what does agnostic mean?

Question

i was reading a profile on myspace and under religion it said agnostic what does that mean?

Answer 1

The term 'agnostic' was coined by Thomas Huxley and it refers quite simply to a person who holds the view that it is wrong to assert the truth of a proposition without logically satisfactory evidence.

So, an agnostic would say that it's wrong to say "God exists" or "No gods exist" without the argument or evidence to back it up. Moreover, the agnostic would say that it's immoral for a person to tell someone else that they *ought* to believe in the existence of a god or gods without providing logically satisfactory evidence to support that claim.

A 'theist' is defined as someone who believes in the existence of a god or gods, so an atheist is anyone who is not a theist.

So you can be agnostic and also an atheist, or agnostic and a theist, or not agnostic and an atheist, or not agnostic and a theist.

Answer 2

Here's a thought. Why not do something surprising in comparison to alot of people on here and actually read a dictionary instead of making other people do your work for you?

agnostic:
1. One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God.
2. One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism.

Answer 3

Agnostic's literal definition is "without knowledge" referring to god. Gnostic means to have knowledge of God, the A in front adds the term without.

With using the literal definiton, each person is technically an agnostic, since not one living soul can have actual knowledge of God, only faith and beliefs.

In the general term, agnostic is used to describe when someone either:

- is fairly certain a higher power exists, but doesn't know what it is
- believes in a god, but is unsure about which or how many
- doesn't know what they believe and are leaving the decision open.

Answer 4

Agnosticism (from the Greek a, meaning "without" and gnosis, "knowledge", translating to unknowable) is the philosophical view that the truth value of certain claims — particularly theological claims regarding metaphysics, afterlife or the existence of God, god(s), or deities — is unknown or inherently unknowable. Some agnostics take a stronger view that the concept of a deity is incoherent, thus meaningless and irrelevant to life.[citation needed] The term is used to describe those who are unconvinced or noncommittal about the existence of deities as well as about other matters of religion. Early Christian church leaders used the Greek word gnosis (knowledge) to describe "spiritual knowledge". "Agnostic" came from the union of it to the Greek / Latin prefix a, and was originally coined by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869 to describe his philosophy. Agnosticism is not to be confused with religious views opposing the doctrine of gnosis and Gnosticism— these are religious concepts that are not generally related to agnosticism.

Agnostics claim that either it is not possible to have absolute or certain knowledge or, alternatively, that while certainty may be possible, they personally have no knowledge. Agnosticism in both cases involves some form of skepticism. Data collection services[1][2] often display the common use of the term, distinct from atheism in its lack of disputing the existence of deities. Agnostics are listed alongside secular, non-religious, or other such categories.

Answer 5

Agnostic is the belief that there is some sort of higher power or supernatural being, but more proof is needed. Like me. There might be a God or Gods to all this hysteria going all around this little, blue planet. But we created religion to try and attempt to answer or catagorize all this madness.

Answer 6

I consider myself agnostic as well. To me, anyway, it means I recognize the importance and presence of religion, but am not directly affiliated with any particular denomination. I was raised Catholic, but do not agree with many practices. However, I enjoy the fellowship of attending church. So, in short, agnostic means, religious without committment to a specific church!

Answer 7

Agnostic literally means, "without knowledge". They are basically fence-sitters who won't commit one way or another. They probably recognize Intelligent design in nature, but won't go so far as to commit their faith to God. They say that "it cannot be known" whether God exists.

Answer 8

Some one who has faith,
believes in a higher power, but chooses not to call the entity God, or any other name.

Baisically they are hte most open minded religion you will encounter. They just ponder existance and are open to may ideas. they choose not to follow the church.
But they are still very spiritual.

Answer 9

agnostic means you believe it is uncertain to know whether god exists or not. it means your truth is the truth of uncertainty. please dont get this mixed with athiest because they are quite different. as athiests have a firm belief that there is no god, agnostics only believe that is a possibility but not an absolute truth.

Answer 10

It means that a person does not have a firm belief about whether or not God exists. It's different from being an atheist in that atheists firmly believe that there is no God.