Atheists: Are you sure you are not agnostic?

Question

An agnostic does not deny the existence of God and heaven but holds that one cannot know for certain whether or not they exist.

-An atheist is someone who denies the existence of all deities.

Answer 1

Yes, thank you.

Answer 2

Nobody knows what happens to the human soul when it dies, or even if the soul exists. Religious people think they know, but they don't (unless God personally spoke to them, which is a claim some people have made!). Atheists are also making assumptions about the afterlife, namely that there isn't an afterlife (though they may simply deny the existence of God and heaven but believe in some form of afterlife or reincarnation).

Ultimately we can't know for sure. We live in an agnostic world.

However, it is possible to deny the existence of a particular God. I can't imagine anyone still believes in Zeus or Thor. There is more than enough evidence to be able to safely say that the Greeks had it wrong.

It is also possible to deny a particular version of a religion. Many people say the earth was created 6000 years ago. ALL the scientific evidence (not just the theory of evolution) disputes this claim. I personally can't believe that God would create a universe where a false version of events is so clearly demonstrated in fossil records, historical artifacts, etc. Why would God make it appear that the earth is several billion years old if it were only 6000 years old?

Answer 3

My wife is an Atheist, and there's no questioning her "faith" in that (if you catch my drift). She's always been an atheist and doesn't even flintch at that.

Myself, I am an agnostic, simply because I actually used to have the faith in a so-called "god" but realised with experience that it was just a "comfort blanket" which basically didn't work anymore.

Then of course, there's the whole vengeful god theory, which renders believing in such a concept even more ridiculous.

I could go on and on, but let's just stick to THIS question for now....

Answer 4

Going by the definitions

ag·nos·tic ( P ) Pronunciation Key (g-nstk)
n.

One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God.
One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism.
One who is doubtful or noncommittal about something.

Atheist

a·the·ist ( P ) Pronunciation Key (th-st)
n.
One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods.


An agnostic is uncertain whether or not a god or gods exisit. An atheist out and out says there is no god and belives no god or gods exsist.


I myself do not fall in either category. I believe in god I just don't know which one.

Answer 5

You have your definitions wrong. Athiesm means "Without" (a) "Theism" (Belief in Gods). So you either believe in a god (Theist) or you do not (Atheist). There is no other option. Personally I am an atheist because I lack a belief in gods. An atheist does not need to deny anything although he may.

An agnostic is one who claims fundamental knowledge about reality is impossible. This may very well be but I personally do not know if such knowlege is impossible or not so I make no such claim.

Answer 6

Atheists are sure what they are, and they are also sure what religious people suffer from, namely mental illness.

Religious believers suffer from a common mental illness.

If we assume the universe was created, then it’s reasonable to assume there was a creator. That’s as far as science has progressed today, but just look how far religion has progressed.

Religion states (fact) there was a creator called God, that God still exists, God also created places called Heaven & Hell, God wrote an instruction book called the Bible, God will banish evil people to Hell, God will send good people who follow the Bible to heaven, that people referred to in the Bible (like Jesus) will return to Earth, and a whole raft of other statements of fact. That’s right, religious fact, not assumptions.

Now tell me truthfully, if science doesn’t even know yet whether the universe was created or not, but religious believers state: “not only was the universe created by God, here’s a whole lot more proof and facts to go with it, what do you think?

Either religious believers just have vivid imaginations or suffer from a common mental illness. I think commonsense and logic would suggest that religious believers are mentally handicapped.

Answer 7

How can you see pretty flowers, watch the birth of a baby, see the sun rise and set, see people smiling, and the joys of laughter and not believe that something of a higher being put it all into play?

Furthermore, if you believe in heaven and hell, then you do acknowledge that there is some sort of "heavenly" being which makes you agnostic (not sure of your beliefs) not atheist meaning that you just don't believe!!

God Bless!!

Answer 8

Actually, I'm neither. As a nontheist, I believe that the existence of God is fundamentally irrelevant to life on Earth. It doesn't matter if God, heaven, or hell exists. People should behave civilly towards each other regardless. I wish everyone would stop wasting their time on senseless and inane questions.

Answer 9

I have always found the concept of Atheism to be rather closed-minded and arrogant. Basically, you are saying that humans are the top of the Universe's evolutionary food chain? We're as good as it gets? That's pretty pathetic if you ask me; not to discount what humanity has accomplished so far, but come on...

I have to believe there is something out there greater than ourselves. Whether it's the traditional "God"-figure so many religions subscribe to or some other transcended intelligence or an entity our feeble minds can't even comprehend is unknown, so in that sense I lean toward agnosticism. I acknowledge my lack of knowledge and anyone who believes they have the answers is either very cocky, or very ignorant. At least Atheists get off easy in that telling them to "go to Hell" doesn't really apply. ;)

Answer 10

Nope, sometimes I'm not sure. Thats when I ask questions like this:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AgrCeHxbNKLbLM7Ltb2qDczsy6IX?qid=20060803122127AA5UXMY

But, remember that another "uncertainty" that many agnostics claim is, if God DOES exist, there is no way of knowing what kind of God he is.

Answer 11

Sounds like a sissy copout to me. I can't prove the easter bunny doesn't exist. There's nothing about capital "G" god that requires me to have a special categorization for not believing in him. (If I don't believe in Ra, I'm ragnostic)