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LINK Key Differences Between Atheism and Agnosticism

The words atheist and agnostic conjure up a number of different perceptions and meanings. When it comes to questioning the existence of gods, the subject is a tricky one that is often misunderstood.

Key Takeaways: Atheism and Agnosticism
Atheism is about belief or, specifically, what you don't believe.
An atheist doesn't believe in any gods.
Agnosticism is about knowledge or, specifically, about what you don't know.
An agnostic doesn't know if any gods exist or not.
It is common for people to be both agnostics and atheists or agnostics and theists.

#agnosticism #existence #agnostic #Atheist #atheism #belief #god
TheoryNumber3 8 Mar 4
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1

Level 7

Thanks, this is helpful. Now that I see it a bit more clearly, I suppose I'm a gnostic atheist.

kmaz Level 7 Mar 6, 2024
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1

Level 9

The modern world seems obsessed with forcing labels on people so that other people can tell them that they are doing it wrong.
Call yourself whatever you want, just don't try and tell me what I am and I'll reciprocate.

I don't think the intent of the article was to chastize anyone. Many people don't understand the difference between two philosophies, and I don't see the explanations as anything but helpful.

@TheoryNumber3
The word Agnostic only came in to being in 1869, created by Thomas Henry Huxley, grandfather of Aldus Huxley, as a get out of Hell free card for people who did not want to live theist lives but did not want to have their barbaric god burn them for all eternity for being atheists.
Since then people (mainly the atheist but spiritual brigade) have been redefining the word to mean whatever they want it to mean at any given moment in time, rather than just have the courage of their own convictions.
As I said people are obsessed with labels. I would rather just be honest, and have others be honest with me.

@LenHazell53 I doubt anyone calls themselves agnostic because they're afraid. I call myself an agnostic because I don't know how anyone can be sure there is or isn't a god.

By the way..... I don't want to split hairs, but you labeled yourself an atheist in your profile.

@TheoryNumber3
If you can be sure that unicorns don't exist, fairies don't exist and Sherlock Holmes does not exist how can you not be sure gods do not exist?

I used the term atheist because as the word literally means I am without god(s)

@LenHazell53 One can't really be sure of anything without empirical evidence. I BELIEVE that god doesn't exist... and I'd be really surprised if it did. But god's main purpose is to provide an explanation for things that are inexplicable. Or, as I said earlier in a post... to control the masses through fear
2

Level 8

I'm an agnostic atheist. I don't believe in any gods, and I don't believe it can be known whether there may be gods that simply have never revealed themselves, but it really doesn't concern me now or how I live my life.

All the gods I've heard about so far have been created in the imagination of men. Of that I'm certain, but I don't claim to know about what might come in the future.

This is all we've got right now. This life, this earth, these people, and we'd better dang well figure out how to make the best of it, regardless of any imagined input by mythological gods.

3

Level 8

I don't believe in god simply because I was never taught to. I suppose if you have this BS drilled into your head as a child, you believe in it. Period.

1

Level 9

I simply no longer believe and have arrived at this place because of a total lack of evidence for gods of any kind. I call it atheism but you can call it whatever you like. Please do not define me in this but you can call yourself whatever you like.

3

Level 9

Seems like a fairly clear outline for believers who are often misinformed. Though I think that the diagram could be misleading, since it implies that all four squares are equally peopled, where in fact gnostic atheists are much less common than agnostic atheists.

While I am not sure that Agnostic theist really exists at all, since belief must involve some imagined evidence however bad, and how could evidence, even false evidence, be held to exist, yet not be considered knowledge.

The diagram does show more people in the agnostic theist square. But yes, I'm pretty sure it's not representative of the world percentages of religious views.

0

Level 1

On this one, in the lowest left quadrant.
scratch geometry dash

2

Level 9

In the lower left quadrant on this one.

Save me a seat 😉
5

Level 8

I'm in the lower-left quadrant. I know it's impossible to prove the existence (or non-existence) of God. That's my agnostic side. However, due to the absence of any independently-verifiable evidence, I rate the probability of Her existence as vanishingly small; practically nil. That's my atheistic side, and it is the dominant one. I live my life as if I were 100% sure that no god exists, even though I'm only 99.99999999% sure. 😂

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