Agnosticism is the philosophical view that theological claims regarding the existence of God, gods, or deities—are unknown, inherently unknowable, or incoherent, and therefore, irrelevant to life. It is also used to describe those who are unconvinced or noncommittal about the existence of deities as well as other matters of religion.
Agnostics may claim that it isn't possible to have absolute or certain spiritual knowledge or, alternatively, that while certainty may be possible, they personally have no such knowledge. Agnosticism in both cases involves some form of skepticism towards religious statements.
Atheism, in its broadest sense, is the absence of theism (the belief in the existence of deities). There is no single ideology that all atheists share, nor does atheism have any institutionalized rituals or behaviors. Today, atheism has become relatively common in many parts of the world, especially in western nations.
-Wikipedia
So, as you can see:
Agnostic= unsure about god/s and/or religion
Atheist= does not believe in god/s
Just thought I would clear that up, some people seem confused.
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It's a good thing you posted this explanation, because many people are confused regarding these two notions. I don't know why, but I think you arean agnostic. Am I right?
Yeah I am :)
Definitions vary.
For example, George Smith in Atheism, the Case Against God, says that atheism and theism are positions on the existence of god(s), and agnosticism is a position on the knowability of god(s). Therefore, according to Smith, an agnostic is still either a theist or an atheist, depending on whether they accept any of the proposed accounts of god(s) or not. I.e. there are agnostic atheists and agnostic theists.
I think that Smith's definitions will be unappealing to many agnostics, because it denies them the noncommital middle ground which is probably what they were seeking when they decided to call themselves agnostic.
I'm very interested ^_^. I always wondered what I could call myself in definitive terms when it came to gods and you just helped me quite a bit. You have my thanks.
Phoenixes are superb. They are also fictional beings..but that isn't the point!
thsi is a great positng thank you
Sure, I was just clearing things up.
I pretty much agree with the definitions you gave concerning both "agnostic" and "atheist."
Basically atheists don't believe in the existence of god/gods. Some more strong atheists might claim that philosophically, certain gods cannot exist. That is, they deny the existence of certain gods because of the incongruity of the god's attributes and actions.
Theists believe in the existence of a god or gods, and atheists don't believe.
I wrote a similar article not too long ago on this topic. I don't think agnosticism is a third choice. You can be an agnostic atheist, you can be an agnostic theist (just as you can be a gnostic atheist, or an gnostic theist).
I say this because many people's positions on atheism/theism is based on agnosticism/gnosticism. Its reasonable to say that if you have knowledge or proof that God exists or doesn't exist (being gnostic), you will have have a particular stance on a belief. The same goes for agnosticism, but its just the opposite. Some people are theists because they DON'T have knowledge or proof to suggest that God DOESN'T exist (an agnostic theist). Atheists can be the same way; they DON'T believe in God because they DON'T have knowledge or proof to suggest that a God DOES exist.
Agnosticism and atheism are definitely two different matters, but they aren't in the same group. Agnosticism is not an option when asked about your belief in God.
Note: I use God in a general usage, referring collectively to all religions that have supreme deity, or multiple deities, whether male or female.
It's great for you to clear up confusion over the definitions and all.
But I think I disagree a bit with your summary of agnosticism "unsure about god or religion". I think of agnosticism as more permanent, a certain uncertainty, if you will. When you tell people that agnostics are unsure about god or religion, people tend to get the impression that agnostics haven't yet decided on religion, that they still might be swayed by an avid theist or atheist. I think of agnosticism more as the decision that we can't know for sure whether or not god(s) exist(s) and therefore the decision to stay in the middle. Most agnostics, like myself, do tend to lean more towards the side that god doesn't exist, and are really more of "agnostic atheists" than actual agnostics. But in general, I wouldn't call agnostics "unsure". They/we are usually pretty sure of the inability to know.
Italian by birth, American by citizenship, Moçambicana pelo escolhe
There is not a such thing as an atheist. As we both know the burden of proof rests on(the atheist) to prove that there is no God. But for proof to take place you must have "absolute knowledge" of everything that exists in the entire world and that means you "know everything." Considering the fact its impossible for a human to "know everything" then there would be no way that the atheist could prove that a God doesn't exist, because he could exist in the very part of life that they have yet to learn."
... I didn't think it was possible to get that many stupid things into such a small paragraph.
Being an atheist myself, I find that quite surprising.
Er ... no. The burden of proof lies with the one making the claim that a phenomenon is real. You claim that God exists. It is your burden to give evidence.
To see how stupid this argument is let's use the same principles on another example. Suppose I claim that there are fairies hidden in my garden. Using YOUR logic I can say:
So tell me, did that convince you that fairies actually exist? Do you now believe fairies actually exist. If you don't, then perhaps you can see how it is that your argument fails to convince me that God exists.
Yeah, and so could fairies.
Let's divide the word "atheism" into two parts ... the prefix "a" and the root "theism". The prefix means 'without"; the root means "a belief in God or gods". So atheism at its most simple definition is "without a belief in God or gods". Thus, an atheist is a person "without a belief in God or gods". With that in mind if you still say there is no such thing as an atheist then I will not only think that your argument is stupid, I will think that adjective applies pretty well to you too.
Cheers,
DB
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If a million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing. - Anatole France