“Pinkie Pie,” asked Twilight Sparkle, “do you believe in God?”
“Of course I believe in God, Twilight!”
“Oh.” Twilight blinked. “Why?”
Pinkie lifted her hooves in preparation for a cartwheel.
“Because it makes me happyyyyyyyy!”
As she spun around herself and out of the kitchen, Twilight Sparkle’s lips formed a new sort of smile.
Pinky WOULD answer like that
I kind of thought Fluttershy would be the more Eastern religion representative and I'm glad to see I'm not disappointed. As for Pinkie, I thought she might be a Discordian... but then I remembered that there really IS a Discord in MLP, so I guess that would make it complicated.
Full disclosure, I am an atheist, but not an anti-religious one. I have to say, I kind of feel like RD got a bit of an oversimplification of her representative philosophy, but maybe - in all fairness - I'm projecting a bit since she's the one closest to my own beliefs.
Regardless, I find discussions about philosophy and religion to be really interesting and this story so far is a neat exploration of the idea. I see there is a little bit of hostility here and there in the comments, but it's nice to see everyone being civil for a story that really could kick up some strong emotions.
5908558 I understand, and I agree it's a personality thing. Nonetheless, that's still a crappy reputation being built.
5908703 You know, I've been told many different definitions of agnosticism. The current one I think is agnostics say "There is no God, but sure I suppose there COULD POSSIBLY be, though there isn't." whereas Atheists say, "There's no God, no way, and I can prove it." I guess you are right, Rainbow is more atheist than agnostic. I used to identify myself as atheist, until I learned what it meant.
Fun fact about me personally. I have an agnostic belief, but I always say if there IS a God, than it's a deist God. In other words, he created everything, then sat back with the popcorn and said "let's see how they screw this up."
Oh, how I love this.
Best chapter
5909396 Sorry, didn't mean to offend. I meant that Dash sounds like an Atheist since she specifically rejects the possibility of a God, whereas an Agnostic would maintain that a God MIGHT exist, but that there is no way to be sure at the moment, nor what such a being might be like.
Looking back I probably should have phrased that a bit differently. I'm sorry if I caused offense.
5908783
There's a lot of different ways to be an agnostic. The core of agnosticism basically amounts to "We don't know, and presently there's no way TO know"
What don't we know? Well, first and foremost we don't know if there IS a god. There could be one, there could not be one. There's no way to know. But just as important is the fact that we say "If there's a god or gods, then we have no idea which religion got it right, or if even any of them got it right." The god or gods that exist (assuming they do) could be wildly different than any earthly interpretation of it/them in current or past religions.
Basically, agnosticism, at its core, amounts to a collective shrug.
Now, once you get further than the core, everybody has their own beliefs or hunches. People will say "I don't believe/think/guess that there is a god, but I'm willing to be proven wrong because the possibility still exists." Or, conversely, "I DO believe there is a god, but I'm willing to be proven wrong because it's still possible one doesn't, and if there is a god, I don't know what he/she/it is like."
Myself? I call myself an Agnostic Deist because I do believe there's a supreme being, god, director, deity, or SOMETHING out there, but I don't know what its nature is. I personally HOPE that it's not any of the Abrahamic interpretations of God, because those don't sit well with me personally, but at the same time, I'm willing to bend if those are eventually, somehow, beyond all chance, proven right.
Agnosticism basically boils down to the admission that you don't know jack shit, that it's unlikely you CAN know jack shit, and learning to become comfortable in the fact that you don't know jack shit.
A crazy smile?
So....it simply makes her happy to believe in a deity watching over her. That makes her like a lot of people.
Pinkie has basically the same belief system as Puddleglum from Chronicles of Narnia.
Ohmigosh...
Thank you so much for writing this.
Just... thanks.
5908752 I don't see it as Dash's philosophy being oversimplified, so much as her being very bad at articulating her thoughts, which seems entirely in character to me.
Huh. For some reason, I'm completely satisfied as a reader here. On to six!
Aren't all religions supposed to do this? Make the believer feel accepted and satisfied or ,more generically, happy?
And maybe spread that happiness? Not necessarily by conversion but by merely expressing your contentedness?
Life is too complicated
Hahah, oh my gosh, best Pinkie~!
Miss Pinkamena Diane Pie is Martin Gardner:
The famous skeptic Martin Gardner was an agnostic theist. He Openly admitted that no evidence exists for gods, but believing that gods exist make him happy. Really everypony is either an agnostic theist or an agnostic atheists, but most agnostic theists delude themselves into believing that they are gnostic theists (no evidence exists for gods existing), but Miss Pinkamena Diane Pie, is honest with herself and is a self-aware agnostic theist, like Martin Gardner was.
Pinkie is an archetypal Holy Fool in a lot of ways.
5918775
Alas, there is no way other than commenting to give you more than one Thumbs Up for your comment. So here I am commenting on your comment to give you more Thumbs Up!
img.pandawhale.com/150967-machine-gun-facebook-like-reac-LcCV.png
Light and laughter,
SongCoyote
I'd kinda hoped for Pinkie to have a bit of a Discordian outlook on life/be an Equestrian analogue, but eh. This one exemplifies her character too.
5914558 Indeed to both statements.
D'aaaw!
I really like Pinkie's portrayal. I also don't think we should try and overanalyze every passage in the Bible, rather, we should follow the basic morality set up for us by God. But no, we can't truly know God until the day we die.
I kind of expected Pinkie's answer to be a little different.
Of course I believe in the gods!
"Gods"? You think there's more than one?
Well, sure! There's loads of em! They live beyond the Fourth Wall and there's different ones for different things!
Like what?
Well, there's the gods who create our world and decide what happens in it, then there's the gods who watch our world and keep track of everything that happens in it! And if the watcher gods stop watching, the gods who create will stop creating, and we'll cease to exist!
Pinkie... It sounds like you're saying the universe is being run like a TV show.
EXACTLY! Oh by the way, if you see Derpy, remind her to stop by and get her free muffins. The watcher gods say she deserves them. They really like her!
6346649
I know right, that was almost exactly what I imagined. Except... it didn't happen.
I'm glad that this chapter was written as such. It lends credence (if you would call a story about a pink talking pony credence) to my 1st chapter comment that being correct in religion or not isn't worth as much as the physiological benefits.
7034641
Only if you're assuming that there is no God who made you to have intimacy with him and that you can only know your purpose within him. Also so long as there's no such thing as heaven or hell. If there's no God who cares about knowing you personally, no heaven and no hell then, yes, the psychology of believing someone is watching out for you is more important than if there really is or not.
I knew I invested in the correct waifu. Praise be to God.
10703421
Well, you fit right in