Is it really impossible to be agnostic?
A lot of people say you are either an agnostic theist or an agnostic atheist. You an't be just agnostic.
Is that really so? I mean - if you can't decide at all if you lean more towards atheism or theism, doesn't that make you very much agnostic? Agnostic means uncertainty. Is it that impossible to be 100% uncertain?
Agnosticism is a thing
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Agnosticism is not a thing
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You can be atheist, and you can be theist. Every thing else is blanketed by those two. Agnosticism, the belief that proof of God is unknown and may never be known, is a branch of atheism, which is defined as a disbelief or lack of belief in a deity. If one lacks belief, because they believe it is impossible to know, they are an agnostic atheist. What I do not believe exists is an agnostic theist. How does that work? "I believe God exists but believe it is impossible to prove it" Side: Agnosticism is a thing
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What I do not believe exists is an agnostic theist. How does that work? Simple. Their belief in God is fueled purely by faith rather than knowledge. The believe because they want it to be true, not because they "know" it is. I'd say there are more of these folks around than people realize because they tend to be quieter about their beliefs. Side: Agnosticism is a thing
In a sense I could say I'm an agnostic theist then. I don't believe God exists because there's no way to know it, and he probably doesn't want us to know it, but I definitely want him to exist. Allow me to vent, or spill my guts, or just get this off of my chest. I don't care if God wants to stay in the shadows, so long as he actually was there and keeping things from getting even more chaotic than they are now. I assume you're also an atheist. Tell me, doesn't this sound like a comforting thought: that God is actually out there, and is using all of his power to keep earth in balance, and that without him there we'd have long since been gone. Sure it's easier to wish that we were just perfect already, but with the knowledge that we aren't I'd love to be comforted by the idea that something's watching out for us. Side: Agnosticism is a thing
Being agnostic is like trying to solve an impossible mathematical equation, we know that the equation exists because we can see it but we can't figure it out, we know there is an answer but until we can solve it we remain unknowing or agnostic about that mathematical equation. Same goes for the universe, we know it's there and that it exist because we can experience it but we don't know how or what caused or created the quantum particles to even exist in the first place and what caused the concept of nothing to even be something, that being said everyone is agnostic until you show me proof, an answer to the mathematical equation. Side: Agnosticism is a thing
Being agnostic is like trying to solve an impossible mathematical equation, we know that the equation exists because we can see it but we can't figure it out, we know there is an answer but until we can solve it we remain unknowing or agnostic about that mathematical equation. I like this analogy, but I believe the conclusions you drew from it are incorrect. Someone proposing that a god exists is like someone proposing that the answer to that math problem is 11. You can't solve the problem so you don't believe it is 11, but because you can't solve the problem, you can't completely rule 11 out. I don't believe there is a god, but I can't completely rule it out because it isn't self contradictory. That position is labeled as agnostic atheism. Side: Agnosticism is not a thing
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Its first important to realize there are two schools of thought regarding this subject. The more common one, and the one used by most theists and many self-described agnostics is that atheism=belief that there are no gods, and that agnostic is a middle ground stance. So they would say it IS possible to be a "pure agnostic". The second school, which an increasing number of atheists including myself follow, believes that atheism is, in its most broad form, simply a lack of belief in Gods. To most of us, agnostic is qualifier that tells us what kind of atheist (or theist, for that matter) we are talking about. The gnostic/agnostic spectrum is not about belief, but knowledge. When you combine the two spectrum you get four results: Gnostic theists believe in God and believe they have proof. Agnostic theists don't claim to have proof, but they believe in god anyway, by pure faith. Gnostic Atheists believe they have proof there is no god. Agnostic atheists don't believe in God, but don't claim proof that he doesn't exist, they are just highly skeptical. In that sense, its not possible to be JUST agnostic, but its also not possible to be JUST an atheist either. I consider myself both. Side: Agnosticism is not a thing
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I will acknowledge that agnosticism, as commonly used, is merely a subcategory of atheism. That said, I will continue to use the label 'agnostic' to describe myself. This is primarily due to the negative connotation associated with the term 'atheist,' which is entirely the fault of the obnoxious anti-religious atheists. The difference is merely semantic, but the anti-religious have discolored the term 'atheist' such that I don't want to be associated with it. Semantics matter. It could also be argued that, language being a fluid construct and merely a tool to communicate concepts, the accepted definition of a term is the definition of a term, regardless of whether that conflicts with a dictionary. Side: Agnosticism is not a thing
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