Topics Religion

Question Hej. I have a question of how to explain as good as possible to my girlfriend that I'm agnostic. She sais that if i follow the way of god that I will have ot better. Thats not right isnt it? Please help me. She also sais that she's convinced that she will marry a christian man. We're 8 months together now and I dont know what to say or do. This could end our relationship and I dont want that.

Accepted:
February 12, 2016

Comments

Philosophers have differed on

Philosophers have differed on whether belief in an all good, just, powerful, loving God has an important role in living morally --Kant, famously, contended that a practical faith in a just, powerful God was essential in making sense of the moral law, but there are many philosophers who approach ethics without an appeal to a supernatural or overall cosmic vision of justice. In any case, let me offer a line of reasoning you and your girlfriend might consider. If she wants to marry a Christian man, it is probable she wants to marry someone who lives out a life of the virtues that are associated with (or are integral to) Christian values such as honesty, compassion, love of neighbor, fidelity... As an agnostic about theism (belief in God) perhaps you are not an agnostic about the central importance of love of neighbor and the world (what a Christian might think of as creation), and it may be that you might actually be more of a Christian (in terms of what you actually value) that someone who self-identifies or claims to be a Christian, but who (in fact) does not live with honesty a life that is true to Christian values.

In the great American novel, Moby Dick, near the opening there is an amusing scene in which a main character is sharing a room with another person and he remarks that he would rather room with a sober cannabel than a drunk Christian. I take from this the suggestion that some persons who might have wrongful views (whatever the topic, be it eating human flesh or voting for Trump) could be much better persons than those who have high ideals but fail to live up to them.