Quote:
Originally Posted by romansh  A simplistic approach might be:
If you can answer "yes" to either of these two questions:
Do you believe god exists?
Do you believe god does not exist?
then you might not be an agnostic. |
I think I'd replace "believe" with "know."
I think Agnostic has to do more with knowledge than belief, and Atheist(ic) has to do more with general belief.
"Well hey NC, what's the difference between knowledge and belief?"
I'd say knowledge is very strong belief. Like...you may believe someone when they're telling you how a TV works, or you might Know how it works after repairing them for 20 years.
Many people like to equate knowledge to something you can absolutely know for sure....but alas, absolute truth seems to be an illusion. Many people like to equate agnosticism with being right in the middle of the spectrum as far as belief in God, however it's more like a range. If you like seeing things mathematically, like I do, then picture a spectrum from 1 to 7. 1 is believing without a doubt that God exists, you Know he exists. 7 is Knowing God doesn't exist. Now anyone who is 2 through 6 is technically agnostic. But say you're a 5, so you're leaning toward believing that God doesn't exist, but you're not strong in this belief; in this case you'd be an Agnostic Atheist.
Or if you're a philosophy buff, being Agnostic is knowing that you know nothing.