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What are your thoughts on agnostics? Can they be classified as atheists, since they lack a belief in God?
15 Answers
- yogicskierLv 76 years ago
I consider myself agnostic, and therefore different from true atheists. I believe there's a possibility that there's some kind of supernatural power in the Universe, but I don't know, and I don't believe in any particular god.
I think the likelihood of such a power is pretty small. I don't kid myself that I could know for certain, although in recent years I've been sliding toward that "there absolutely is no god" perspective. Still not absolutely sure, though.
Some people (both theist and atheist) have tried to tell me that makes me an atheist, but I think not.
- 6 years ago
There are both agnostic theists and agnostic atheists. Agnosticism simply means you don't think the existence of god can be disproven or proven. But you can, for example, believe that you can't disprove the existence of god while still not actively acknowledging the existence of a god. This would be an agnostic atheist. I'm one such person.
- tentofieldLv 76 years ago
Agnostics are not atheists and agnosticism has nothing to do with a belief in gods. Everyone is either theist or atheist, you either believe in god/s or you don't. The Agnostic says that it is impossible to know that god/s exist therefore whether they do or not is a matter of belief. This gives you four groups:
Gnostic theist - I know there is at least one god
Agnostic theist - I do not know if gods exist but I believe at least one does.
Agnostic atheist - I do not know if gods exist but I do not believe they do
Gnostic atheist - I know there are no gods
Most atheists and many theists are agnostics.
- harpertaraLv 76 years ago
Agnostics don't 'lack a belief in god'. They simply say there is no conclusive evidence one way or the other so, until there is, they are reserving judgement. Atheists don't want agnostics to be counted as atheists, because they are NOT the same.
- Are You Sure?Lv 76 years ago
Agnostics don't necessarily lack belief in god.
Agnosticism is lack of knowledge of the existence of god.
You can still believe or not believe in god and still be an agnostic, as theism/atheism deal with belif, and agnosticism as knowledge.
- PopeLv 66 years ago
These are the best quotes if you want to understand what it means to be an agnostic:
"The agnostic does not simply say, "I do not know." He goes another step, and he says, with great emphasis, that you do not know. [Robert G. Ingersoll, "Reply to Dr. Lyman Abbott," 1890]"
"I ... invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of 'agnostic,' ... antithetic to the 'Gnostic' of Church history who professed to know so much about the very things of which I was ignorant. [T.H. Huxley, "Science and Christian Tradition," 1889]"
To be an Agnostic is not to be a ******* ill informed idiot. It's a critique of you for lying, and claiming that you know something that makes you superior to me and that, that thing is fundamentally unknowable.
It's neither a position that believes there is a God or believes there isn't a God, it simply believes that you're an arrogant moron for speaking with such assuredness about something you know nothing about.
- Anonymous6 years ago
There are no such things as "atheists"
You're either a theist or an agnostic.
God cannot be empirically verified as we have no technology to do so .
- torpex2002Lv 76 years ago
No, it's possible to be an agnostic theist, but most people that say they are agnostic, are also atheistic.
- 6 years ago
Agnosticism is the position that the existence of a god is unknowable, or cannot be demonstrated. It says nothing about what their belief is, or to what extent. There are agnostic theist.
- Anonymous6 years ago
You are either a believer or an unbeliever. Maybe you have not heard enough to believe, and maybe you have heard enough but you refuse to believe. Of course everybody considers himself to be a special case, but those are the only three distinctions that matter.