What's the difference between being Athiest and Agnostic?

Question

Well, based on your answers then, what's the difference between being Agnostic, or being non demoninational? Or the difference between Agnostic and Scientology?

Answer 1

Agnosticism is the view that the existence of God is impossible to be known or proven. The word “agnostic” essential means “without knowledge.” Agnosticism is a more intellectually honest form of atheism. Atheism claims that God does not exist – an improvable position. Agnosticism argues that God’s existence cannot be proven or unproven – that it is impossible to know whether God exists. In this concept, agnosticism is correct. God’s existence cannot be empirically proven or disproven.

Answer 2

To clear up Agnostic....it is not knowing whether God exists or not...they say it's possible God could exist, but there's no proof. In other words, they are in the same, categorically as Atheists, only difference is they believe God is a possibility. Hate to say this, but I thought Agnostics believed in God, but did not have a formal religion. I've even answered this same question that way before. I saw all these posts and checked out Wikipedia to get clarification.

Peace, Love, and Blessings
Greenwood

Answer 3

Atheists simply do not believe in god, gods, any higher powers, the supernatural or spirits whatsoever.

Agnostics simply state that these things are not known and cannot be known.

Although, there are many different levels within the two camps. There are strong Agnostics that lean towards full Atheism and there are weak Atheists that have a somewhat agnostic view. Many Atheists feel that Agnostics are simply too afraid to admit that there is no God. Likewise many Agnostics feel that Atheists are too full of themselves to admit that the knowledge of 'god' cannot be proven or disproven. Yet another war over nothing more than ideas and labels.

Answer 4

I was agnostic for 20 years. I grew up thinking all religion was crap, but I was never willing to go so far as to say that I was CONVINCED 100% that God did not exist. See, I had no evidence that He DIDN'T exist, and I wasn't willing to believe anything, including the non-existence of God, without evidence. (I was a really skeptical little kid.)

Atheists go the extra mile. They make the "leap of faith" to the "There is no God!" position. I don't understand the reason for this, but then again, I've never been an atheist.

Answer 5

that is all merely various ranges of doubt and disbelief. Yeah, "freethinker" is an helpful capture-all. So is "nonbeliever" or "skeptic." some team available needs to call the completed bunch human beings "brights." Heh. i imagine of myself as an agnostic, because i have not ruled out the probability -- besides the indisputable fact that distant -- of a few type of ingenious stress someplace available contained in the universe that we gained't understand. yet I fairly do not believe contained in the anthropormorphic personal God of the Bible. So am I an agnostic or an atheist? Neither? both? perchance it merely would not make any distinction ...

Answer 6

Atheist doesn't believe in God or Heaven or Hell or anything like that.

Agnos, in Latin, means unknowing. Agnostics weren't raised around that kinda thing. It's not that they don't believe in God. They just are unaware of the teachings of the Bible and all that stuff. They don't go to church or study the Bible.

Neither are bad people. It annoys me when people put the two in the same category though. I'm an Agnostic. I went to church every week when I was little, up to the time I was maybe 6, so I'm really unfamiliar with the Bible. I have read some of it, but I'm really undecided on most aspects of it.

Answer 7

An Atheist believes in nothing at all, no god(s) or afterlife or anything. If comes from the roots A- meaning non, and theist meaning a religous person.

An Agnostic believes that it is impossible to know or prove that a god does or does not exist.
The roots are A- meaning non, and -gnos meaning to know.

Answer 8

Agnostic believes in a higher power.Though they do not attribute any name nor specific belief to it.Atheist believes there is no higher power nor deity.Though kinda funny Atheists claim to believe in nothing yet they believe is the proofs of science.So in a sense it is a belief.Conundrum or oxymoron you decide.

Answer 9

I think an atheist chooses not to believe in God, preferring to believe a more human-centric perspective. For example, everthing can be explained by a cause and effect relationship. We, therefore, are the masters of our own domains, for humans can cause whatever effect we wish.

Agnostic on the other hand believes that either true knowledge of God is unknowable, or that the person cannot know true knowledge of God. Such a person may or may not deny the existence of God. They also tend to believe only what they can sense.

Answer 10

Atheist believes there is no god Agnostic is not sure and thinks there will never be evidence to prove existence.