Agnostic or atheist?

Question

I am kinda ignorant on what is the difference is between them. From what i can tell Atheists believe in nothing while Agnostics believe there might be some kind of god. Is this true or am I way off?

Answer 1

As an atheist, I can tell you I believe in a lot of things. However, I do not believe in the existence of God.
Agnostics are not sure if God exists or not.

Answer 2

Agnostics do not know whether or not a god exists, thus; the probability of a god existing is about 50/50. Most agnostics write off the idea of a religious god that conforms to ancient texts.

Atheists range from not believing a god exists (lacking belief) to believing that no god exists (very rare). Most place the probability of a god existing at far less than 50/50'.

I fall in the first category of atheism: I lack belief in gods, and find them highly improbable.

Non-theists are also an interesting bunch. To my knowledge, they are atheist when it comes to religious gods of the ancient world, but more agnostic toward the concept of whether or not any kind of god exists (it is difficult to define the concept of god), and they consider it an irrelevant question (as gods do not interfere in the natural universe, thus they have no power and are impossible to prove)

Answer 3

Well, I'm both.
Atheism and theism deal with BELIEF - do you think there is a god or not. No, I don't see any reason to, so atheism is for me.
Agnosticism deals with KNOWLEDGE - do I know that no god exists? No, I can't possibly know that. So agnosticism is also my cup o' tea! (Gnosticism on the other hand claims to possess knowledge).
Do you see the difference?
I don't know if there is such a thing as pure agnosticism...you believe in deities, or you don't. You will lean one way or the other, usually. So I like the terms agnostic theist and agnostic atheist better than just "agnostic."

Answer 4

Atheist means, in essense, "no God" since the Greek word for God was theos.

Agnostic is also from the Greek and means "don't know". There are two types of agnostics, one type who says they themselves do not know if there is a God, but there might be, but another type of agnostic believes no one can know for sure if there is a deity.

Answer 5

Agnostics believe spiritual things are "unknowable." Atheists "know" there is no God. Actually a big difference, maybe even polar opposites.

However, they both would not follow any religious teachings but for different reasons. Thus the confusion.

Answer 6

What do you mean Atheist believe in nothing. You're mixing up your definition of Atheist with Nihilist. The other people already did a good job of answering your question so I just thought I would point that out.

Answer 7

Agnostics can go either way...

Excerpt from Wikipedia.. Agnosticism (from the Greek a, meaning "without", and Gnosticism or gnosis, meaning "knowledge") is the philosophical view that the truth value of certain claims—particularly metaphysical claims regarding theology, afterlife or the existence of God, gods, deities, or even ultimate reality—is unknown or, depending on the form of agnosticism, inherently unknowable due to the nature of subjective experience.

Agnostics claim either that it is not possible to have absolute or certain knowledge of the existence or nonexistence of God or gods; or, alternatively, that while individual certainty may be possible, they personally have no knowledge. Agnosticism in both cases involves some form of skepticism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic

Atheism.. Atheism, as a philosophical view, is the position that either affirms the nonexistence of gods[1] or rejects theism.[2] When defined more broadly, atheism is the absence of belief in deities,[3] alternatively called nontheism.[4] Although atheism is often equated with irreligion, some religious philosophies, such as secular theology, or some varieties of Theravada Buddhism, lack belief in a personal god.

Many self-described atheists are skeptical of all supernatural beings and cite a lack of empirical evidence for the existence of deities. Others argue for atheism on philosophical, social or historical grounds. Although many self-described atheists tend toward secular philosophies such as humanism[5] and naturalism,[6] there is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere.[7]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

Answer 8

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 9

Atheists do not believe in god at all. Agnostic people believe you can't prove there is a god and you cant prove that their isn't a god either...they are kind of neutral.

Answer 10

a- theist: without- god

a-gnostic: without-knowledge


So thus, you are basically correct. Atheists do not believe in any sort of deity, and frequently (though not always!) disbelieve in the soul too. Agnostics believe that there is likely something, but that it cannot be known. This is not necessarily a god in the proper sense either... just... a spiritual something.