Or vice-versa?
This was originally posted to my Tumblr, but I figured I’d post it here, as well.
Dictionary.com definitions:
atheist:
a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings.
theist:
- the belief in one God as the creator and ruler of the universe, without rejection of revelation.
- belief in the existence of a god or gods
agnostic:
- a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience.
- a person who denies or doubts the possibility of ultimate knowledge in some area of study.
gnostic:
- pertaining to knowledge.
- possessing knowledge, esp. esoteric knowledge of spiritual matters.
- (initial capital letter) pertaining to or characteristic of the Gnostics.
- (initial capital letter) a member of any of certain sects among the early Christians who claimed to have superior knowledge of spiritual matters, and explained the world as created by powers or agencies arising as emanations from the Godhead
So as you can see by these definitions, an atheist can be agnostic, because at the core of agnosticism is a healthy dose of skepticism. Skepticism is crucial to any realistic approach to the world, and a major part of why most atheists consider themselves atheists.
You could also argue the reverse: an atheist denies the existence of a god or gods, the agnostic denies the possibility of ultimate knowledge of that fact. Therefore, the agnostic could be considered atheist.
Others have made this point better than I, but still I feel it necessary to bring it up. If you would like to learn more, visit:
molly
Harriet Cotter
dotlizard
The Aviator
Eric
The Sexy Angie
Julian
Oddly enough, when I made my ‘coming out’ post, one person observed that though I identified as an atheist, that I might actually be an agnostic. I replied “there’s a lot of overlap in definitions, but, agnosticism is not incompatible with religion (and i am!), and it can even be used to describe people who are affiliated with a certain religion but disagree with certain aspects of it, and to me that feels a little ambiguous. i’d rather identify myself with atheism since the basis of the word is an absence of theism.”
The beauty of skepticism is that it is wonderfully flexible. If a god or gods made themselves known tomorrow, and there was a rational basis for proof of their godliness, any rational person would accept this.
But I choose the word ‘atheist’ mostly because it feels like a stronger statement. I am not confused, nor in need of being shown the light – so in the interest of clarity, I say atheist.
Sorry to be blathering my head off at you in all these different venues, I am just damn glad to meet you.