Understanding Atheism and Agnosticism

2009-09-23

Understanding Atheism and Agnosticism

Image by Loz Flowers via Flickr

One of the more frequent points of confusion for those first beginning to explore the subject of atheism is the relationship of atheism to agnosticism. It is often thought that these represent two distinct positions on the question of god(s), but this is actually not the case. Atheism is indeed a response to the question of god(s), but agnosticism addresses the question of knowledge.

I recently ran across a great comment in reddit/atheism by a user called disturbd that provides a succinct yet accurate summary. I have edited it only for grammar.

Agnosticism deals with one's claim to knowledge on a subject; atheism describes one's lack of belief in deities. They are not mutually exclusive terms. If you don't claim to know whether or not gods exist, regardless of your belief or lack thereof, you are agnostic. Agnostic simply means "without knowledge." You can be an agnostic atheist (I don't know, but I don't believe in gods), or an agnostic theist (I don't know, but I do believe in god/s). A gnostic atheist/theist would claim to know their position is true. A gnostic theist holds the position, "I believe in god and I know he exists". A gnostic atheist is the opposite, "I know there is no god."

The author goes on to explain that he, just like me, is an agnostic atheist.

So to answer you question, I'm both. I'm an agnostic atheist. I just think the label "atheist" more closely describes my lack of belief. I find that many people that call themselves agnostic are actually atheists, but choose to label themselves agnostic to avoid the stigma associated with the word, and any consequential persecution from theists that may follow their "coming out." I look at it the other way. If I tell you I am an atheist, and you view me differently because of it, I would like to know that so I can move on with my life and pay you no mind.

For more on this subject, see: