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What do we mean by agnostic?

I don't know if this has been asked before, or is asked often, but I am curious.

When I was a teenager, my father said that he was agnostic. He meant that he didn't really care if God exists or not. As I grew up, I wanted to believe but had the unfortunate nagging suspicion that God did not really exist.

Which do you mean, if you are an agnostic, do you "not care" or "not know" or do you believe that there is no God but call yourself an agnostic for some other reason?

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surrealhoax 7 Mar 2
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22 comments

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8

Atheism is about belief or, what you don't believe. Agnosticism is about knowledge or, about what you know. An atheist doesn't believe in any gods. An agnostic doesn't know (for sure) if any gods exist or not. They are not mutually exclusive terms. That makes me an agnostic atheist.

8

I can say there is no proof of god, but I
also can't say
there is no god

6

I identify as being agnostic... bio's, profiles, social media, etc... explicitly because admitting to being atheist creates a whole new set of issues, discussions and renewed sense of urgency for people to "save" me. I am comfortable with who I am, and respect others and their beliefs, but unfortunately it is not the same for atheist's. People are afraid of atheist's. I often wonder if it is because it challenges their own beliefs? What I can say for sure...never once have I attempted to persuade anyone to convert to atheism. Sadly I can't say the same for people who identify as being Christians. During my brother's recent death, I had more people than you can imagine use the opportunity of one of the most difficult times in my life to persuade me to get "saved" so that I would one day be able to see my brother again. It only emphasized my commitment to atheism and made me angry as hell.

5

Theism and atheism address belief.

I am an atheist because I do not believe the claims that theists make about the existence of a god. I can see no evidence to back up their assertions. - Analogy - You may believe that bigfoot exists, however, I will withold my belief in bigfoot until such time there is sufficient verifiable evidence to substantiate the claim. I do not claim that bigfoot does not exist.

Gnosticism and agnosticism adress knowledge
I am agnostic because I know that a nil hypothesis cannot be proven - just because we cannot find evidence of a god now, does not mean that evidence of a god will never be found. So I do not know that a god cannot exist in any form in any universe.

In the strictest sense, I am an agnostic atheist, In reality I just describe myself as an atheist.

Yes. I don't know why so many people treat agnosticism and atheism as two levels of the same idea. The words are referring to two different ideas.

5

It is a recognition that there are answers that can't be answered (yet, or never will), so you just go ahead.
The lack of an answer for a god (and which gods) existance, make me act like there is no cosmic nany demanding something from me.

4

As there really is no way to prove any gods exist or not, agnostic is the only logically defensible position. "I don't know and you don't either." Whether a person does not know or care to know makes little difference, at least they are not arrogant enuf to claim they know the unknowable.

4

I once heard the term apathetic agonistic and that describes my beliefs. I don't know if there is a good. I find it unlikely. However, I do not believe there is anything resembling a loving, caring, omniscient god

3

As a skeptic, I can't bring myself to be be 100% certain of god's non-existence. I used to think about it constantly. Now I merely go on with my life.

Cool term I learned recently:

Apatheist: A theist who doesn't really care about their religion - you know - most of the people you know and love...

3

It’s a willingness to say I don’t know or I’m not certain as to the mysteries of existence. The Godpel if I Don’t Know and neither do you!

2

I don't know what "we" mean by agnostic but I know what I mean by it. Agnostic means "without knowledge" and it means that no supportable knowledge claim can be made for or against the existence of god(s). This is because all gods are, by their human design, unfalsifiable, being as they are invisible and ineffable.

This is what Huxley meant when he coined the term and I think it is the definition that's philosophically defensible. It is NOT just being "unsure" in the sense that most people use that term -- "unsure" implies one could encounter new information that would provide certainty, or that certainty is even a worthy goal.

To me agnosticism produces, not uncertainty, but indifference.

That's the knowledge position; the belief position varies independently. That's why I'm an agnostic atheist.

1

I identify as agnostic. For me, it means that a Higher Power does not exist for me. I see no evidence of it. I don't feel I can say that He or She does not exist for others and I'm not adamantly anti religion.
I just don't personally feel a "presence" of a "God" and never have.

In short: I respect others' beliefs; I just don't share them.

1

A lazy atheist

1

Agnostics are fence sitters.

Marz Level 7 Mar 2, 2018
1

To me it is a lack of belief, but open for re-evaluaion sould any actual prrof were ever to come to light.

1

It means one who does not know. My definition everybody is agnostic because nobody knows many believe. That makes me both an atheist and then agnostic. I believe God doesn't exist and therefore have no religion. However I don't really know for certain. Nobody does

1

I had a friend in college who would have ment by "agnostic" that he was ambivalent. But for me it's the lack of certainty.

1

Agnostic is one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god. I'm an athiest

1

I promised my mother the faith of a mustard seed. And besides a little can't hurt just in case lol

1

this is just the best site so far that i enjoy as a none believer

0

I like this definition: a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God.

But I don't identify myself as agnostic. I'm atheist. 100%. My guess is that there are things that exist beyond material phenomena (trans-material) that can be experienced - ideas and thoughts and concepts - like "justice" or "fear" or "peace" - we can see material evidence of their existence - we can know a lot about them but where are they? There is the tree in my backyard but where is the idea of "tree." I'm not sure but I'm willing to say not in the material plane.

Or I could be completely out of my mind...

0

One way to view being agnostic is being a "fence sitter". A theist will say that god(s) exist, an atheist will say there are NO gods, and an agnostic will say "I don't know".

Atheists don’t say there is no god(s). They say they don’t believe the claims.

0

I have always been under the impression that an agnostic simply questioned the existence of a God. It is my misfortune to have been raised in a rural setting where church was about all that there was for entertainment and most people claimed to be a Christian. As a result of this I came to believe the same and the resulting mental illness enabled me to spend many years in college and in psychotherapy where these false teaching were eradicated. I now believe that everything is made of energy and that such energy has a source and a positive and negative pole. The source of this energy, which is beyond my comprehension, is my spiritual father in whom I have no fear.

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