An agnostic's point of view of religion

I classify myself as an Agnostic which means I neither believe or disbelieve in the existence of God.  However, I can probably be classified as partly atheist because I do not believe in the existence of Heaven or Hell.  I do not believe that Jesus was the son of God or that he will be resurrected.  I do believe that good and evil forces exist around me and that I have a choice everyday which one to invite along with me.  These are my personal beliefs, and I do not attempt to discredit or insult anyone else’s religious beliefs.

Recently, I began thinking a lot about this subject because I do not feel like I get the same respect for being non religious as someone who is religious.  I have always been frustrated by the people who knock on my door uninvited to attempt a discussion about God on my doorstep.  I can imagine the uproar I would create in the small town where I live if I were to go door to door with information on being Agnostic or Atheist, or even worse Paganism or Satanism, or if I wanted to discuss concepts in the Koran.  I am sure my right to free speech might come to a grinding halt.  The Christian majority would not take kindly to a stunt like that and I am sure my town would not be the only one to be upset if this scenario were to occur.

When I was a child I went to church quite often.  I usually went with my friends or with my grandmother, but I was never quite sold on just having faith in the existence of God.  For me, there were too many questions that religion never had a satisfactory answer to.  For example, I am an animal lover and I never liked the idea that as humans we had dominion over all animals to use as we saw fit.  Even though I was raised on a farm and ranch, and my family did use animals in that way, as an adult I have a very different view of how animals should be treated.

I have also studied the history of religion as well as the history of the bible and there are things that do seem entirely logical to me.  The bible was canonized in the first or second century with certain books being left out by religious leaders at that time.  Some of the books that were left out explain concepts like the story of Adam and Eve in greater detail and today no one knows why some of these stories were not part of the bible.  Our modern society views the bible as the word of God, but if books were not included in the stories how does anyone know what those early religious leaders were basing their decisions on?  This makes me question where the stories of the bible really come from?  Are they really true or were they made up by religious leaders of that time who did not understand much about how the world worked back then.

Back then, people believed that plagues were caused by God.  Today we know that plagues were caused by diseases from contaminated food or from poor hygiene.  Back then, it was thought that the Earth was the center of the universe, not the Sun.  We know the answer to that question now, but Galileo was viewed as a heretic and imprisoned because of his theories.

These are just some of the reasons I have questions about the validity of religion and God.  I have no way of knowing whether I am right or wrong about my views, but I think it is safe to say that if God does exist, I will be judged when I die and there is really no reason for people who fervently believe to take over that job right now, so for anyone who might become insulted over my point of view, try to have some respect and remember that the God you believe in probably has my non belief covered.