What is it called when you don't have a religion, but believe in God...?

Question

I am looking for a "term" that is used for individuals who do not want to abide by a specific religion, but believe in God, right and wrong, good and evil, heaven and hell, etc.

Is it an agnostic?

Answer 1

'Irreligious Theist'... or 'Deist'... Depending on your views:
As you believe in Heaven and Hell, the former is likely best.

*ALL* reasonable people have a degree of AGNOSTICISM in their beliefs... An "Agnostic" just takes it to an overriding, cop-out level and applies it with no logical consistency. ... Most agnostics will say:
- there's no Santa; but balk with 'God'
- there's no Ra; but balk with 'God'
- there's no FSM; but balk with 'God'
- there's no gnomes; but balk with 'God'
- there's no bent spoons; but balk with 'God' … etc., etc., etc.

There is equal evidence (none whatsoever) for any of these. WHERE DID THEIR REASONING GO? ... They need to get off the pot and think and reason like they do in all ‘non-God’ circumstances!

Answer 2

An Agnostic is one who does not believe in God, but believe that is possible that at some time in the future there might be a God.
"Religion" is the organized study/belief of a Deity and all that pertains to the Deity.
This is what turns a lot of people off: they read the Bible, the Torah, the Koran and see such a difference between the holy words and what the organized religion tell them.
A person without religion is irreligions, but if you believe in God, then you have religion.

Answer 3

Agnostic means you believe in something, but you don't know what. You seem to indicate that you DO know what you believe in.

Technically, if you believe in God, by one definition you have religion whether you like it or not. A lot of people try to ditch the "religion" moniker because of its negative connotations, but if you worship God, then you have religion. Religion has several definitions, though, and what you probably mean is that you don't have organized religion or possibly no specific faith or ritual observance through which you express this belief. What some people have started using to express this is "spiritualism." So maybe you are "spiritual."

Hope that helps.

Answer 4

Theism or deist, both meaning someone hwo believes in God (Greek vs Latin).

Agnostic is from the Greek meaning "I don't know" - someone who takes the middle ground. They won't say either way.

Of course Atheist means "Without God".

Christian, as some are suggesting, requires a specific belief in Jesus as the Christos or Messiah, which is a very specific religion and rules out Jews and Muslims, who believe in God, but not Christ.

Answer 5

The closest is agnostic. The following definition is from Dictionary.com: a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience. Actually, what you're referring to is "agnostic theism"-Agnostic theism (also called religious agnosticism)—the view of those who do not claim to know existence of god(s), but still believe in such an existence.

Answer 6

Your question is inadequate because it presumes that religion and belief in God are the same thing.

I know a lot of dictionary definitions in the English-speaking world make that same assumption, but it is not correct.

"Religion" does not derive from any concept of a God. It refers to "binding." The Latin root *ligare* gives us both "ligament" and "religion." When people are bound together, or are bound to their Gods, they are experiencing religion. It is the binding, not the "God" part, that matters.

In Theravada Buddhism, the main religion of Burma, the highest level of enlightenment, sought by the devout, is to give up all belief in the existence of any Gods. Thus the most religion-governed life is the life free of all Gods.

You mention "right and wrong." These are not from religion but are ethics. And ethics is a secular study, part of philosophy. Aristotle wrote a whole book about it - his "Nicomachean Ethics." In our time, Father Joseph Fletcher wrote the important book "Situation Ethics." A whole raft of people study ethics without needing to assume some sort of supernatural basis for ethics, such as alleged "inspiration" or "revelation."

You refer to "heaven and hell." These are very ancient concepts, and were universally held in the cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean, such as Greece and Egypt, so it is not necessary to ask why Christianity includes them. What would really need to be explained would be leaving them out.

Finally, you use the word "agnostic." But this word refers to the question of belief in a God, not to religion. It is a term of epistemology, not just of theology.

The most feared threat perceived by the Vatican is not agnosticism, or even atheism, but indifferentism - (Yes, it's a real word - look it up in the OED.) It means you just don't care. That's why it's not atheists but Humanists who shake up the Pope and his Cardinals - because they adhere to ethics without caring about either the existence or the denial of God.

Answer 7

No. An agnostic questions the existence of god. You can say that you believe in god, but you do not belong to an "organized religion."

Answer 8

No. Agnostic means that you don't think either side can prove their case (theists or atheists). It's a very definitive stance. You can believe whatever you want to, and it doesn't need to have a name. But if you believe in God, or believe that He cannot exist, then you are not Agnostic.

Answer 9

No, it is not an agnostic. An agnostic neither believes nor disbelieves in God. Maybe the term you could use is just "believer".

Answer 10

Atheism is the belief that there is no God.

Agnostic is the belief there may be a God, may not. You're waiting for proof of some kind.

Deist would best fill your description, although that really means more the belief in one God only.