A Defense of Agnosticism

As a full time student at a Catholic institution, I have the privilege to be able to get many different views on religion and worship from many different people. I have absorbed the information and opinions given to me by professors and students alike, and usually a religious discussion in a Catholic surrounding is a pleasant experience in itself. Despite corruption, which is prevalent in almost every religious sect, usually all religious views on ethics and morality are good natured. But there is one area that I realized has been slowly shifting from apathy to annoyance, and that is the field of agnosticism.

Being an agnostic myself, I have come to realize that devout and non-practicing Christians as a whole usually tend to view agnostic people as taking the easy way out. This is shown when the word agnosticism is used, and the inevitable eye roll comes from several different religious scholars. They view the stand on religion as lazy, and that most agnostics are "taking the easy way out" of making a huge life choice.

I am not one to speak for the masses myself, but I know my motives for being an agnostic, and none of the choices I have made in regards to my spirituality root from laziness or any other derivative of the word. I know that many people who claim to be agnostic may just be attempting to avoid religious conversation with people, or may even be weak-hearted and not ready to commit to anything. Many people just choose not to think about such matters as well. These may be the people the eye rolling is aim toward, but that is definitely not why many people choose to claim agnosticism.