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When to switch primarily identifying as an Agnostic to Atheist?

At what point should a person make their main identifier (regarding the God question at least) be Atheist instead of simply Agnostic?

I'm contemplating the switch myself, but from my background, it would be a pretty substantial one for me to make. So I'd love to hear other peoples' thoughts.

Rhetoric 7 Sep 3
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1

I would say there isn't much of a difference. In actuality agnosticism pertains to knowledge and atheism to belief. Though most people don't know and think agnostic is an inbetween. I take on atheist because it has this rebel feel lol I really don't sure agnostic it just seems like people think you don't really lean one way or another. I'm not all sure there isn't a god but I lean that way. If you choose atheist you just need to be ready for he stigma it comes with. Until people get to know atheist and figure out we are good people really.

0

Just do it and get into reality....

1

It's quite simple to be honest. For me, I believe there is a creator who's just enjoying his time observing us. Religion and everything is man made crap.

So you can get your answer by asking a simple question - do you think there "might be" a God or not? Yes-you're agnostic, No- you're an atheist.

1

I went straight from beliver to atheist. Since I was questioning the bs for the last few years I was a believer. I do wish i had broken away from religious bs earlier in life.

1

I've had people try to tell me I'm agnostic because I'm willing to change if offered proof. I tell them I'm an atheist.

1

Late in life (early fifties) I went from "I really want to believe", to "there's nothing out there".....later was telling my "romantic love" about the experience...and she said "you've always known that"

1

I don't believe but I don't claim to know. I am a political atheist.

1

When I told my parents I did not believe in a god they asserted I was "just an agnostic". . At the time I was not aware of the term. When they correctly defined agnostic I firmly asserted, "No. lack a belief in a supernatural sky daddy. I am (not) a theist. Not a theist is an (a)theist." That was many decades ago.

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I went from heathen to atheist. I still do some tribal crap

1

I called myself an Agnostic for a large part of my life. I didn’t believe in god, and thought the Bible was at best a badly written fictional novel, loosely based on ancien Middle Eastern history. But there were things that happened in my life that random just couldn’t seem to explain. I would call it destiny, but destiny would need a controller, which would lead back to a god, which I couldn’t justify as existing. I also considered Atheists to be the “fundamentalists” of non believers, pushing their non belief on others as Evangelicals pushed Christianity. Then I heard about the chaos theory, which explained things that happened that seemed to not be random, without involving a deity to run things. This, a better understanding of what Atheism is and a more militant view of Christian privilege, allowed me to quite proudly call myself an Atheist! ?

0

I sometimes call myself a 'broard church' skeptic, because I think that the biggest split do not forget is between belief and none belief, compared with leaving groundless faith behind the other divisions are tiny, and the most important thing have left behind with that faith is dogma.

Hi @Fernapple! Welcome to Agnostic. 🙂

I'm not sure I follow what you are trying to say...

Are you mostly saying that what's more important is the difference between those who have dogmatic beliefs and those who don't (especially regarding deities), than the difference between Atheist/Agnostic? If so, then I agree, too. 🙂

@Rhetoric Yes that's it. I am sorry I was in haste this morning and perhaps did not make myself plain. De spilling an gamma pinctuation is tirrable two. Must be more careful.

1

atheism means "without a belief in god". when you no longer have a belief in gods, you are an atheist.

you can actually be both, but I'd say the primary moment to switch would be when your disbelief is the first thought, instead of your uncertainty.

when you hear the question "do you believe in god", if you think "hmm, i don't know if there's a god", you're still agnostic. if you think "no, I don't believe so", you're an atheist.

"The primary moment to switch would be when your disbelief is the first thought, instead of your uncertainty."

That's a good delineation for when one may feel they are one or another. Thanks!

@Rhetoric no problem. I went through it myself, as de-converted Christian seeking some other spiritual answer, then as an agnostic, then as an admitted atheist. as a de-convert, my agnosticism actually had two stages, "wanting to believe but not quite getting there" and "not wanting to believe but not quite letting go".

1

When you feel comfortable with the title of atheist. I was comfortable with title immediatly after I accepted there is no god and religion is for fools, 6 1/2 months ago.

0

just today I came across a really nice post that had the term "soul" in it . It was by no stretch of the imagination a religious meme. it was violently ripped apart by an atheist because there is no such thing as a soul. I would say if you are so convinced that you have all the answers of unanswerable questions without having any scientific proof you're an atheist.

Yes, it is sad to see when this happens via some atheists.

But, (while being reasonably critical of some atheists) seeing as you also identify as an atheist (among other things) I'm curious what that means to you?

@Rhetoric I can't remember who said this, but it perfectly sums up how I feel. he said if you are a Christian, a Muslim or a Jew I am an atheist. If you are anything else, I'm an agnostic. I do not believe in a living God and do not believe the Bible should be taken literally . I do not believe in religion as it has been presented to me. However, I do not, nor will I ever, profess to know if God exists in some form or not. I simply do not know, and I'm not sure if anybody could ever know. it's very similar to making a statement that there is absolutely no way that there could be life on other planets. how could anybody make that assertion when were like kindergarteners in our knowledge of exactly what is out there.

@Kojaksmom ... interesting. Thanks!

1

It's up to you. If you are ready to take the heat and take stand. Call yourself an atheist. If you are on the fence and can't say with conviction that there are no gods, call yourself agnostic.

There is a diagram somewhere on this site with 4 different types of agnostic and atheist beliefs. That might help you to see that it isn't really a black/white issue. I have no idea how to find it right now but maybe someone else might.

1

When you not only lack belief in the gods of any particular religions, but actively disbelieve due to the mountain of evidence demonstrating their errancies, contradictions, absurdities, and corrupt origins and perpetuation. Then you can drop the Agnostic tag. If you simply lack belief but don't actively disbelieve yet, that's Agnostic Atheism.

I would disagree with that because that still is a very narrow definition of religion. I have a tendency to consider myself an ignostic. an ignostic is someone who believes that the definition of what God is is so widely varied that it is impossible to be agreed upon. if we can't even agree on a unambiguous definition of God how can we so embrace the fact that it cannot under any circumstance exist.

@Kojaksmom I never said that such a "whatever" cannot exist. I simply have zero belief in any specific deity (not ambiguous deities which are not attached to dogmas or doctrines) which has been espoused by any religions. Actively disbelieving in a specific deity is the same as positively believing they are bogus confabulations.That there could be some ambiguous "whatever" is perhaps interesting to speculate about, but doesn't impact the way I act one iota. To promote that outlook as being of some great significance uselessly and unecessarily clouds the issue by giving cover to religious zealots who would claim to speak in a god's name to tell you and I what to do and think, and is basically a position of being paralyzed into indecision by chasing theoretic speculations down silly rabbit holes.

1

Remember that the difference between a theist, an atheist, and an agnostic is really over one God. The one God theists chose to believe in rejecting all the others. The one God agnostics choose to be agnostic over, the one they grew up with, while being functionally atheist about all the others they neither know nor care about. And finally the atheist who rejects all Gods as there is no evidence, including the one God theists choose to believe and the one God agnostics choose to be agnostic over. See, really just one God separating them. So, go the little extra step and reject that one last God and be an atheist. Your position will then be totally consistent.

0

Interesting that you assume both that there are only two choices and that the switch is inevitable. I myself am an ignostic. My wife is an apatheist.

2

I find both the theist and atheist positions absurd! It's beyond our purview to know whether there is or isn't a god. To take either of these positions demonstrates a preposterous lack of humility.

Gmak Level 7 Sep 3, 2018

Wrong, sorry. An atheist asserts there is not a scrap of evidence for any God, not one. Come back with evidence and we will consider it. No lack of humility involved.

I once would have agreed. However, 3 points: Once you do your homework and move from simply not seeing enough evidence for a SPECIFIC GOD OF SOME RELIGION (let's use the example of the god of the Bible), to seeing the piles of evidence that show errancies, contradictions, absurdities, fraud, corruption, etc., you can be as sure as you can be about anything else that it's B.S. Second, Atheism is not about knowing, it's about belief. Third, whether there might be some deist god(s) who are without dogma or doctrine, who don't intervene, who remain hidden, and who you could just as well call nature, but why should anyone give a hoot about that!

@David1955 I don't know why you insist on putting burden of providing evidence only on the theists and not the atheists!

@Gmak because you don't have to proof a negative. That's science. If you don't agree, please prove to me that dragons don't exist. Assuming that you are a nonbeliver in dragons.

@Rossy92 I don't like or agree with the assertion that atheism is a belief. I'm also an A-Leprechaun-ist, and that's not just a belief; there's no evidence!

@David1955 Ah. There's the rub! Belief in god can't be held to the standards of science. It's not falsifiable (testable). Also, a stance that god does not exist is also not falsifiable; it's also a matter of faith. In other words, it's a belief. Science takes no stance on issues that are not falsifiable (testable). How can it!?! It makes no sense to hold theists to the standards of science. Shame on people like Richard Dawkins who try to do so! If one abides by the standards of science in all things, the only stance one can take is agnostism.

@Gmak I make no claim about the testability or otherwise of any God. You make a lot of assumptions, otherwise known as strawman arguments. Any God worth the name should be able to make itself known, I should think. Omnipotence and all that. I simply state there is no evidence of any God, hence I am an atheist. Should evidence appear, I would consider it. No lack of humility there. I've heard your arguments many times before, always misleading. And I'm still waiting for your evidence that dragons don't exist, or perhaps you are agnostic about dragons too. No shame on Richard Dawkins. Only on some agnostics who attempt but fail to claim the higher ground that they don't deserve.

This part of the tread reminds me of the flat earthers. No matter how many satellites and space ships circle the earth, they create excuses to dismiss. No matter how much you can’t show any evidence for an invisible diety, where it is, what and how it does what you think it might do. If you believe in an after life, where you go, how you you get there, what you are. Nothing provable, nothing within the qualifier of reality. Ghosts and aliens have more proof available than gods.

@Barnie2years Like many, you fail to understand science. First off, evidence does not equal proof! So many assumptions are made when the scientist designs her experiment, some of which she isn't even aware of, that evidence only supports a hypothesis, but never proves it. Deborah Mayo is a contemporary philosopher of science who suggests that we can approach the truth only by fully vetting the alternatives! Secondly, the question of whether there is or isn't a god simply isn't testable. To come under the purview of science, the hypothesis must be testable. God's existence or lack of existence isn't amenable to testing. Read Chalmer's "What Is This Thing Called Science" for further clarification. It irks me to be called a flat-earther, particularly by someone who has so little understanding of the nature of the scientific endeavor!

2

I guess (for me) it depends on what is meant by god. I don't believe in a personal diety. The historical conception of an all powerful loving creator is untenable.
I don't dismiss higher power (s) which may be totally indifferent to our plight. A kind of pluralistic pantheism.

cava Level 7 Sep 3, 2018

True, @cava why does God have to be a person? When you mention the term God or afterlife different ideas pop up in different people's heads. The mere concept of God / afterlife in and of itself is extremely restricting. after all, not one human has died for 6 months to a year and come back to tell everybody the truth. Even Richard Dawkins and Neil deGrasse Tyson claim to be agnostic. these two men are extremely well educated and intelligent, but they know that they don't have all the answers and they don't have all the proof that they need to consider themselves to be 100% atheist.

1

How many gods do you believe in? If the answer is zero, then your an Atheist.

But what about something that is undefinable. Perhaps something that no one could even wrap their brain around. Perhaps were all wrong.

1

I don't worry much about labels, but if you want to be accurate about what you believe and don't want to make a long explanation when asked, choose the word that best describes what you think about how you feel. don't choose the label first. find out how you feel first.

g

0

All true religious beliefs have to be explored and defined from being 'Atheistic' from the ground floor. So being now in the existential realm you must examine all religious and historical evidence available which will take you into the realms of Philosophy and many reading of ancient authors of renown.
Agnosticism is full blown healthy skepticism that exists in ever religious persons cognitive mind because all documented religions are based upon belief and lack the historical and documented findings or record.
We are not mentioning another Scientific Source of Creation which is becoming more evident as we explore the stars and planets which go way back into history.

5

I made the decision to be atheist when I was talking to an ex-boyfriend. Explaining that I could entertain the concept of god, but that I really didn’t care and didn’t see any evidence for it. If someone pressed me for a yes or no answer I would say no god.

He made the observation that a lot of people aren’t atheist because of the stigma attached to the word atheist. I thought that was a good point and decided that I was atheist.

Myah Level 6 Sep 3, 2018
2

If you want to signal to others that you're open to conversion, tell them you're an agnostic.

If you feel you've given deities the same chance you gave Santa Clause and you'd rather talk about other things, tell them you're an atheist.

😉

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