Agnostics and atheists: how do you define your position on religion and why?

Question

There are no firm definitions of either term - a few dictionary searches will confirm this.

An atheist, to some, is one who denies the existence of God. To others an atheist is one who does not believe in the existence of God.

An agnostic, technically, is one who believes that the question of the existence of God is unresolvable. However, that still leaves one open to disbelief in God.

I personally think of myself as an atheistic agnostic. I do not think it is possible to know for sure whether God exists or not but in the absence of evidence I choose not to believe in its existence.

I know it's all just semantics - but I'm just curious how others define themselves, and why.

Answer 1

Agnostic coming from the Greek word gnosis "to know" preceded by the A makes it mean literally "without knowledge."

Atheism coming from the Greek work "Theo" meaning "god"..theism meaning "belief in god" with the A in front makes an atheist a person "without theism" or "without god belief."

I am an agnostic atheist. One who is without knowledge of god and disbelieves there are any.

I am strong atheist when it comes to the Gods of the Bible, Torah and Quran. I have some knowledge that these gods can't exist based on the contradictory attributes given to them in their holy books. I know they can't exist to the same extent that i know a square circle can't exist. And if something can't exist, then it doesn't exist.

I base this entirely on the attributes assigned to them in the holy books. If the holy books aren't accurate descriptions of them then i am just without belief in those gods rather than claiming that they do not exist.

Answer 2

I would certainly consider myself agnostic because I accept that there are things that Science can not explain yet and in the near future it may. If something can not be proven either way I am open to new evidence. Having said that, there are somethings that I do suspect may exist purely based on the possiblities, one example would be life on another planer other than our own. The posibility is plausible when considering the size of our universe. That is not to say its true, but I think the odds are in favour.

Answer 3

I define myself as secular, and I think that the equation Faith=Superstition is true for all faiths. i also think that during prehistory and then history people used to believe in an ever smaller number of gods, the first time a single god religion appeared was in Egypt with the God Athon (the Sun) this lasted a short time, but by the year 1000 B.C. most people in the world believed in one God. I think nowadays with the knowledge humans acquired we can reach the end of this road and believe in one less God (Zero-theism) or "one last god to go"

Answer 4

I believe that the question of if a deity or deities exist will only be answered after I die so I am highly skeptical of belief in one while I am on earth. So that, I think, would make me Agnostic with an Atheist lean.

I have read books in many different areas - theology, science, sociology, psychology - and in doing so have made my decision based upon evidence I see there.

Answer 5

Bertrand Russell had an interesting analogy:

He proposed: "What if I told you there was a china tea pot in orbit around Mars?"

Our telescopes are not strong enough to confirm or deny it, so out of necessity we must all be "teapot agnostics." In reality, however, few of us would really be in doubt about it. Instead, we'd have to private admit we were in fact teapot atheists.

Or, to put it another way. Studs Terkel once said "An agnostic is a gutless atheist"

Answer 6

If I have to, I'd label myself an Atheist.

I cannot believe in the possibility for one moment, that there is an omificent being who controls all things; who created everything we perceive and who can be thought of as "good" or, come to think of it, even "bad".

I believe in the power we all posess within ourselves. Our potential to be Gods in our own right. We made God in our own image to justify life as we see it. Or perhaps there was Extra Terrestrial intervention around 350,000 years ago, who would obviously have been considered to be "Gods", or frankly, would have been considered to be whatever they told our primative ancestors they were! I find that an immensly more plausiable scenario than any of the current "religions", which personally, I feel have all suffered from the phenomena known as "Chinese whispers".

Answer 7

If someone directly asks me my religion, I usually say that I don't have one. If they push, I identify myself as a 'humanist'.

If I am asked whether or not I am atheist, I say that I am and when asked whether or not I am agnostic, I say that I am. Thus I answer Y!A questions such as this addressed to either one.

I consider myself both atheist and agnostic. But you'll notice I've used them as adjectives here. They are facets of my belief - not definitions of my belief.

Usually I just define myself as me - when pushed I accept any of the following words: 'secular', 'non-religious', 'atheist', 'agnostic', 'non-theist' and 'humanist'.

Answer 8

atheist religion means nothing to me thay are just fairy storys to control the world have you ever watch star trek the one where a planet had a book based on the gangsters of the 1930s the hole planet worked from that book the bible is the same thing

Answer 9

I prefer ther term 'realist'. There is no god, devil, heaven, hell, etc. Religion is a mental disability and the greatest con ever pulled off.

Answer 10

I sincerely believe all religions were invented by mankind,himself,as a means to control people and extract their wealth!