedding day or if I don’t like Joe next door.