Agnostic, Indifferent, or Just Distracted?

Are you “agnostic” when it comes to religion? What does that even mean?

As a Christian, I often tell people in my gospel outreach conversations that if I had not had the kind of personal encounters and experiences with God in living out my Christian faith that I’ve had, the wisest position I could take would be to call myself “agnostic”. I’ve told them that the ability to admit one’s ignorance on a subject – which is what the term “agnostic” means – is the most honest and open-minded position one can take.

I need to be more careful, though, when I say this because I’m realizing “agnostic” means different things to different people.

For me, when I think of being agnostic I tend to automatically assume that one is actively pursuing spiritual interest, but is honest enough to admit they have not yet found convincing truths. They are uncommitted but interested and open to new ideas and possibilities. An atheist, on the other hand, would be close-minded in that they have already reached a conclusion that God does not exist, as if they have looked under every rock in the universe.

But not all who say they are agnostic are actively doing something to alleviate the ignorance they claim to have. Many, such as a young man named Jack whom I spoke with recently, view being agnostic as more of an easy label to use to just explain that they really don’t care to know, that they take no interest in spiritual things. Maybe a better descriptive label might be “indifferent”.

I find it hard to believe that others really don’t care about who we are, where we’ve come from, where we are going, and what our purpose is here in this life. I remember a time when I feigned indifference to spiritual things, because that was the safe way to avoid getting involved, to face up to my shortcomings and sins, and to avoid committing myself to something greater than myself. I wouldn’t have been able to articulate this at the time, but I think that was what was going on.

Jesus said that when the gospel seed is planted, it will be received by many different types of “soil” and in 3 of the 4 that he mentioned it will not grow to maturity. He said that some seed fell among thorn bushes which grew up and choked the plants. He later explained that this meant that the thorn bushes choke the message of God. It is heard, but people’s concern for riches and their worries about life cause the plants to die.

Is that the case with many people I meet who, like Jack, I would describe as “indifferent” toward the things of God? Maybe a better way to describe them would be “distracted”. If so, than maybe my conversations with Jack and others are exactly what is called for: to break into their regular routines and comfort zones that can be so distracting from spiritual things, and to ask some uncomfortable and thought-provoking questions that might lead to more thought in that direction.

John the Baptist had the same sort of role, as one who was “a voice crying out in the wilderness”. We live in a wilderness of competing ideas and distractions that lead many to an indifferent and distracted sort of agnosticism. I pray that many believers will step out of our comfortable Christianity and be that voice crying out in the wilderness.