Are you Agnostic?

[GTseng3]

Well, from a certain point of view everyone is an agnostic, since no one knows. Some people are really good at deluding themselves, though.

[minus459]

(01-24-2010 03:37 AM)dizzi90 Wrote:  Atheism and agnosticism are not mutually exclusive.

Agnosticism: "I can not know whether a god or gods exists."
Gnosticism: "I can know whether a god or gods exists."
Atheism: "I do not think that a god or gods exists."
Deist: "I think that a god or gods exists.
Theism: "I think that a god or gods exist and I know their wishes."


It occurs to me that everyone is an agnostic, strictly speaking. As far as I can tell there is no way to know for certain. I am also an atheist, because I do not have any reason to think that there is any deity. The burden of proof is after all on the deist, never mind the theist.

If you call yourself an agnostic because you don't believe in any religion but aren't sure what to think, you are an atheist by default. Atheism just means that you don't have a religion, and those that classify themselves as agnostic usually don't.

But surely agnosticism and atheism are unrelated to religion. Religion by "definition" almost always involves devotion, ritual, narrative and symbolism. How does this equate with a belief with a God or Gods except in the context of historical mainstream and obscure beliefs. Why do you conflate a belief in God or Gods with a belief in religion, they are not logically mutually inclusive and or exclusive. Most ag's or ath's in western civilisation started out rejecting the religion they were brought up in, which culminates in them rejecting God. But as far as I know one does not absolutely determine the other. Perhaps their needs to be a term for the rejection of religion, which is after all man's attempt to explain the unexplainable, the reason for existence, what will happen, what has happened, where we go et al. Religion uses God as a means to an end, to verify and justify their Religion.