I battled that question myself. I was raised in the "Holy Roller", "Bible Thumping" state of North Carolina. My family was very religious and would often attend a local Southern Baptist Church. I went through the motions as a young teenager. I attended church on Sundays, went to church functions and outings. But, I was a very logical and scientifically minded person and found much of what the church was teaching me was conflicting to what I had learned through school and my own reading. The turning point was when I asked a preacher if my Cherokee ancestors went to heaven since they never had known Jesus as their personal savior. The preacher told me that the Bible clearly states that you must know Jesus. I told the preacher right there that I can never worship your god then. I never went back to church again. Letting go of religion was a huge relief, but, at the same time, it was very scary. It meant giving up on the notion of eternal life plus, the scariest thing of all was, trying to fit in with my family and friends who were devout christians. I finally decided to call myself agnostic. The reason being is that there is no way that I can prove that a supreme being does not exist. I do not believe one exists because there is no evidence of one. But, since I can not prove it then I just claim myself an agnostic. It also helps me in religious debates. I just tell people that I am not going to tell them that there is or isn't a god. I am just going to tell them that there is no evidence of a supreme being and until they can provide me with indisputable evidence, then my position will stand. Anyway, I can relate to what you are saying and I think you are doing quite well.

In some ways, that is like asking whether you are a Canadian or an Ontarian. The agnostic philosophy is about all knowledge and one who follows it requires empirical evidence to accept something as true. Thomas Huxley meant the term to apply to following the evidence rather than subjective feeling or the pressure of religious institutions. He applied the term to questions about the existence of supernatural beings later when pressed by the eclesiasts of the time to exempt God from the requirement. Believing in god(s) is not possible within the agnostic philosophy since no empirical evidence has been presented for the existence of god(s). Huxley also pointed out that no evidence exists that proves god does not exist either so the question is unanswerable and not significant for an agnostic.

Of course, in practical terms, concerns like risk management and other factors are involved in deciding whether something is true or important enough to insist on evidence. If you and I are in a building when a fire alarm rings and you ask if I think it is real or true, you will be talking to yourself.

As an agnostic, you are also a post modern atheist, one who says he or she doesn't believe in god ( a no brainer since, technically, agnostics don't believe anything). There are still a few traditional atheists, those who say, " There is no god." who get quite worked up with me when I exercise my agnostic right to ask them for proof. If you are uncomfortable with the difficulty of proving a negative, don't make the statement.

If you don't believe in a supreme being then you're an atheist. That's the very definition of an atheist.

Whether you want to present with that label is up to you. "Humanist Jew" is arguably more circumspect than "atheist". It signals that you're oriented to helping others, and no one wants to be accused of being anti-semitic. Atheist is a more straight up "I'm not buying it" concerning god(s) and so people react more to it.

I lived in Arizona for 13 years (Phoenix metro area though, which is probably less conservative than most other areas) and never had religion come up as a discussion point.

Humanist and cultural Jew describes me. Probably anti-Zionist too.

Humanist and cultural Jew describes me. Probably anti-Zionist too.

You can be an Agnostic Atheist. We've had many discussions on the actual meaning of these two words. Search for those discussions. You may find some humour in them. I do.

And "Humanist Jew" is apt, I think - even if I can't label my self an "Atheist Catholic".

I was raised a Catholic - very religious. My family recited the rosary every night up to when I turned 15 or 16. But like you I don't practice Catholicism anymore. But I respect my parents' and my sisters' families belief in Catholicism still. I mean, I don't discuss religion with my nieces and nephews as they requested - UNLESS they ask me about it first.

The more you comment and exercise your mental reasoning in response to atheist or agnostic posts here, the more you will develop your own internal identity. Be yourself, brother, don't let anyone do your thinking for you, and you should be fine.