Friday, April 2, 2004
Atheism vs agnosticism revisited
Got a comment yesterday from Thirdeye, on the agnost vs atheist blog —
to me agnostics includes all people who fall between the absolutes of a theist and an atheist! more like the shades of grey between black and white…
Got me thinking again.. Is agnosticism really a middle ground? A ‘playing it safe’ option?
Often, the perception is that agnosticism is a more reasonable view while atheism is more dogmatic; that atheists are closed-minded because they deny the existence of god, whereas agnostics are open-minded and more amenable to reason. But is this really the case? Are being agnostic and atheistic mutually exclusive?
I believe, agnosticism, is not as much about a belief in god as much as it is about knowledge - knowledge of knowing for sure if a god exists or not. If a person _believes_ that god exists (theism) without claiming to _know_ for sure, that would result in agnostic theism. Similarly one could _disbelieve_ in gods (atheism) _without knowing_ for sure if god exists or not — agnostic atheism. So the way I see it, agnosticism isn’t so much a ‘middle ground’ as much as it is about the knowledge that surrounds the belief that in turn determines one’s theistic/atheistic leanings.
Thoughts?
You sound like an ‘agnostic agnotist’. The title of your blogs - “I doubt, therefore, I might be” fits well there too ;-)
Srini
Wednesday, May 26, 2004 @ 7:56 AM
Visit my blog
srini-danger.blogspot.com
Wednesday, May 26, 2004 @ 8:01 AM
I think the quote from “Atlas Shrugged” helps.
“There are two sides to every issue,one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil.”
Sunday, May 30, 2004 @ 10:24 PM
Loved Paddy’s piece about agnosticism being evil :)
I’ve always believed in the two following definitions (and yes my enlightenment came from DNA too)
Agnostic - Some one who doesn’t disbelieve in God as much as, is unsure of His (or Her) existence.
Atheist - Someone who _believes_ that God does not exist.
Ideally, Atheism can be a religion. Agnosticism cannot.
(The bit about atheism being a religion is not my idea. I lifted it from Mil Millington’s “Things My Girlfriend And I Have Argued About” novel.)
I, personally, believe in God on a just-in-case basis. Which means, I believe in him, just-in-case he exists. Why take the chance of pissing him off, no?
Friday, October 29, 2004 @ 12:17 AM
I liked your just-in-case idea! :)
Friday, October 29, 2004 @ 4:04 PM
You did? That’s great! I liked my just-in-case idea too!
Saturday, October 30, 2004 @ 12:44 AM
An Athiest denies that any god exists, no questions.
An Agnotist simply acknowledges that a god COULD exist, but that it cannot be proved.
Friday, June 24, 2005 @ 1:24 AM
couldn’t someone be an atheist until proven otherwise. Everyone believed the world was flat until it was proven otherwise.
Thursday, June 30, 2005 @ 2:44 PM
[Dave] Ah yes. It is the firmness of the belief that differentiates the two. An atheist ‘knows that God doesn’t exist’ while an agnotist ‘is not sure if God exists or not’.
[skm] Hm, now that is an interesting way of looking at things. Am not sure if the ‘proof’ is quite as objective in this case, though.
Tuesday, July 5, 2005 @ 3:59 PM
I don’t know if God(s) exist or not.
If the God(s) want to punish me because of that..
Well.. fine. I don’t worship unreasonable God(s).
Saturday, July 23, 2005 @ 2:00 PM
There are many shades of grey between pure atheism and pure theism, as you have gracefully shown. Pure belief is very difficult without proof. I think that this last statement holds true with both camps; atheists and theists. Probably much easier to be agnostic.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005 @ 12:43 AM
[Anonymous] I don’t think God punishes his non-believers. There may be schools of thought that believe that, but I don’t.
[anand] Pure belief is very difficult without proof - Wonderfully said! Thank you for visiting my blog and hope to see you around again!
Monday, August 29, 2005 @ 5:52 PM
very interesting reading - i hold out hope for the existance of God for the thought of when this life is gone maybe i could meet my family again, although i doubt there is no truth in that whatsoever? its said that only gods knows!
Friday, February 24, 2006 @ 5:43 PM
On the distinction between belief and knowledge: I’m gonna go way out on a limb here and say that people who BELIEVE things they don’t KNOW about are MORONS.
Thursday, March 2, 2006 @ 9:09 PM
Well, I was raised in a christian family and in chruch, all I could say is that people are MORONS thanks sweaty. They don’t Know anything about there beliefs or there God. they don’t question anything and I guess you could say that that is really what makes the church grow. Just don’t ask questions and life is always going to be blis. Ignorance is Blis. Sometimes I wish that I could live life in ingnorance everything would be so easy.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006 @ 8:53 PM
I come from a LONG line ov very religious people and personally dont belive. I think that if you can belive in a god then good for you! I am in tnh military and feel that religous freedom is paramount, that includes freedom from religon. I wont stop a Cresche but dont make me watch. I just filled out a form that included a space for religous preference and I didnt want to put anything but the space needed something. Military, no space left blank. So I came home to research the difference between athiest (me) and agnostic (close enough cause I wish I belived). I appreciate your sentiments on the subject.
Joel
Saturday, February 9, 2008 @ 1:41 AM