Agnostic is a Four Letter Word

Lett made this point well by stating that, "if you are willing to be selectivein the evidence you consider, you could reasonably conclude that the earth isflat." Along the same lines is the concept of honesty when evaluating ourclaims. As I stated previously, we must be honest with ourselves about theresults of an examination and be prepared to abandon belief in a claim thatproves to be invalid or unsound. This is easier said than done. Even whenoverwhelming evidence is presented to us, it is easy for our ego and our priorconvictions to be resistant to this shattering blow. It is never easy to admitthat something we held to be truth, and perhaps even based many of our lifedecisions on or our value structure or our understanding of the world, isunfounded, illogical or just plain wrong, but as critical thinkers andintelligent, reasonable human beings, we must be willing to concede and evolveour thinking in light of the evidence. What affected me most from this sectionof Lett's article was the mirror he held up to me when asserting that neutralityand agnosticism are no better than credulity and faith. For most of my adultlife I have considered myself to be agnostic in all aspects of religious andparanormal belief. I do not know and I was comfortable with the fact that I didnot know, until Lett explained that basically, that is a cop out answer and weshould not be willing to stop at I don't know, but should dig deeper intoourselves and the evidence regarding a particular claim and not be wishy-washy.If there is nothing, admit that at this point in time, in light of the evidencepresented, there is nothing, until someone can provide solid evidence of thecontrary.