Either you believe in god(s) or you don't. Simple right? Belief is a choice that you make. If you don't believe in a specific god or gods then you are an atheist, maybe a different kind but there you have it.
2007-06-27 23:13:30 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Being unsure or not knowing means that you DON'T BELIEVE. If someone asks, "Do you believe in Zeus" and you answer yes, you're a believer. Any other answer indicates a lack of belief.
2007-06-27 23:24:27 · update #1
Actually, you're wrong. Atheists don't believe in any god. They DON'T believe. Agnostics believe in a god/higher power, they just don't know what it is. There's a biiiig difference there. Atheist=don't believe Agnostic=believe
2007-06-27 23:55:37 · answer #1 · answered by LadySuri 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
No agnostics are not atheist. Agnostics are not willing to take a position on the subject. They are unsure of either the existence of god. They sit in the middle thinking that it makes some difference. Which it doesn't and if the bible is true they would still go to hell. If it's not true then they will still waist their time like every religious person.
If they were the same they would call themselves atheist. I think they are more of an atheist than anything just to weak to take a stand.
2007-06-27 23:21:39 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Do you realize that being atheist DOESNT mean that you -dont- believe?
Belief or disbelief is a bias... and doesnt include the unbiased, rational, not-knowing frame of mind that atheism is -supposed- to describe.
Not "believing in" doesnt mean that you believe in the contrary philosophy, by default. Either way, you must have faith that isnt based in proven fact. Since it has never been proven God exists nor that he doesnt exist... therefore no rational unbiased individual can lay claim to knowing one way or the other. Not "believing in" doesnt mean I "dont believe"... on the contrary, I could simply "not believe in nor not believe", taking a truly neutral position. This is what true atheism is supposed to be.
Agnosticism doesnt mean you dont believe... all it means is that you believe that it cant be proven either way. You can be an atheist agnostic or a theist agnostic. An agnostic is the type of person who would refrain from arguing theism vs atheism because debate is futile and faith is everything... they would rather argue provability vs. disprovability.
Agnosticism is a philosophy about the provability or dis-provability of theology. While atheism is simply NOT having theistic faith.
Not having theistic faith (being atheist) doesnt mean that you will deny the possibility any credence. An atheist is fully capable of remaining atheist and admitting that they dont know if theism is real or not. This is the essence of being unbiased and open-mindedly rational.
Personally, I call myself an atheist. But I am still open to the very real possibility of a theistic existence. I still pursue the matter, actively. I study, research, and go through the motions... I am looking for my own proof, one way or the other, because Im not an agnostic. I am truly unbiased, as an atheist should be. Being open to the possibility (as rational science doesnt discount any possibility before disproving it) doesnt mean I ignorantly put my faith in it.
Being heartfelt and passionate about DIS-belief... arguing against religious tenet for the sake of arguing... because you have chosen to disbelieve... that is what makes you biased and ignorantly close-minded. This is what anti-theism is.
Whenever other people claim to be atheist, I have to ask... because if they are biased against spiritual possibility for any reason than I wont be sympathetic when I callously correct their false self-labelling. I get a bad taste in my mouth when people claim to be the educated, rational, rooted-in-science "atheist", arguing how religion is wrong on the sole bases that science is observably and/or theoretically right, even though science has never disproven any religious spiritual claim.
What I am even more irritated with are those few so-called "atheists" who dont have anything against any religion or spiritualism... except Christianity. You know the people Im talking about... the ones who are "atheist" on the sole basis of a personal vendetta.
At the very best, science has only disproven some few specific historical accounts of events of specific texts of specific religions. Not only are those scriptures open to -some- interpretation, and most likely have been skewed with time... but the scientific evidence, itself, is sketchy. And this applies to only a given religion, not all theism, all spiritualism. Likewise, science is being used to prove religious doctrine accurate and true.
Atheism is more accurately defined as not having faith, whatsoever. Not as having faith that theism is false.
I, however, do agree with you in that you can be atheistic or theistic towards a specific religion or philosophy. That one can say they are atheistic towards Christianity, if you have a superseding theistic faith in some other Pagan religion. Every devout Christian, I suppose, is atheistic towards Islam, Buddhism, etc. But this is a very loose use of the term, and I am unsure of its accuracy or its repercussions when used in conversation.
Furthermore, you are also right that if you dont have "faith in" then you EITHER have "faith out" or "dont know". But there are plenty of people who teeter on the edge of faith. Some people claim to have faith when all they really have is an understanding, a habitual ritualistic existence, and a passing belief.
Whether or not that matters depends entirely on the religion! Christianity requires complete faith... so anything less than that is insufficient to prove devout followship. It doesnt prove youre atheistic, it only proves your own faith that you will be punished in the afterlife for failure to believe fully. It makes you a bad person of faith... it makes you undecided. I suppose with the frame of mind of devout Christianity, an agnostic is an atheist... but only in context of the religion.
In response to some others, having faith in -something- as yet undefined or unidentified makes you a spiritualist... not an atheist, theist, nor an agnostic. The real question for the spiritualist is this... if your pursuit of truth brings you towards Christianity, do you freak, or do you accept? In other words, are you an unbiased unbeliever (a true atheist) or are you a bigot against Christianity (an anti-theist, or more precisely an anti-Christian)?
Deism is theism rationalized by logic and science.
2007-06-27 23:29:35 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not correct. An agnostic says: I can not be sure. An atheist says: the question is irrelevant. If somebody comes with proof, I will investigate and decide. Atheists do not believe in little green men on Mars either. They do not believe in everything people can come up with, they have better things to do.
Do you believe in the spaghetti monster?
2007-06-27 23:18:53 · answer #4 · answered by kwistenbiebel 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Actually agnostics acknowledge that there might be a god, but don't commit themselves to believing in it in the same as religious person would.
Atheists fully discard the idea of a god.
2007-06-27 23:49:48 · answer #5 · answered by Devolution 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You are incorrect. An atheist does not believe in God an agnostic does not know if there is a God or not and does not care.
2007-06-27 23:19:16 · answer #6 · answered by lily 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Black and white thinking is a sign of either lacking intelligence or someone who is in some way insane.
An agnostic has not yet decided if they believe in god or not, or has simply decided that making such a decision is not important to them.
There is a difference.
2007-06-27 23:20:27 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Yes. You are a deist or atheist. I may believe in some force as yet undefined but I do not believe in Yahweh or Christ so I call myself an atheist. I am not sure where nature worshippers would be classified. But hey, at least we KNOW that the sun exists, right?
2007-06-27 23:17:57 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
"indifferent or no longer worrying" isn't listed in my Websters as a prefix which ability for "a-" What Websters says is "no longer or devoid of." I even have in no way heard of a charismatic atheist. i'm pronounced as an atheist seeing it incredibly is the interest we use for people who do no longer have faith in god. I have not have been given any difficulty with what human beings have faith. It has in no way negatively impacted my existence in exceptionally much 70 years.
2016-10-19 01:00:57 · answer #9 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Atheism is the lack of theism. The lack of religion. Remove God from the question...unless you actually believe that God is not higher than religion. A person saying he/she is agnostic is like saying, "I don't know."
2007-06-27 23:20:55 · answer #10 · answered by TheHippieNinja 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋