What would you call it? Agnostic or atheist?

Question

I call myself agnostic, but I often wonder if its a mislabel. I'm not an idiot (which is why I don't believe in God anyway) and I do understand the gist between the 2 terms. I won't walk up to someone and tell them there in no God, but at the same time if the argument arises, I will give my best explanation of why I believe there is no God. Is that atheism or agnosticism? I will be happy to give more details if requested. PLEASE no Jesus freak answers, I don't need your scripture, bible, or your propaganda.

Addition: When explaining myself I say show me, then I'll believe, but I will always add that it doesn't make sense and I don't think there is a God.

Answer 1

Agnosticism is uncertainty due to a lack of evidence for or against God. Now, it is important to define what 'God' is. (See ignosticism)

Some Gods/gods can be disproven by their own nature. Others, including ones that do nothing at all, cannot be proven or disproven because they may not reveal themselves to us. They would be beyond our perceptions.

As an agnostic, I will argue against both sides, though I usually stick with the atheists because they say they would believe if they were given evidence.

Agnosticism is neither illogical nor ignorant. It is not the same as saying we can't know if Santa Claus exists. Santa Claus is one who brings us presents and lives at the North Pole. We know that neither of these things is true, therefore Santa Claus does not exist. Many atheists use the 'FSM' idea, but this is no different from the agnostic viewpoint. No proof either way until God is defined, and even then it is not necessarily possible to prove or disprove.

Edit: There is a lot of confusion caused by the terms, though. According to Wikipedia, an atheist need not reject even the possibility of a God. But then I wonder what one would call a person who DOES reject the possibility. These are very distinct stances. Perhaps anti-theist? I don't really know.

Answer 2

One has to be trained to be an atheist. You are not trained, you are a novice. I can tell by the way you reason things out. If you were truly an atheist you would not be fraiming this sort of question. You do have seious doubts. Be glad you do!General revelation is the world as you view it. A happy accident, c'mon! The product of an evolutionary scheme. Crap! You're more precisely an agnostic ( "I don't know" ). General revelation is a show of God's handywork. You are one super complex electro-chemical being. Did you evolve from some primordial soup? Not a chance. You were carefully crafted by the only one who could possiblyt knit you together and sustain you. Special revelation is the Bible, and that is a record of where God has interacted with man, and He left a road map of how and with whom you might have a saving relationship, You were made an eternal being in God's image. It just depends on where you spend eternity. You say, "Jesus freaks"! Friend you have know idea what you are talking about. Try something on a gamble,that you might learn something new in spite of your deep doubts. Read the Gospel of John, 4th epistle in the New Testament, when you are finished tell me whether it makes sense or not? Pure reason alone will not get you in a position to have faith, because your head gets in the way. You have to trust God that he will answer your deepest questions. It must be seriously depressing and deeply unsatisfying to view the world without a purpose, to look out into space at a hostile universe, without a smiling face looking back at you that says "You are my child ,and I love you, look for me with all your heart and I will let you find me."
God is the "deus absconditus", the God who hides himself. But He can be found and known, but you have to ask. God bless, and don't give up, friend.

Answer 3

I may be way off but this is the way I understand it.

Atheist does not believe in a God.
Agnostic is not sure.

I consider myself to be an open minded Atheist. I will listen to evidence in support of a deity. I would like to think someone is actually driving this train wreck in progress. But when I say evidence I mean real no kidding, stand up in court evidence. A book 1500 years old with a dozen translations and conflicting statement following conflicting statement is not evidence. And, what someone else believe is not evidence. Physical things are evidence.

Example:

I believe you killed someone. That is NOT evidence.

So and so is dead, he has a bullet wound to the heart, the projectile matches your firearm, your fingerprints are on the gun, you have the victims blood on your clothes and gun shot residue on your hands. Now that is evidence.

A Christian walks on one side of the fence. An Atheist walks on the other side of the same fence. An Agnostic is a Mugwump. He sits on top of the fence with his Mug hanging on one side and his Wump hanging on the other. An Agnostic is destined to be struck from either side. At least from my position as an Atheist I can only be hit from one side, my back is safe.

Answer 4

Depends on what god you're talking about. If you mean every possible creator then you're an atheist. If you mean the christian god youre atheistic when it comes to that one god, but perhaps agnostic in a broader sense. In my opinion, the only intellectually honest position to take is agnosticism . Common sense might tell us that the christian or muslim etc. gods are impossible, but to proclaim that no god could exist would be to say that we know everything there is to know.

Answer 5

Sounds like agnosticism to me. Agnosticism is the understanding that we have no way of empirically proving OR disproving the existence of the divine. Most agnostics have some theory or opinion on the subject, but (unlike fundamentalist atheists like Dawkins) they realize the ultimate futility of trying to "prove" their opinion to anyone else.

Answer 6

An atheist is one who does not believe in a god or gods.

Some atheists, like myself, say that no gods exist.

If an agnostic believes that no one can prove whether a god or gods exist, they can't possibly believe that a god does, or gods do, exist. Therefore, they are without the believe in a god or gods. Therefore, atheist.

If I've missed something, I'm open to learning.

Answer 7

you don't say why you would not walk up to someone and tell them there is no God. If it is because you're not sure, then you're an agnostic. If you're being polite (which is something always to be hoped for, although your comment about not being an idiot lessens the possibility), then you are an atheist.

Answer 8

I call myself an atheist. To me, that means that I don't believe there is a god based on the available evidence. If more evidence becomes available, I will re-evaluate my position, but for now, I'm reasonably certain I'm correct.

Answer 9

Agnosticism makes no sense. Atheists accept that if evidence for god appeared, they'd believe. Until then the default is non-belief. Atheism makes sense.

Answer 10

If you truly believe that there is no God then you are an atheist. Agnostics generally say that it is uncertain or unknowable whether or not God exists.