Hmm... I was thinking about what you said Spiritual Leo about feeling a sense of peace after deciding to deny the existence of any possible deity. My older INFJ sister also said the same thing to me after she left the Christian faith (shes agnostic like the rest of my siblings). Now I've heard possible explanations for this; the feeling of no longer being accountable to a higher being, being the main one. But for me that doesn't explain the opposite, when people find peace in a deity, Christian or not.
My present conclusion is this; Doubt appears to be the result of open mindedness, peace appears to be the result of closure (or close mindedness). As for fundamentalism (religious or not), that is the result of threatening another individuals obtained closure.
For me, though I believe in the existence of a personal and intelligent deity, I have never found peace in this knowlegde. However, my reason in life is not centered around peace, but the potential truth regardless of what that may be. Some of us seek to be open minded about the argument for whether God exists or not, but as long as you remain open minded you won't find peace in either answer, instead you'll find yourself asking more questions. So it comes down to what your personal priority is in life. Any given answer is either the full stop, or the opening statement in questions that come after it.
My present conclusion is this; Doubt appears to be the result of open mindedness, peace appears to be the result of closure (or close mindedness). As for fundamentalism (religious or not), that is the result of threatening another individuals obtained closure.
For me, though I believe in the existence of a personal and intelligent deity, I have never found peace in this knowlegde. However, my reason in life is not centered around peace, but the potential truth regardless of what that may be. Some of us seek to be open minded about the argument for whether God exists or not, but as long as you remain open minded you won't find peace in either answer, instead you'll find yourself asking more questions. So it comes down to what your personal priority is in life. Any given answer is either the full stop, or the opening statement in questions that come after it.