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Show DAILY THE CHRONICLE UTAH rj, ( Ui n !!( U '? U 1 1 TrT """ "53 I 'J- f I Urn A w Z3 I Itm rtTirfiiirwitii' mrtiwJ & timitt ........ ' V A . - I,. - V- - Mi' m. i 1 1 feimrttt-mi- n jJ o MIXJ ill Diith ' the U, is the faculty adviser to the campus' Freethought Society, a group for student freethinkers, under-represent- jolt their heads in I'ax direction every time he speaks Ras-musse- y the word "agnosticism." Some of them even walk up to join the conversationpuzzled about what he doesn't sec in organized religion. Some arc just interested in what an agnostic has to say. Agnostics, perhaps contrary to public opinion, have plenty to say. Being agnostic means far more than throwing your hands in the air and saying, "I don't know." According to many who claim the title, true agnosticism is a strong belief system that is both moral and spiritual. While they do not center their beliefs on any "God," agnostics do not deny the fact that God exists. Rasmussen, an agnostic student and former president of the Student Discordian Society, feels that agnostics arc often misunderstood. "I don't deny the possibility of God. I just believe that you can't know anything, let alone God," he explained. Dccn Chatterjee, a professor of philosophy at MATT CANHAM 'V- - - Chronicle Editor in Chief bed, I stared ying in my small twin-siz- e at the old Utah Jazz posters that adorn my wall. Mark Eaton towered over a thin Karl Malone, Thurl Bailey stood over then starting point guard Rickey Green. But really I wasn't looking at them, rather, I was looking through them. The time between when I hit the sheets and when I actually fell asleep was when I atheists, agnostics, humanists and believers. While he considers himself to be a radical humanist, Chatterjee sympathizes with the agnostic point of view. Agnosticism, he says, is, "The idea that because one cannot prove God's existence, one should live with it as an open question." Chatterjee explains this "suspended judgement," as he calls it, using the metaphor of a closed door. A man may or may not be standing behind the door. Since they cannot be sure either way, agnostics wouldn't assert that the man is or isn't there. Therefore, their belief system is not contingent on what they cannot know. John Krcnkcl, an agnostic who currently teaches history at Park City High School, is a former American Baptist who graduated from Duke University with a degree in world religion. "The more I learned about religion," he said, "the less I know about the mctaphilosophicaL If I had one answer, I'd be a happy man." Easy answers are not acceptable to the agnostic, who would say that one should not take a stand on an unknowable issue. Chatterjee says that agnostics therefore feel, "intellectually honest and responsible." would philosophize about the meaning of the world, the differences between good and bad and why the Jazz would most definitely win the championship this year. But this night I turned my thoughts to an even more important topic: Does God exist? My family is not particularly religious, I had yet to attend an organized church service, but most of my friends did. I heard about the Son of God, heaven and hell and sin. but only between building my tree house and playing basketball. I feared death. I feared the death of a family member, and I had no idea what would happen when I closed my eyes for the last time. I tried to think rationally. CHRONICLE FEATURE EDITOR John Krenkel, an agnostic who currently teaches history at k . A s ' . Park City High School, is a former American Baptist who graduated from Duke University with a degree in world religion. , ,- - '' t ' - 1 ed open-minde- d assers-b- ' Along those same lines, Chatterjee asks why faith has to lie in the "supernatural" when there is "abundant reason to have faith in the world around us. There is robust, healthy, rewarding faith in friendship, love, family, human triumph. Why not bring spirituality to the human realm?" Faith is one of three aspects of agnosticism that Chatterjee mentioned. Agnostics are highly spiritual, deriving their spirituality from "human experience." By agnostics emphasizing celebrate the individual spirit in a way they find "more rewarding," Chatterjee said. Rasmussen considers himself to be a highly spiritual person. "To say you can't be spiritual without a firm belief in God closes so many doors," he said. "I have had intense spiritual, experiences." Krenkel agreed, saying, "Just because I don't know anything about the truth out there doesn't mean that I don't have a sense of soul. There are parts of my psyche that I can't explain in logic which becomes spirituality." "Religion obscures, spirituality," Rasmussen said. "I take it beyond God, to my very being." Morality, agnostics also believe, can easily be defined without a concrete belief in God. They look to a more universal, human basis of right non-senso- ry shouldn't there be a God? An being that created the Earth, the stars, my mom and dad, my school and even Hey, why my video games. Someone had to do it, right? Someone had to send all of this science into motion, create the first atom, the first rock, the first lump of space. Makes sense to me. Wait a minute. Who says it is just one person? Yeah, how about a committee of people? Old guys with long beards and women with silver hair and thick eye shadow sitting around a table deciding the fate of the world. Maybe they were voted in by the angels, my uncle among them. Maybe my uncle is on the committee that decides which and wrong in order to be more objective. "When morality is based on dogma, whose God's morality should we follow?" Chatterjee asked. Krenkel added to this point, saying, "I suspect that people who say that their morality is based on God have underlying notions of right and wrong that their morality is really based on." Many people argue that since religion can be a source of comfort and give life meaning, then why not believe in God just in case? "I figure that if there is a God and he is anything like he is supposed to be, he would know I am lying," Krenkel said. Rasmussen admits to thinking a lot about the supernatural, but still he remains agnostic. "It works for other people, but it doesn't work for me," he explained. Those who have a belief in God, Krenkel said, "have it easy." "Either way, I am screwed," he continued. "If they are right, they will all get to laugh at me down in hell; if I am right, they will believe their last breath never knowing, and I'll never have my chance to laugh at them." And if God accepts him as an "undecided" believer anyway? "Then they'll be really pissed," he said. jmitchellchronicle.utah.edu college I will get into, whether the United States will win the Persian Gulf War and what happens to those poor baby seals. Sounds good to me. The democratic system works here, why doesn't it work in heaven? I stared through my Jazz posters, my hands resting comfortably on my chest and my mind exploring the depths of heaven. In this state, I played a little Didn't I just randomly make up the democratic system of Gods? There are no holy books that make reference to the Almighty Committee. No big churches are organized around the point-counterpoi- idea. CASSANDRA HARTLEY CHARTLEYCHRONICLE.UTAH.EDU see CANHAM, page 7 581-704- 1 n I o |