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It seems to me that if someone asks if you believe in God, claiming to be agnostic does not answer the question.
OK, you believe that the existence of a diety can neither be proven nor disproven. That it is unknowable. But does that mean you have no opinion on the matter? As an agnostic, do you claim that there is a 50% chance that there is a God, 50% chance that there isn't? Be honest, of course you don't.
I believe that most people claiming to be agnostics are also athiestic but is it possible for a Christian to be agnostic? How compatable is agnosticism with Christianity and other religions?
Thought? Criticisms?
It's not a cop out when you refuse to take sides and jump head-first into the retarded rumblepit that is modern day religion. It's being practical and smart.
I went through a stage when I was young when I tended to identify my point of view as agnostic because it took some time to sort things out until I realized I was really an atheist. I can't think of any reason to criticize an agnostic because as others have stated they're dealing with the reality that they simply don't have any real evidence to put them on one side of the fence or the other. What led to my atheism was the realization that everything about religion appeared to be man made and is obviously based on mythology. I just don't see any evidence whatsoever for the existence of God. However, I don't think that my lack of belief is deserving of any more respect than an agnostic who is acknowledging that he or she doesn't know all the answers. It's a perfectly legitimate point of view.
Is agnosticism a cop-out? No, I don't think so. I see it as an honest assessment of one's pondering of the "god" question. It bothers me to an extent when hard-core atheists basically say, "you know you're really an atheist, just admit." To me this is no different than the Fundamentalist saying, "You know you're a child of God, just admit it and accept Him as your Lord and Savior." Each person has to work out this question for themselves and in their own time. I would also say to hard-core atheists, that when agnostics are holding to the possibility of a god, this does not necessarily mean that we are considering the existance of the Judeo-Christian or Islamic god. For myself, this is true. I think that if a god of some sort exists, it is nothing like the one we have been told about. Its nature must be beyond what we can even comprehend.
I am agnostic and say so as I honestly don't know if there is "something greater than us" out there or not. For me to take a position on it one way or another makes no sense.
I definitely hold the possiblility of something beyond us as I cannot resolve certain things. For example, I believe in the Big Bang. I accept the existance of an unimaginably small and dense singularity that expanded to what we know as the universe. The evidence is there. But, what I cannot reconcile is what made this singularity? What, if anything, surrounded it? What kind of "space" did it occupy? To say that it was "just there" makes no more sense than the explanations we receive from Christians concerning the the origins of their god ("He was just always there").
I do not know if there is a god, but I do know that if it exists, it isn't what any of man's religions tell us it is.
It's not a cop out when you refuse to take sides and jump head-first into the retarded rumblepit that is modern day religion. It's being practical and smart.
Yup yup. I choose to be a 'neutral' agnostic and not take the atheist side or religious side.
Its safe to say there are three types of Agnostic: Agnostic Theist, Neutral Agnostic, and Agnostic Atheist.
Fairly safe. One can also say there is the basic and pretty inescapable agnostic non - knowledge position, and
1. not believing in what one does not know (atheism)
2. believing in what one does not know (illogical - on paper though one could argue convincing evidence)
3 Neutral. Or cop - out. Or still thinking about or looking at the evidence, or just going along with theist family or friends or not being interested.
I'd prefer to avoid perjorative terms like 'cop -out' and use more encouraging words like. "Keep thinking about it - look at the arguments from both sides. Come to a conclusion one way or the other for sound, logical, evidence - based reasons. You owe it to yourself to come off the fence."
Theist = with a belief in gods.
A-theist = without a belief in gods.
So if one were to say 'I don't know whether or not gods exist' one actually HAS a belief that gods may exist and is therefore theist.
As has been perviously stated here, one either believes in gods and is therefore theist or one doesn't and is therefore a-theist. Theism/a-theism is simply a belief or lack of belief in gods.
One who say 'might be gods...might not be, there is not enough evidence either way' is actually saying 'Yes, it's possible that gods exist'. That makes him theist....with belief in gods.
Does that make sense?? I'll get my coat just in case!
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great post
