Originally Posted by Phaseolus

Hi everyone,

Im an Indian (south Asia) from a fairly liberal family (a rarity in my part of the world). I was raised to believe in god, both parents are firm believers though they don't subscribe to any one religion ("All religions are different interpretations /mediums/routes of/to the same god" school of thought).

God (not religion) was a very important part of my life in my younger years, he served as a pillar of support during the hard times and life complicated asit is was just easier to deal with knowing there was someone up there looking out for me. But as I aged, with growing experience of the world and my chosen academic field (i am a molecular biologist/geneticist) the fabric of my faith was progressively shredded to pieces (thats as delicately as I can put it, so you can imagine how difficult the transition was). Initially I became an ardent atheist but as I matured, I realized how parallel my views were to those at the other end of the spectrum - the fanatic theists, a realization that was sudden and horrifying (I kid you not, I was having an argument with a muslim friend about the usual and it just struck me, a bolt of wisdom tinged lightning...how myopically similar our arguments were albeit in the opposite direction). Well after a lot of introspection and soul searching Ive become who I am right now...an agnostic or more specifically a weak agnostic (wikipedia.org).

I haven't joined this forum to push my beliefs or to get into lengthy, strung out debates regarding the existence of god/validity of religion etc etc. What I am here for is healthy conversation with like minded individuals in the hope of finding answers that may help me understand human nature and the world a little better.