La pregunta para ateos., (question for atheists) Options

[radhikaeatsraman]

'Kay, so this is how people (usually) come to find atheism. (In a nutshell.) They question their belief in their god and their religion, they do a little research, badabing badaboom, they're nonbelievers. (Yes, I know I'm being horribly inaccurate here, but just go with me.)

As an atheist being raised in a fairly religious family, I find myself questioning my atheism sometimes, the same way a believer may question their faith. I know that atheism is not a faith, but sometimes I wonder if faith could be right and atheism could be wrong.

Discuss? Feel free to move this to Debate if you like.

[voguelove]

mm, well..everyone has their own opinion. i meyself am agnostic. i question it too.

agnostic=One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism.
atheism=Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods.


its so hard to believe in something you cant touch, smell, or see. but if there is the "supernatural" (which i believe there is) then there has to be an upper power. and if there are miracles, and if people say, "its meant to be" then there has to be an upper power.

gahhh, its so confusing.

[NoSex]

mm, well..everyone has their own opinion. i meyself am agnostic. i question it too.

agnostic=One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism.
atheism=Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods.
its so hard to believe in something you cant touch, smell, or see. but if there is the "supernatural" (which i believe there is) then there has to be an upper power. and if there are miracles, and if people say, "its meant to be" then there has to be an upper power.

gahhh, its so confusing.

Those definitions are bent and really misleading.
Atheism - Lack of belief in God. Rationalist Theory.
Agnosticism - Belief that spiritual truth can not be know. Epistemological Theory.

If you're an agnostic, in most cases, you are also an atheist.

A little article I wrote. Needs an update, pretty old. But, it should suffice.

"On average the American population who subscribe to "agnosticism" is greater than those who subscribe to "atheism". I see this trend manifested in day to day life. The title of agnosticism has been, for some time, more popular and seemingly more acceptable than the title of atheism. Why is this?

When observing the agnostic trend I believe we can isolate reasons for such a movement. Aside from common propositions concerning the social stigmas of being identified as an "atheist", I believe that there is a far more pervasive incitement which relates back to the agnostic trend. The incitement I speak of is, specifically, the misrepresentation and incorrect defining of common terms referring back to religious sentiments such as "atheism", "theism", and "agnosticism".

If such terms are not properly presented and understood we all suffer from a lack of clarity in communication. It is my belief that the agnostic trend is primarily a result of atheism being misrepresented.

First I shall tackle the misrepresentation of atheism. The misconception here is caused by a far too narrow defining of the concept, and less frequently a far too wide definition. On the narrow scale we are presented with "atheism" as a positive affirmation that no god exist or could exist. This denotation is commonly held by those who refer to themselves as theists, agnostics, and even atheists. On the wider scale we are presented, mostly by theists, that atheism is a "set of beliefs or ideas" that refer to life as a whole and are not exclusive to the question of god.

By observing the etymology of the word, and its purpose in language we can see why these conceptions misrepresent atheism and fail to capture its true meaning.

Atheism is derived from the early Greek atheos (a "without" theos "gods") which used the privative a prefix and simply meant "without gods" or "lack of belief in gods". Nearing the 5th Century BCE the word adopted the additional meaning of active denial in god or gods. In 1587, the word was picked up by english scholars from the french athéisme which was derived from the greek and latin variations.

By following the etymology, we can better understand the purpose and meaning of the word. Together with the active denial of gods is the mere lack of belief in gods. So, we are now introduced with words to determine of what atheistic position one may or may not be.

Strong Atheism; Active Denial.
Weak Atheism; Lack of Belief.
Explicit Atheism; Conscious choice.
Implicit Atheism; Unconscious.

The narrow definition acknowledges exclusively the Strong or Positive Atheism while excluding the most basic and pervasive Weak or Negative Atheism. To exclude the "lack of belief" meaning creates a mess of confusion. When we are presented with only the Strong atheistic position it is clearly flawed when applied to logical thinking. We can not ultimately know that no god whatsoever exists. Much like the theistic position, the strong atheistic position would require a "leap of faith" beyond the access of reason. The appeal to agnosticism then becomes the very real fact that we truly can not know for sure that all gods do not exist. But, as we have shown, to be an atheist, one is not required to affirm for sure that no god could ever exist.

You either believe, or you do not believe. You are either an atheist or a theist (pantheist, deist, etc.). I accept the weak atheistic position because I know that I can never, while remaining wholly logical and rational, dismiss entirely the belief in the possibility of a deity. There are some special cases however where I believe that we can know whether or not a given god exists. For example, I actively disbelieve in the existence of the christian God because I believe that we can have knowledge of such a problem.

The wider definitions which proposes a "world view" behind atheism are fallacious because of the fact that atheism is exclusive to belief concerning the question of god. Atheism makes no claims or declarations outside of this question.

Theism is simply the opposite of atheism. The fullness of belief rather than the lack. The active affirmation rather than the active denial. Theism alone only speaks towards the question of god, just as atheism. It alone does not identify "world views", specific religious convictions, or theological positions.

Both the terms "atheism", and "theism" simply refer to a belief process and nothing more. Again, we either believe or we do not believe.

Agnosticism has been, for some time, presented as a middle ground. It is often presented as a suspension of judgment concerning the question of god. I would like to emphasize that agnosticism is, in now way, a middle ground between atheism and theism.

As we look at agnosticism the etymology is rather ambiguous because it was a word coined and invented by Thomas Henry Huxley. Mr. Huxley used the word to explain his epistemological stance on theological issues. It, essentially, is a gag towards Gnosticism (gnostic means Knowledge, a-without. Agnostic; Without Knowledge.).

"So I took thought, and invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of 'agnostic.' It came into my head as suggestively antithetic to the 'gnostic' of Church history, who professed to know so much about the very things of which I was ignorant. To my great satisfaction the term took."
- - - Thomas H. Huxley (Coll. Ess. v. pp. 237-239)


Agnosticism makes an epistemological statement. It is declaring that we can not know something. Specifically, that we can not know theological and spiritual truths. In contrast, atheism and theism make belief statements. Agnosticism does not tell us anything aside from a theory of knowledge.

The purpose of the term "agnosticism" is strongly contrasted from the purpose of the terms "atheism", and "theism".

Agnosticism pertains to knowledge. Atheism and theism; belief or lack there of.

Atheism makes no direct proposition concerning knowledge or epistemology, rather, it either declares that we disbelieve (positive;Strong atheism) or that we lack any form of belief (negative;Weak atheism).

I truly believe that most agnostics are atheists but refrain from calling themselves by such a title for numerous reasons, not always exclusive to what we have discussed here. It is not impossible to be both an atheist and agnostic because of the fact that "agnosticism" and "atheism" both refer to completely different properties. I myself, as an atheist and a rationalist, hold several agnostic tendencies. This does not make me a non-atheist.

The communication of our ideas concerning the question of god, or any other question, is inherently important. Agnosticism is not a middle ground. You are either an atheist or a theist. So, please help represent the atheist community by loudly and proudly proclaiming your atheism.

[rough draft]"