Why do people think that Agnostic and Atheist are the same thing?

Question

It seems this way from both relgious and Athest people. I see so many people call themselves Agnostic, when they are clearly athiest. Agnostic just means that you dont know/dont belive that god can be proven. This does not mean that you can not beleive in god. I do not think think that god can be proven, but I am by no means an Athiest. For exsample, people say that Susan B. Anthorny was an athiest. btu that is not true. She was an Agnostic.

It seems like many Athiest think that Athiems is a religioin. Athism is the belife that god does not exist. Because of this, why do many people seem to act like it is a religioin.

I hope ervyone knows i have nothing aginst Atheist, so please dont take this as slander.

Answer 1

Agnosticism is the philosophy that the question of the existence of a god or gods cannot be known.

Agnosticism is about knowledge.

Atheism and theism are about belief. If you believe, you are a theist. If you don't believe, you are an atheist.

You can be agnostic and be a theist. You can be agnostic and be an atheist. But you either believe or you don't.

Belief and knowledge are two different things.

Agnostic atheists are known as "soft atheists" or "weak atheists".

Only "strong atheists" make the assertion, "There is no god," as if they know this to be without a doubt true.

Answer 2

Agnostic means you neither believe nor disbelieve. If you think god can't be proven, that's typically Ignostic: the general concept being that you think that we don't even have an operating definition. People tend to ignore the difference between Ignostic and Agnostic while a lot of people just don't know the difference between Agnostic and Atheist. I'm agnostic, but in practice I act like an atheist, because while I give everything the benefit of the doubt, in terms of how I live my life, I apply Occum's Razor (which tends to lead us to science and atheism and whatnot).

Answer 3

This is a very valid question. Many people are afraid to ask, for fear that people will wonder which one they are, and they'll hope people don't think they are an atheist.

The problem is lack of knowledge. People just lump all non-believers into the same group. Especially people of faith (they want to disassociate themselves with non-believers).

Neither atheism nor agnosticism are religions. Atheism is the lack of belief in a deity. Agnosticism is claiming no knowledge, or at least not enough knowledge to make any valid claims one way or another.

It is also worth noting that atheists are not "devil worshipers". You have to believe in the devil to believe in it. If you don't believe in any deities, you don't believe in the devil either.

Kudos to you for asking this question. Oh, and you can't be slandering anyone here; slander is spoken, not written. When in writing, it would be called libel.

Answer 4

No, agnostic way you're not sure if God exists and atheist way you're definite he does not. Some individuals name themselves agnostic-atheists that means they're agnostic however in the direction of atheism.

Answer 5

Atheism isn't a religion; it's a belief. Religion is also a belief. Calling atheism a religion just sidesteps a lot of semantics.

You're right about atheism and agnosticism not being the same thing. I've seen people call themselves agnostic atheists. That makes my brain hurt.

Answer 6

I am a spirit filled christian and have no doubt that God is real, (of this, I could give you many proofs).
And I know the difference between agnostic and atheist, but, from my point of view there is really no difference because neither will accept God as being real. To be a Christian, one must be sold out to God, having no doubt about His existance!

Answer 7

Atheism is when you believe that there is no god. Interesting right? you believe in not believing in something err... someone? And I say that in the plain and simple origin of the word Religion I'll say that it IS a religion because it comes from "religare": unite, join, etc. in a common thing.

Agnostics to my lore, are people who believe in the "gnosis" or the act of knowing. They think that true enlightment comes from revelation but revelation as in a deep investigation of true knowledge. So I think that god may be more present in a library than in a temple or church to them.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

P.S.
I'd say that those two are a great part of my spiritual belief system.

Answer 8

I've never known a single atheist who thinks atheism is a religion or a single atheist that thinks atheism and agnosticism are the same thing, so I can't really comment. When do they act like it's a religion? Can't think of an example

Answer 9

I think you shouldnt be so stuck on terms, who cares? Pretty worthless thing to care about, your beliefs are validated within yourself.

Anyways I was once something of a agnostic, but then i became gnostic because I experienced higher truths and proved things in myself. you abide in God (parcels), your higher essence is of God, but this doesn't prove the God that man is looking for. Prove things within yourself and you'll know.

Answer 10

I'm not sure why they think that. I guess either one, they just don't know the meaning of the terms, or two, they're uncomfortable with the incompatibility of their beliefs and the beliefs of their peers and call themselves something different in an attempt to be accepted.