whats the difference between agnostic beliefs, and atheistic beliefs?

Answer 1

agnostics are a 'maybe'
atheists are a definite 'No'

Answer 2

Atheist don't believe in an entity(s) or god(s). They deny the supernatural plane of existence, either 1. practically (cannot be know and has no influence on the material plane so don't act like it exists) 2. It actually doesn't exist. Atheists believe that the non-existence (or in accessibility) of the supernatural plane can be proven by science, reason, and philosophy.

There are two types of Atheists: 1. Chaotic / Anarchist types who believe that everything is random, there is no truth, and nothing matters. 2. Those that believe that there is a system / law that governs the universe. Things don't happen for "reasons" but rather they happen in accord with the laws.

Agnostics come in different stripes. They are unsure about the spiritual plane and typically think that it cannot be proven either way. They believe that it is important to act in a generally good sort of way which is dependent on relativism, skepticism, and individualism. They are not terribly philosophical in their world view. Typically you find them as XXXX Agnostic where XXXX is a specific religion and they believe that all religions might be true but there is "probably" more true.

The primary difference between, agnostics, atheists, and theists is their understanding of the relationship between the spiritual and material planes as instructed by their philosophy of knowledge and metaphysics.

Answer 3

Wow, quite a few answers many of them saying the same thing.

Let me set a few things straight. Most people here are confusing skeptics with atheists. Skeptics are people who do not believe in the supernatural. An atheist could very well believe in ghosts, auras, ESP, etc. All being an atheist means is that they do not believe in a god or gods. That's it. Skeptics are a subset of atheism (not all atheists are skeptics, but all skeptics are atheist).

An agnostic is someone who wishes to straddle the fence because it is impossible to prove/disprove the existence of a supernatural supreme being. For example: Does Santa Claus exist? A skeptic would say, "nope"... an agnostic would say, "can't say".

Skeptics hold as few beliefs as possible. They operate with logic and rational thought. Example: Will the sun rise tomorrow? Many theists would say, "I believe it will". Most skeptics would say, "No, I don't 'believe' it will. Instead, I have theories about how the earth rotates and revolves around the sun. According to my theories, I can predict that the sun will appear on the eastern horizon at __:__ time."

Answer 4

In the modern sense of the word 'agnostic', nothing really.

Historically, an agnostic was simply a person who claimed knowledge of god could not be obtained. Today, the popular definition of agnostic is someone who hasn't "decided" whether or not god exists - which is the same as admitting there is no compelling evidence in favor of gods. That's the same thing an atheist says.

Answer 5

I think there is a wide range. I had a math teacher once who told the class she was agnostic - that she wasn't sure one way or the other if God existed. I believe atheists would think they are entirely sure - and some of them are sure at the top of their lungs. That's all right, since true believers can persuade others more easily by sticking to quiet, kind ways.

Answer 6

Atheists do not believe in a god or the possibility of a god, a belief that is illogical because it assumes knowledge of everything.

An agnostic simply states that they do not know if there is a god or not. Agnostic comes from the latin which means "withot knowledge".

Answer 7

No, korngoddess1027 (at the top) doesn't have it at all. Neither does redglory, below. So many people confuse atheism with nihilism, and agnosticism with deism; it's astounding! Emma, spamandham (minus the first comment), memento mori, Bud, and Johan F have it the closest. Liet Kynes has a really good answer, too.

Atheists believe God does not exist. It's the opposite of being a theist (one who believes God exists). Generally speaking, atheists do not believe in the Supernatural at all. They believe gods, angels, devils, ghosts, spirits, and the like are fictional entities made up by men to explain natural phenomena they could not otherwise explain.

Agnostics believe that God may or may not exist, but that you cannot prove whether or not he exists, nor can you attribute any characteristics to him, including "goodness", "omnipotence", "omniscience" or anything else. In practice, agnostics may follow a religion even though they doubt it is "true" or even provable simply because that is the way they were raised, or because they think people behave better if they accept some sort of religion, even if it's based on a non-truth. Or they may shun religion altogether, deciding that the evidence of God's existence offered by existing religions is no more compelling than purely philosophical proofs are.

Deists, on the other hand, are people who believe in God as the Creator of the universe, but they don't believe any particular religion has an exclusive understanding of that god. Deists also tend to believe in a "clockwork universe" that was created by some entity we label as "God" but which he/it no longer tends to and which continues in accordance with the physical laws that entity established at its creation. In other words, for deists, God is a "hands-off" creator whom we cannot describe or know. Several of our founding fathers (including Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin) were deists. The concept of "Nature's God" as written in the Declaration of Independence is a deist notion, as well. A lot of people confuse deists and agnostics, incidentally.

Incidentally, It is not true, as redglory below erroneously states, that atheists believe in nothing "besides themselves". Atheism is not a form of nihilism (nihilism = belief in nothing), nor is it a form of Satanism. In fact, many atheists, and also agnostics and deists, are humanists who believe that human life has value in and of itself and that our purpose in life is not to glorify a deity or show favor to his followers while oppressing or discriminating against others but to embrace humanity as a whole. Humanism is not about selfishness; it's about admitting that we as humans share in a common destiny and that no "god" is going to intervene to fix things, so we have to help each other ourselves.

Incidentally, I'm a humanist. I also tend towards deism and agnosticism. Sometimes I lean more towards atheism, however, especially on those days when it seems like the world's religions bring more harm to the world than good. I have many atheistic, agnostic, and deistic friends, all of whom I find to be very caring, open, altruistic people, in spite of the fact that they may not be convinced of the existence of any god.

Answer 8

I believe atheists dont believe in God
And Agnostics believe somthing along the lines of, there may be a God, but man may not be equiped to ever be able to prove it, so the arguement of God or no God has no value

Answer 9

"Pagan" isn't a faith in and of itself. it is an umbrella term for a super sort of diverse non secular paths. All Wiccans are pagan, yet no longer all pagans are Wiccan. There are different pagan religions at the same time with Asatru, Druidry, Kemetic Reconstructionism, Hellenic Reconstructionism, Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism, and so on. and so on. It will possibly no longer likely be conceivable to record the variations of ideals and practices for *each* pagan faith there is right here. perhaps you have a greater specific question in innovations which you're in seek of an answer to?

Answer 10

Im not atheist, but Atheist dont believe in a God at all, but agnostic's dont know they dont know if there is a God or not. In my opinion saying your agnostic is a lazy excuse, you either believe in a God or you dont.

Answer 11

The agnostic holds we dont or can't know certain things, the aetheist holds there is no God--ie in the form of Man as defined by the Bible