They are not mutually exclusive. One is a statement of lack of belief (atheism) and the other is the position on that belief (agnosticism). The word agnostic on its own has no value because it doesn't tell me what you're agnostic about.
Agnosticism is not a belief, it is a position on knowledge regarding a belief. A gnostic theist KNOWS God exists and believes in it. An agnostic atheist doesn't know whether or not a God exists but does not believe in one. The vast majority of atheists are de facto agnostics, as they know they can't make an ultimate comment on the existence of the supernatural, one way or the other.
"an agnostic is someone who neither believes nor disbelieves in the existence of a deity or deities, whereas a theist and an atheist believe and disbelieve, respectively."
[QUOTE="Zeviander"]Agnosticism is not a belief, it is a position on knowledge regarding a belief. A gnostic theist KNOWS God exists and believes in it. An agnostic atheist doesn't know whether or not a God exists but does not believe in one. The vast majority of atheists are de facto agnostics, as they know they can't make an ultimate comment on the existence of the supernatural, one way or the other. So gnostics doesn't exist making the term agnostic redundant?
[QUOTE="Zeviander"]Agnosticism is not a belief, it is a position on knowledge regarding a belief. A gnostic theist KNOWS God exists and believes in it. An agnostic atheist doesn't know whether or not a God exists but does not believe in one. The vast majority of atheists are de facto agnostics, as they know they can't make an ultimate comment on the existence of the supernatural, one way or the other.themajormayor
So gnostics doesn't exist making the term agnostic redundant?
'gnostic' applies to either an atheist OR a theist. They know 100% for sure god does or does not exist. Gnostic atheists are rare
[QUOTE="Tylendal"]Agnostics say that .999999999999999999999 =/= 1.MetalDogGear
Where'd you get this statistic from. It's a metaphor. An atheist acknowledges that all things are possible, but acknowledges that some ideas are so remotely unlikely as to be essentially impossible. Same as how 0.9 repeating essentially equals 1. Agnostics say "It's possible". Atheists say "It's too improbable."
[QUOTE="themajormayor"][QUOTE="Zeviander"]Agnosticism is not a belief, it is a position on knowledge regarding a belief. A gnostic theist KNOWS God exists and believes in it. An agnostic atheist doesn't know whether or not a God exists but does not believe in one. The vast majority of atheists are de facto agnostics, as they know they can't make an ultimate comment on the existence of the supernatural, one way or the other.wis3boi
So gnostics doesn't exist making the term agnostic redundant?
'gnostic' applies to either an atheist OR a theist. They know 100% for sure god does or does not exist. Gnostic atheists are rare
They're not rare. They don't exist. Redundant term.
Not necessarily. An atheist is one who does not believe that there is a god. An agnostic is one who believes it is impossible to know whether or not there is a god.thegerg
Got it in the first post.
Or if you prefer Stephen Colbert's definition, agnostics are atheists without balls.
[QUOTE="themajormayor"]They're not rare. They don't exist. Redundant term. themajormayor
I'm an agnostic atheist. I've met a few gnostic ones. Yes they exist.
They can say they know but they can't know. They're "agnostic" just as everyone else but might have stronger or weaker "faith"
If you want to be specific on religions, I'm gnostic when it comes to the major religions of the world. I'm positive, for example, the god of the bible doesn't exist.
As far as the literal meaning of the words atheist means "no God" (a=negation, theos=god) while agnostic means "no knowledge" (a=negation, gnosis=knowledge). As such, one could argue that the biggest difference is their degree of certainty. However, the terms have often taken a life of their own and can mean other things as well. As an example, to say that I am a gnostic theist in one since is extremely right yet to say that I am a Gnostic Christian is far from the truth. I do indeed believe with a degree of certainty (hence gnostic theist) yet I am not remotely affiliated with the early church heresy called Gnosticism (such as their attributing only deity to Jesus and not humanity, for instance).
atheists stop at a playground jump out and tell the kids running around with their arms extended playing airplane that they are not in fact airplanes and are stupid for pretending.
agnostics just drive by and let the kids play and ignore the atheists lecturing them.
I define my agnosticism as "i just don't know yet". Perhaps we may know for certain later. I'll even practice a religious-type faith here and there as a 'belief', but I don't treat my belief as a slam dunk universal fact and say to anyone, ''you're wrong''.
I define myself being agnostic as that I don't know, I don't see any evidence for it, and science explains away a lot of "God's" phenomenons. But again, I don't know. It's improbable and very unlikely, but I won't say there isn't a God because I can't be sure. There is a lot to prove against a supreme being, and very little pointing to that there might be one aside from what religious yuppies come up with ("God cured my terminal illness!", "God led me out of danger!", "God saved my marriage!".).
I only just read up on it myself. Atheists flat out don't believe in any sort of deity. Agnostics are those who don't swing one way or the other. They don't necessarily believe in a deity, but are open to the thought.
I'm an agnostic atheist. I've met a few gnostic ones. Yes they exist.
wis3boi
They can say they know but they can't know. They're "agnostic" just as everyone else but might have stronger or weaker "faith"
If you want to be specific on religions, I'm gnostic when it comes to the major religions of the world. I'm positive, for example, the god of the bible doesn't exist.
Your new signature is awesome. Much better than the galactic apocalypse you used to have.
[QUOTE="themajormayor"] They can say they know but they can't know. They're "agnostic" just as everyone else but might have stronger or weaker "faith"sune_Gem
If you want to be specific on religions, I'm gnostic when it comes to the major religions of the world. I'm positive, for example, the god of the bible doesn't exist.
Your new signature is awesome. Much better than the galactic apocalypse you used to have.
If you want to be specific on religions, I'm gnostic when it comes to the major religions of the world. I'm positive, for example, the god of the bible doesn't exist.
wis3boi
Your new signature is awesome. Much better than the galactic apocalypse you used to have.
I am an athiest simply because there is zero evidence for god. Also having grown up in a country which was religion heavy I have a distrust of organised religion due to how corrupt and morally destitute it is.
[QUOTE="MetalDogGear"][QUOTE="Tylendal"]Agnostics say that .999999999999999999999 =/= 1.gamerguru100
Where'd you get this statistic from. His ass. I'm still trying to figure out how a metaphor is the same thing as a statistic. Seriously. What did I say that had anything to do with any sort of statistic?
They're not mutually exclusive. My friend is an agnostic atheist (or was it atheist agnostic). He doesn't believe that a god exists, but is open to the possibility.
[QUOTE="themajormayor"]They're not rare. They don't exist. Redundant term. themajormayor
I'm an agnostic atheist. I've met a few gnostic ones. Yes they exist.
They can say they know but they can't know. They're "agnostic" just as everyone else but might have stronger or weaker "faith"I dont think it matters whether they can actuallyknow. The term gnostic and agnostic simply describes the perception of the person himself/herself about their belief, not if their perception is valid.
I'm an agnostic atheist. I've met a few gnostic ones. Yes they exist.
Teenaged
They can say they know but they can't know. They're "agnostic" just as everyone else but might have stronger or weaker "faith"I dont think it matters whether they can actuallyknow. The term gnostic and agnostic simply describes the perception of the person himself/herself about their belief, not if their perception is valid.
[QUOTE="MetalDogGear"][QUOTE="Tylendal"]Agnostics say that .999999999999999999999 =/= 1.Tylendal
Where'd you get this statistic from. It's a metaphor. An atheist acknowledges that all things are possible, but acknowledges that some ideas are so remotely unlikely as to be essentially impossible. Same as how 0.9 repeating essentially equals 1. Agnostics say "It's possible". Atheists say "It's too improbable."
.9999999999(repeating) does = 1. There's mathematical proof. :P Totally different situation!
atheists stop at a playground jump out and tell the kids running around with their arms extended playing airplane that they are not in fact airplanes and are stupid for pretending.
agnostics just drive by and let the kids play and ignore the atheists lecturing them.
[QUOTE="Riverwolf007"]atheists stop at a playground jump out and tell the kids running around with their arms extended playing airplane that they are not in fact airplanes and are stupid for pretending.agnostics just drive by and let the kids play and ignore the atheists lecturing them.dave123321
Shadowmoses likes this i like that god is represented by kids pretending to be airplanes
they way i view it is an atheist cares about being right about there being no deities and will try to defend that belief. an agnostic is more like "eh... whatever" regarding said existence..
[QUOTE="MetalDogGear"][QUOTE="Tylendal"]Agnostics say that .999999999999999999999 =/= 1.Tylendal
Where'd you get this statistic from. It's a metaphor. An atheist acknowledges that all things are possible, but acknowledges that some ideas are so remotely unlikely as to be essentially impossible. Same as how 0.9 repeating essentially equals 1. Agnostics say "It's possible". Atheists say "It's too improbable." Correct me if I'm wrong but, isn't the idea of the universe coming into existance or something that same percentage?
[QUOTE="Tylendal"][QUOTE="gamerguru100"][QUOTE="MetalDogGear"] Where'd you get this statistic from. His ass. I'm still trying to figure out how a metaphor is the same thing as a statistic. Seriously. What did I say that had anything to do with any sort of statistic? Perhaps adding "Metaphorically speaking" somewhere in your post would have made it easier for some people around here to understand...
Log in to comment