So
Lifer
- Jul 2, 2001
- 25,923
- 17
- 81
Originally posted by: child of wonder
Originally posted by: So
Originally posted by: child of wonder
Originally posted by: So
Originally posted by: Robor
I have an aunt who visits a few times per year and each time she leaves she gives me something from that 'Daily Bread' publication. I'm agnostic. I don't deny the possibility of a supreme being but I don't deny the possibility there is none either. I simply don't know. Now my aunt knows this but continues to give me this religious propaganda. I know she means well but at the same time why can't she understand and accept I do not follow her chosen faith? I wonder what she would think if I gave her material from Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, etc? Those of faith often ask agnostics/atheists to keep an open mind yet they often practice their own religion as though it is the undeniable one and only truth. How can they deny all faiths but their own yet not accept the possibility they may be wrong?
If you don't actively believe in a god, you're an atheist. That's all the word means "a (not) - theist"
Many people don't want to call themselves that because of the stigma that religious folk have associated with it.
Agnostic and atheist are two very different things.
The latter claims to know with certainty that there is no god while the former admits one cannot know with certainty either way.
Not even close to true. I stand by what I said. Many atheists label themselves agnostic because they think that theists will treat them better if they shun the label. Being an atheist simply means you do not actively believe that a god exists. You either believe that a god is more likely than not to exist or vice versa.
Agnostic - a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable ; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god.
Atheist - one who believes that there is no deity.
Pretty cut and dry, my friend.
Again. Not accurate.
Gnosticism is reflective of the knowability of something, theism is the active belief in a god.
You can be a gnostic or agnostic atheist and you can be a gnostic or agnostic theist. Most people who label themselves "agnostic" are also atheists -- they don't actively believe in a god.