To me, it’s insane to be anything other than agnostic. Whether there is a God and/or life after death is the ultimate question. To think that God would deny us that mystery—that ultimate unknown—by sending his “son” or appearing to “prophets” to prove his existence totally ruins the concept of faith. To appear to humans during their life would deny us a sense of wonder. We’d lose the eternal question of not knowing the meaning of life.
If you take the Bible or Quran as fact, it would be asinine to question the existence of God or the meaning of life. He told you He exists, and the meaning of life is to join Him in heaven. Never mind the preposterousness of randomly appearing to a select group of people in a certain part of earth during one specific time in humanity’s existence, 2,000-odd years ago. If there is a God, he would NEVER reveal himself to humans. That would defeat the entire purpose of faith. Faith is so much more powerful when you don’t know.
The existence of God and what happens when we die is the ultimate unknown that will never NOT be unknown. No one living has or will ever know. That’s what makes the question so powerful.
Therefore, every religion is fiction—completely made up by humans. That’s not to say religions are all bad. Some religions have very good ideas and philosophies of life such as the Golden Rule. Other ideas like stonings and jihad are not so good.
Most of the founders of religion and writers of the original texts probably had good intentions. They were writing metaphorical stories to teach moral lessons to their fellow humans. They may not have even claimed to be prophets of God—that may have come later, through here-say over the years, getting muddled over time like a game of telephone, or a fisherman exaggerating the size of the fish he caught. As the stories were passed down from generation to generation, others probably added details to make them more incredible, flourishes of God and miracles so people would pay more attention.
If you write a moral story or ethical treatise today, most people will ignore it, especially the most immoral of people who need to hear the story the most. But if you say, "Actually, God told me this story, and this great man who came up with these ideas was the son of God. And if you don’t follow these moral guidelines, you’ll go to Hell." Then all of a sudden, people will perk up, pay attention, and start following the morals of those stories.
In that sense, I can’t totally blame those who originated the white lie about God to get people to behave better. Except thousands of years later, that white lie has grown out of proportion. People are so tied to the dogma of religions and the exact words in the texts, that they fail to see the forest from the trees. They act immorally to those not in their sect because they think their book is the true book of God. They hate, and sometimes even kill, those who oppose their beliefs. Which defeats the entire purpose of religion: to bring people together to live in peace.
Whoever originated the idea that these religious texts were literally true were in actuality being the most sacrilegious to God (if there is one). Claiming that they knew the answer to the ultimate question, which the Creator intended to be unknowable, is a direct insult to Him (if He exists). Even worse, religious leaders condemn others by forcing this false belief on their followers.
People created religions to control others, which is bad enough in itself, but beyond that, they deny their followers the sense of wonder that comes from the ultimate question of life. You may say that some religious people still have wonder because they at times have doubt about God and the afterlife. But the problem is their religion makes them feel guilty for feeling doubt, when in fact, doubt is the entire point of life. You should revel in doubt. In wonder. In questioning your existence. That is the purpose of life: to question the meaning of life.
As for the religious people who claim that without religion, the world would go into chaos filled with sin? They must be sociopaths. If the only thing keeping you from murdering someone is the fear of going to hell after you die, then you’re a sociopath. That essentially means that no religious people are actually good because they’re only behaving good in hopes for the reward of heaven and out of fear for the punishment of hell. A truly good person is good to others with no expectation of a reward for doing so, or out of some fear of punishment if they don't. They simply have compassion and empathy for their fellow human, and that is why they are good. An atheist who is moral and treats others kindly, as though he would want to be treated, is better than a religious person who does the same. Because for the religious person, being kind to others is a selfish act. Whereas there’s nothing in it for the atheist other than being kind for it’s own sake. Humans who are not inherently kind and empathetic are either born that way due to some genetic disposition or chemical imbalance, or through a poor childhood upbringing that led them astray. In either case, they are victims.
On the other end of the spectrum, being a militant atheist can be just as bad. There’s some discrepancy over the definitions of atheist and agnostic, but when I use the term “agnostic,” I don’t mean agnostic over whether the God of the Bible exists. It’s clear he does not. I mean agnostic about whether any kind of creator of the universe/multiverse/simulation exists. When I say "atheist," I mean someone who believes there is no creator at all and the universe came into being at random with no cause or intent. However, there’s no definitive proof that is the case. We can’t say for sure there isn’t some simulator who programmed our multiverse and initiated the Big Bang. Therefore, to defiantly believe so is obnoxious. Both theists and atheists are wrong in thinking that they have the answer to the ultimate question. The truth is NO ONE KNOWS. No one has ever known or, perhaps, will ever know.
Socrates had it right thousands of years ago when he said that true knowledge is in knowing that you don’t know. Take solace in that fact. Relish the uncertainty. Accept that some things are unknowable.
Is there a God? I don’t know.
Is there life after death? I don’t know.
What is the meaning of life? To ask those very questions.
When it comes to the deepest mysteries of existence, it’s insane to be anything other than agnostic.