Do people who are agnostic still attend church?

Answer 1

An agnostic might indeed attend church, or they might not - it's up to them.

Agnostics are simply people who don't believe deities can be proved or disproved. This is not to be confused with Atheism, wherein a person does not believe any god exists. The two are independent and not mutually exclusive.

An agnostic then has the options of "maybe there is, so I'll worship anyway" or "maybe there isn't, so why bother?".

In the first case, a person will attend church because they can and want to; in the second, a person does not attend because they don't want to.

Persons who might otherwise be in the second group are also sometimes forced to attend, for example by parents or by society.

A second perspective

I am agnostic. I go to church. Now, the reason as to why I go to church is not necessarily the same reason as a Christian. I go to church not because I choose to worship God (although I do sing the hymns etc.; why not: it's not often you get the opportunity to sing when not in the shower), but because I aim to stop being Agnostic. It is better to have certainty than it is to have uncertainty.

Rather than giving up and saying "It is not possible to know." I say "I don't know." This means that I have a certain desire to find out the truth which propels me to go to church and to read into other religions, such that I may understand their ways. I personally find Buddhism fascinating.

If we are to understand Agnostic beliefs, we must understand the terminology. Agnostic means 'without knowledge', and therefore I define Agnostics two ways:

• Definitive: "It is not possible to know whether there is or is not a God." or even "It is not possible to know whether anything exists or is true." The latter being an utter lack of faith in the world as a whole. This type of person, I would say, is the type who commits suicide.
• Uncertain: "I do not know whether God does or does not exist due to a lack of evidence (or some other reason)." This is where I am.

and

• Agnostic Theists: "I believe that God exists but am not certain of it."
• Agnostic Atheists: "I believe that God most likely does not exist but there is still the possibility that one does."

A definitive agnostic would not bother to attend church as it is not worthwhile since it is impossible, in his opinion, to know God. He doesn't bother to read into religion, but instead busies himself with other things. The uncertain one most probably goes to church. He is not trying to know if he does not. He reads into other religions actively. The theist attends church, though with no great enthusiasm, barely clinging to his faith. The atheist reads into it, though most likely gets nowhere through empty research, and most likely does not attend church because he believes that God is unlikely. Therefore, Agnosticism is more complicated, I believe, than some people would take it to be.

The reason for attending church can never be the same as a Christian, but one can still hope to gain spiritually from the teaching.

Therefore, I would say to any Agnostic to decide from the above where you are at and on that basis make your choice as to whether you go to church or not.