Can anyone really be a THEIST or an ATHEIST?

Question

Or are we all really just a bunch of Agnostics?
I mean, no one can say for sure that there is or is not a God. Those who believe have faith, those who don't do not have faith.

Answer 1

Ah I was waiting for a person like you.


You have it perfectly.

In the end of the day we are all Agnostic. We can still believe in what we think is true but we don't know.

Its an absolutely lovely concept!

Answer 2

You need to separate the idea of "belief" from what is believed in.

It is quite possible to not believe in anything. That is to require that things be stated as assumptions or verifiable truths or proven truths.

Belief means that you have absolutely NO way of proving the truth of what you believe in. If that is not true, then you would call it knowledge instead of belief. (I realize that there are many believers who confuse belief with knowledge.)

Now if you understand the difference between belief and knowledge and you ask what can one believe in you are quite right is saying that one cannot believe and be an atheist. But atheist DON'T believe, so you haven't accomplished anything by that distinction.

In regards to Theist or Agnostics, it appears that you are talking about semantically differences of what is believed. A theist posits that there is a God but that God is not a personal God but more of a force of nature, a prime mover. The agnostic is sort of amused by all the nonsense and says, "you really need to prove there is a God first before you start talking about what God's abilities and attributes are". And the agnostic has a good point which is usually ignored by committed believers.

Usually people label themselves in these various categories to avoid being condemned by religious fanatics, of which there many in the USA. Most are probably atheists but call themselves theists or agnostics to avoid confrontations with ignorant bigots.

Answer 3

What's so important about being sure?

I'm an atheist because there's no god. I don't have to be certain that there isn't one, any more than I have to be certain that there are no lime-green flying elephants to be able to say that I know there aren't any. That's not faith, it's the conclusion that one draws based on the best evidence.

Certainty is WAY overrated. It is utterly unimportant to our knowing about the universe, and it's the wrong standard for knowledge.

The agnostic position makes no sense at all. Just because you can't be 100% certain of something is no reason to say "I don't know whether or not it's true". If agnostics really think that, then they must also be unwilling to say that they know there are no lime-green flying elephants, and that's not a courageous position, it's a silly unwillingness to take a stand.

Answer 4

An atheist does not believe in God. A Christian believes in the God of the bible. An agnostic thinks there may be a God, but there is no way to know for sure. Therefore, of course there are people in each of these three places.

Answer 5

Not all atheists say "There is no god" - just the gnostic ones, and there aren't too many out there.

Not all theists say "There is a god" - just the gnostic ones, and that's most of them however.

The best "position" is as an atheist agnostic - that's how everyone was born. With the simple lack of belief.

Answer 6

There's nothing wrong with reaching a conclusion based on a rational argument.

I'm an atheist. I don't have 'faith' that there's no God. I just consider it obvious because I care about science and reality.... I mean everything religion says is basically wrong. They said the earth was flat, they said we were made from dust, they said heaven was in the sky (apologists dont try and say it was metaphor, prophets climbed mountains to be closer to God), they thought the sun went around the earth...

There's no such thing as souls, no afterlife, no reason for God to create life, no reason for him to create a universe, if he was real why would he be petty enough to crave worship? the whole god hypothesis is absolutely worthless... I could go on and on and on.

Which God are you talking about anyway? There are hundreds and most of them come with their own unique and contradictory creation myths.

*Why is everyone impressed by this? Are you all agnostic about fairies in the garden or santa claus? You can't prove they don't exist, either.*

Answer 7

I had not really thought about it. Since a negative cannot be proven, then I cannot logically be an atheist. Agnostic perhaps, but not an atheist.

I can still choose to stubbornly not believe, however.

But that would be a kind of Faith wouldn't it?

=D

Answer 8

Of course an atheist is simply defined as one who lacks belief in gods, which takes no faith at all. One must either be a theist ( believe in gods ) or you don't ( atheist ) there is no middle ground.

Answer 9

I think that's the point of faith. It means believing without factual proof. That's hard to do in our modern society, where we don't give any credit to anything without proof. This is a good practice for certain things. If someone would ask me why doesn't God appear to us and prove once and for all that He or doesn't exist, my answer would be 1) He did come, and His name is Jesus Christ. 2) Who are we to demand that God prove anything to us?

Answer 10

I am not an agnostic, I am an atheist. I am not 100% sure that there is no God, but I believe that it is a scientifically answerable question that we should pursue, and I believe that it will eventually lead to proof that there is no god.

Answer 11

belief in God - theist

belief there is no god - atheist

Don't know - agnostic - rational

Main Entry: 1ag·nos·tic
Pronunciation: ag-'näs-tik, &g-
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek agnOstos unknown, unknowable, from a- + gnOstos known, from gignOskein to know -- more at KNOW
1 : a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god