Sunbather
Le photographe est mort
That's not what agnostic means though. It is the distinctive belief that we can't know. Atheism is the explicit belief that there is no deity or other force of life.
Other What's your religion?
- Thread starter Zombocalypse
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That's not what agnostic means though. It is the distinctive belief that we can't know. Atheism is the explicit belief that there is no deity or other force of life.
Azure Sky
Random Lazy Guy
Ok, ok..seriously now. I belive there is a superior force out there, but I never liked the idea, nor do I belive in chruches or 'religious' places. Have no idea what that makes me.
TPBx
Simpin for Witch Tea
Yeah to expand on that you can think of being Agnostic as the true neutral when it comes to religious ideology as its just simply, "I don't know." Like some of my clasmmates back in the Christian High School I went to were Agnostic-Christian where they acknowledged the existence of God cannot be proven or disproven but leaned toward the side that if he existed they would believe in him.
Serph
Something in the Middle
ag·nos·tic
aɡˈnästik/
noun
1.
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.
synonyms:
skeptic, doubter, doubting Thomas, cynic;
adjective
1.
of or relating to agnostics or agnosticism.
synonyms:
skeptic, doubter, doubting Thomas, cynic;
Words have been changed in order to fit the way people use them. Such as some people saying racism is only racism when the racist is the one in power and so on. Agnosticism can be used as it's own word to define one's stance on God, but originally it's just meant to be an adjective meaning that you don't know for sure, it can be applied to anything. Also, that's incorrect, Atheism isn't a belief at all. Atheism is a lack of a belief in God. Putting an A in front of words just means "anti", you don't believe it. Say you're Aleprechaun: Do you believe that leprechauns don't exist or do you not believe in leprechauns? They mean different things, one is a positive and one is a negative. Being an Atheist means you don't have faith, not believing that you don't have faith.
WelcomeToHell
Demon Spawn
I'm honestly not quite sure but I do believe in more than one god. So,hmm.. still figuring it out..
Farseer of Ulthwe
You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing
But what gods are those? There are numerous polytheistic religions. (Hinduism, Astaru, the Olympian gods, etc.)
DovesFeather
♥ Dove ♥
I was raised Christian by great parents who have been married for 50 years now. They are great examples, tolerant, gentle, and loving, and they are not bigots, which in my experience with Christianity can be exceedingly rare in the South. My father does pastoral outreach work with prisons, and my mother teaches anger management classes to inmates who are up for parole (it's required they take it by law.) Honestly, if I ever felt the drive to believe in the Christian god, it would be because of their example.
However, I'm atheist. My husband is agnostic. I am a very critical mind, and I rely heavily on science and the laws of physics to explain what I know and see around me. I find it very hard to believe in the abstract, and I've seen so much horrible, intolerant behavior from many religious leaders (not all religious leaders, mind you. Every barrel has a few bad apples.), I can't bring myself to believe that they represent the same god that I grew up being taught about by my parents. There is too much contradiction in religion for me to grasp it completely. Scientific exploration and the laws of physics make much more sense to me. I can't argue with facts by saying, "It was God's miracle." Miracles are abstract, and I don't believe in them because they can't be proven by science.
My favorite quote about religion comes from the venerable Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, "If science proves some belief of Buddhism wrong, then Buddhism will have to change. In my view, science and Buddhism share a search for the truth and for understanding reality. By learning from science about aspects of reality where its understanding may be more advanced, I believe that Buddhism enriches its own worldview."
I included the link here for the entire article. It's stunning and thought provoking.
useless
✰ 愚か者
My religion is love. Corny, but that's all there is to it for me. Love everyone, regardless of their beliefs. As the Buddhists say: "Hatred never ends with hatred. "
I just try to keep an open mind and an open heart.
I just try to keep an open mind and an open heart.
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Myrta
Junior Member
I'm an atheist. I was raised in a culture where more than 80% of population is atheist, so I guess that this is what has shaped my views, along with my tendency not to believe unless I have a proof. Spirituality in the religious sense of the word doesn't mean much to me.
Serph
Something in the Middle
That is how it works though? Agnostic can be a noun or an adjective. You can call yourself an agnostic, or you can use it as an adjective to something else. Gnostic means knowing, A means Anti. Agnostic means Anti-Knowing, you don't know. That is literally how the word is created
Etymology[SIZE=small][[/SIZE]edit]
First attested in 1870; coined by Thomas Huxley. Either from Ancient Greek ἄγνωστος (ágnōstos, “ignorant, not knowing”) or from a- + Gnostic. Deriving (either way) from Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, “not”) + γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō, “I know”).
It's in the dictionary, you can't just say "that's not how it works" to something like that, it is what the word means. My point is it can be used in different ways. Sorry if I'm coming across as rude or something but, it's not a "belief", it's how the word works lmao.
I love language so that's probably why I'm ranting about it haha.
Sunbather
Le photographe est mort
Yeah but you keep talking about agnosticism, I'm talking about Atheism. It is not "There probably isn't" or "There might not be". It is distinctly the belief (it is a belief, because by the very nature of religious concepts, you can't factually disprove the absence of a non-tangible thing. I mean, you can, because it's not measurable or perceivable in any way, but the whole idea of religion is to not be rational in that one regard.) that there is no deity. Agnosticism, by definition, maintains a state of unknowing or openness to the truth with no stance being taken. Atheism is a definitive stand of perceived knowledge.
It's like saying "I know that this leaf is green. But I'm not sure, I can't possibly know this leaf is green."
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DovesFeather
♥ Dove ♥
@Sunbather I think the point made by agnostic atheists is that they don't believe in a deity, but if science could prove the existence of a higher power, their views might change. To me, that's just agnosticism. lol
To add to that, I firmly believe there is no science that can prove someone or something completely abstract exists. Even emotions that are described as abstract such as love and hate have real chemical affects on the body that can be quantified by biochemists and behavioral analysts. There's nothing ever been found by science that can prove there is a deity, and so that's why I am an atheist. I also do not understand how atheists can be agnostic as well.
Serph
Something in the Middle
Agnostic Atheism is the Agnosticism you're talking about. They mean the exact same thing, both work.
a·the·ism
ˈāTHēˌizəm/
noun
disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods.
By definition it is not a belief, it is the lack of believe.
Also, it isn't like that. It's more like "This is green until someone can prove otherwise." It is a definitive stance, I am saying god doesn't exist. But if someone were to come up to me and say "Hey, someone just proved god." I'm not going to lie I'd probably have to hear them out. The two words are not mutually exclusive, they can be used together and have been many times before. TJ The Amazing Atheist and Pauls Ego are both self proclaimed "Agonostic Atheists."
"Agnostic atheism, also called atheistic agnosticism, is a philosophical position that encompasses both atheism and agnosticism.
Agnostic atheists are atheistic because they do not hold a belief in the existence of any deity and agnostic because they claim that the existence of a deity is either unknowable in principle or currently unknown in fact.
The agnostic atheist may be contrasted with the agnostic theist, who believes that one or more deities exist but claims that the existence or nonexistence of such is unknown or cannot be known."
There's an excerpt from Wiki, and here's the link to the page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic_atheism
I totally get where you're coming from, the words seem like they're too separate things and I can see that too. English is a very weird language though, it's not a perfect language like German, it's like French, no rule works all the time. You can argue the logistics of the words but you can't say it doesn't exist because it does.
In short:
Atheist is a lack of belief in god.
Agnosticism is the claim that the existence of a deity can not be known and therefore that person can not say definitively that a god does not exist.
I can't disprove that the universe hatched from the cosmic egg, that Poseidon is the God of the Sea, or that Sonic the Hedgehog is the divine creator; but I'm pretty sure none of those are true.
ArcaneUnit
Yeller belly
Henotheism is when God is depicted as the grand sum of all other deities, who as stand-only entities are nothing but references to one of God's attributes. That is Monotheism. - There is also no variation in Interpretation of God between the religions: God is unstipulably God - that is a international, holistic, ageless agreement.
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wonderandawe
Most likeky not a Sidereal
I was raised Catholic but now I am Agnostic.
I took the "God works in mysterious ways" a bit further than the priests would like.
I took the "God works in mysterious ways" a bit further than the priests would like.
(sic)
Far right the best right
I strongly believe in Deism, but I also agree with Christian ethics
Dark Enforcer
Not today.
Roman Catholic
WolfsbaneRain
Professional Fangirl
I'm a Catholic Christian. I mostly just posting this because I've noticed through the years that Catholicism gets a lot of bad rap compared to other Christian sects and I just wanted to say that I'm free to answer any questions that anyone has about my religion. Also please don't get the bad idea that I'm trying to push people to become Catholic, I strongly agree in freedom of religion.
pasta
gogo dancer
Atheist... I just can't see how there's a higher being. It makes zero sense to me. I think that there is no way in hell there is someone that created everything. But I respect people's religions as long as they don't try to force it onto me.
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Darth Vader
Dark Lord
Null-ism: My custom religion that follows on living life and not being concerned about the afterlife or questioning my existence.
Call it ignorance, if you wish.
Call it ignorance, if you wish.
FTR
One Thousand Club
I subscribe to Bill Hick's "Young man on acid" dogma #woke
Axel The Englishman
The Holy Crusader
Nihilism. It's not as depressing as it sounds.
billthesomething
Four Thousand Club
Nihilism isn't a religion, it's a philosophy
