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  1. #21
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    I would have described myself as your "agonstic atheist" for a time, being all polite and shit, but evertime I see something about religion, the stuff people actually believe I find it hard to p***yfoot around it when I am convinced there is no God or anything of the sorts.
    Yeah, I can't prove it and neither than can they but I can think rationally and I can't even begin to understand how people can believe in all this crap.

    So "classic" atheist (in your words, "gnostic atheist") all the way.

    But I think your whole idea is wrong, gnostic does not just indicite some knowledge about religious matters...
    "Gnosticism (Greek: γνῶσις gnōsis, knowledge) is a set of diverse, syncretistic religious movements in Late Antiquity consisting of various belief systems generally united in the teaching that the material cosmos was created by an imperfect god, the demiurge, with some of the pneuma of the supreme God, which is referred to by several terms including Pleroma and Godhead.[1]"

    So "gnostic" definitely believes in *some* sort or religions system but it definitely believes there is *something* of the sort, it does not accept the possibility of there *not* being some (imperfect) god.

    Just skipped over it so far, gonna check it out a bit more so I could miss some crucial "BUT" in there.

  2. #22
    The Patient jditto's Avatar
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    Agnostics feel there is "something" but aren't afraid to say that the religious system here in our society are total crap. I feel religion is absolute idiocy in most cases. But I'm open to the fact that there is something beyond what is here in front of me. I don't think that God sits around waiting for me to show up in church and bow to him. That makes an all powerful being very egotistical and flawed, which he isn't supposed to be. I beleive we are here to live life and learn before moving on to whatever is next. And it's ok to say, you have no clue what that next is. You aren't there yet, you aren't suposed to know. That's what being Agnostic is.

  3. #23
    Warchief Sarcasm's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mandible View Post
    If you don´t believe in God your an atheist since your certain of it.
    You didn't even read my OP, did you?
    Quote Originally Posted by BattlemasterSkarab View Post
    GOD's ARMAGEDDON and DOOM'S DAY!!!!!!.... Imagine that...
    4 apocalyptic horsemen
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  4. #24
    @Callypso/anyone else who thinks agnosticism is the only way to describe their fence walking beliefs;

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism...t_vs._explicit
    Read the bit on "Practical atheism." It is basically this, God may exist, God may not exist, I don't know either way, and I would rather explain the world through scientific, provable facts. It is still atheism.

  5. #25
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    Someone put this on the wikipedia

  6. #26
    According to simple dictionary definitions:

    Atheist - Does not believe in God
    Agnostic - Does not believe we can know about God

  7. #27
    Agnostic atheist
    That's mine - always has been. It's logical.

    Theism relates to currently accepted religious beliefs
    Atheism does not accept these generally accepted religious beliefs
    For example, a christian is atheistic towards islam, or zeus.
    If asked: "do you believe in god", an atheist will reply: "Which god? I don't accept current religious beliefs"

    Gnosticism refers to a claimed knowledge of the supernatural.
    Agnosticism refers to not accepting knowledge of the supernatural or to claim it is beyond our capability to understand.
    For example, if asked: "do you believe in god", an agnostic will reply: "I don't know. There is no way for me to know"

    Gnosticism generally does not refer to a specific religious / theistic doctrine.

    hence, they refer to two different things. Hence, agnostic atheist is a perfectly acceptable viewpoint.

    If you check the dictionary, you will find different, sometimes slightly contradicting answers. This is due to the change in society on the different meanings of the word and depends heavily on the context in which it is used.
    Last edited by Cryostasis; 2011-02-12 at 06:25 PM.

  8. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by Sarcasm View Post
    Yet another case of the 'middle position' so that you can try not to offend anyone.

    Whether you have understanding of what a theist is or not, unless you identify as a theist, you're an atheist. It makes no difference.
    Agnosticism exists to be the middle position. It's know that there is no absolute knowledge about a subject and so decides not to take a position. If can call something atheist, you can not call it agnostic. If you can call something theist, you can not call it agnostic. The only way to be a true agnostic is to not seek an answer.

  9. #29
    Warchief Sarcasm's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 312guiltyspark View Post
    point of this is @ the OT - does it really matter to you how people choose to express their belief system when they really have no idea what they are talking about in the first place?
    Yes, it does matter to me, because in today's world, I can't call myself an atheist without being barrated by comments such as "You're so closed minded" "You're not even open to the possibility of a god" "You should be agnostic instead, and actually think about the universe".
    Quote Originally Posted by BattlemasterSkarab View Post
    GOD's ARMAGEDDON and DOOM'S DAY!!!!!!.... Imagine that...
    4 apocalyptic horsemen
    Sky turned red
    Sun turned black
    All WoW servers down

  10. #30
    Whats the word for "I don't know the answers, but I don't pretend to know the answers either". Is that Practical Atheism? I don't even know if science is the right answer or if their all intertwined somehow. There's got to be an "ism" word for this! Im an Idunnoist.

  11. #31
    Quote Originally Posted by Electras View Post
    Whats the word for "I don't know the answers, but I don't pretend to know the answers either". Is that Practical Atheism? I don't even know if science is the right answer or if their all intertwined somehow. There's got to be an "ism" word for this! Im an Idunnoist.
    Yes, Practical Atheism. The general attitude is "I don't know if God exists, and I really just don't care." In short terms.

  12. #32
    damn this tests my knowlage of the english language to great extends, i think mostly because we dont seem to have a word for gnostic or agnostic here in holland.

    as far as i understand agnostic is someone who just can't make a deccision at this moment if there is a god or not because of a lack of knowledge about it?

  13. #33
    Quote Originally Posted by Lysah View Post
    @Callypso/anyone else who thinks agnosticism is the only way to describe their fence walking beliefs;

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism...t_vs._explicit
    Read the bit on "Practical atheism." It is basically this, God may exist, God may not exist, I don't know either way, and I would rather explain the world through scientific, provable facts. It is still atheism.
    That's atheism with a focus on science. Meaning that to be a practical atheist you must also believe deeply in science for your answers. However, true agnostics do not seek an answer; this is where many self-proclaimed agnostics fall flat on their face. To be truly agnostic about a subject is to have it out of sight and out of mind.

  14. #34
    Have I ever told you about the agnostic dyslexic insomniac, who used to lay awake at nights wondering if there was a Dog?

    Anyways, it's not a system of belief because it's a concept, rather than a religion. At least, that's how I see it.

  15. #35
    Quote Originally Posted by Lysah View Post
    Yes, Practical Atheism. The general attitude is "I don't know if God exists, and I really just don't care." In short terms.
    That's not practical atheism. You need to have a deep faith in scientific fact to be a practical atheist.

  16. #36
    Quote Originally Posted by RabbitPrime View Post
    That's atheism with a focus on science. Meaning that to be a practical atheist you must also believe deeply in science for your answers. However, true agnostics do not seek an answer; this is where many self-proclaimed agnostics fall flat on their face. To be truly agnostic about a subject is to have it out of sight and out of mind.
    Not at all. It's an atheism where religion isn't important. These people would rather avoid subjects of religion which they cannot prove, and stick to the world of facts in which there is evidence to support argumentation. Science or not does not matter, "science" is what we call "being able to prove shit."

  17. #37
    You are completely correct.

    It's entirely possible to be an agnostic atheist.

    People really need to understand the etymology of the words, what theist, gnostic and the "a" prefix mean.

  18. #38
    Warchief Sarcasm's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RabbitPrime View Post
    Agnosticism exists to be the middle position. It's know that there is no absolute knowledge about a subject and so decides not to take a position. If can call something atheist, you can not call it agnostic. If you can call something theist, you can not call it agnostic. The only way to be a true agnostic is to not seek an answer.
    You have a very warped definition of what atheism means. Being a theist is taking an active position on religion, there are multiple religious concepts and you have chosen to be a part of one or more of them. Being an atheist is taking no position. Atheism IS the middle position, between multiple forms of theism.
    Quote Originally Posted by BattlemasterSkarab View Post
    GOD's ARMAGEDDON and DOOM'S DAY!!!!!!.... Imagine that...
    4 apocalyptic horsemen
    Sky turned red
    Sun turned black
    All WoW servers down

  19. #39
    my posts seem to dissapear when i post quick reply, same thing happend with my last post here. this is just a test to see whats wrong.

  20. #40
    Warchief Sarcasm's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pzijderv View Post
    damn this tests my knowlage of the english language to great extends, i think mostly because we dont seem to have a word for gnostic or agnostic here in holland.

    as far as i understand agnostic is someone who just can't make a deccision at this moment if there is a god or not because of a lack of knowledge about it?
    Not necessarily. An agnostic is someone who has no knowledge about whether God exists. If you can't make a decision, you're an atheist, because you're not following any form of theism.
    Quote Originally Posted by BattlemasterSkarab View Post
    GOD's ARMAGEDDON and DOOM'S DAY!!!!!!.... Imagine that...
    4 apocalyptic horsemen
    Sky turned red
    Sun turned black
    All WoW servers down

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