what exactly does it mean to be agnostic?

Answer 1

I'm not sure...LOL

Answer 2

Most people have beliefs, faith. It does not matter if something can be proven or disproven. There is an emotion part of the belief system.

Many people believe in God. They are called THEISTS. They also are often called by the religion of their beliefs, such as Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Druid, etc.

There are many sects of each, Fundamentalists for example, Catholics vs. Protestants, and then those in turn broke down into others.

The teachings of the different religions have much more in common than different, but you wouldn't know it to see the conflicts between people of different religions.

There is a belief system, I not remember the name of, where someone believes in the teachings of the holy books, but they do not believe in the institution of the Church.

There are those who believe in only one true God. They are MONOTHEISTS.

Then there are those who believe in multiple Gods. They are POLYTHEISTS. To some people who define God as a Supreme Beiing, this might not seem logical, but PolyTheists believe in different Gods or Spirits over different areas of nature.

Some people believe that there is no such animal as a God.
They are without doubts. These people are called ATHEISTS.

Among these different believers, there is often a lot of dissention and efforts to convert people to a different set of beliefs.

The AGNOSTICS have two main attributes.

1. They have doubt and uncertainty, do not know for sure, may lean one way or another. Some have an interest in relgion and spirituality.

2. They want to be left alone, not bothered by the people trying to convert them to one religion or another, or hear what the Atheists believe or argue. One reason why some people are agnostics are they are tired of the arguments of people trying to sway their beliefs.

If and when an agnostic is interested in hearing the marketing of some religion, it is easy to locate the proponents.

Answer 3

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Quote: "An agnostic may believe devoutly in god. In fact, many mainstream believers in the West embrace an agnostic creed. As noted above, for instance, Roman Catholic dogma about the nature of God contains many strictures of agnosticism. An agnostic who believes in God despairs of ever fully comprehending what it is he believes in. But some believing agnostics assert that that very absurdity strengthens their belief rather than weakens it. [7]
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Answer 4

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 5

A word first used by Professor Huxley, to indicate one who believes nothing which cannot be demonstrated by the senses.
www.theosociety.org/pasadena/key/key-glos.htm

An Agnostic [1] [noun] [OW] embraces a worldview in which the existence of deity is unknown or unknowable. Derives from the Greek agnostos, a = without, gnostos = known or knowledge. "Agnostic[ism] [CE] was coined by Professor TH Huxley in 1869 to describe the mental attitude of one who regarded as futile all attempts to know the reality corresponding to our ultimate scientific, philosophic, and religious ideas."
members.aol.com/porchnus/dict01.htm

one who believes that the evidence for and against the existence of God is inconclusive. (agnosticism)
www.summit.org/resource/dictionary/

Agnostic: one who questions religious or spiritual beliefs, and who may choose not to claim any system of knowledge.
iamuniversity.org/glossary/cv_glossarylist.php

One who holds the theory that God is unknown or unknowable
www.innvista.com/culture/religion/diction.htm

Someone who claims that they do not know or are unable to know whether God exists.
www.abdn.ac.uk/philosophy/guide/glossary.shtml

Agnosticism asserts no knowledge of gods and therefore concludes there are no reasons to believe in them or not to believe in them. An agnostic follows this credo and differs from the atheist who has developed an active belief that there are no gods. When it comes to the question of existence of deities, an agnostic will respond: I just don't know.
designdynamics.org/dictionary.html

someone who is doubtful or noncommittal about something
of or pertaining to an agnostic or agnosticism
uncertain of all claims to knowledge
a person who claims that they cannot have true knowledge about the existence of God (but does not deny that God might exist)
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Agnosticism is the philosophical view that the truth values of certain claims, particularly theological claims regarding the existence of God, gods or deities, are either unknown or inherently unknowable. The term and the related agnostic were coined by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869 and are also used to describe those who are unconvinced or noncommittal about the existence of deities as well as other matters of religion. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic

Answer 6

It means that you're not an atheist as in, you don't say that there isn't a spiritual being out there, but you don't have proof either way. I've explored quite a few religions, & read a few bibles. The religions which make the most ense to me are Buddism, Taoism & the native American spirituality, because they all respect life.

Answer 7

It means essentially that one is confessing ignorance in spiritual matters. Until we die, many would argue, there is no way to know for sure what the truth is. This being said, the agnostic claims no religion but does not embrace atheism either.

Hope this clears things up!

Answer 8

To say that "you don't know" whether there is or is not a deity/god.

One can be an agnostic and a theist or an atheist. Agnosticism is very inclusive.

To not be an agnostic means that you admit that you can scientifically PROVE there is or is not a deity/god.

Answer 9

To be agnostic one must not deny the possibility of "God(s)", but also no support/ follow any religion. So in layman's terms a curious athiest.

Answer 10

It means that you make no decision as to whether there is a God or, not. Sort of like taking the middle road attitude.

Biblically, it is not a good stance to take!

Answer 11

It means you can not say for certain if there is or is not a god. There is no proof to say there is but you are willing to acknowledge that we don't know everything. So there might.