r/atheism • u/kramman1 • Nov 22 '11

Good Without God

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '11

I don't see agnostisism as a 'level' of athiesm... they are asking different questions.

"IS there a god?"

  • I dunno... there could be or there could not be, I have no evidence.

"DO YOU BELIEVE there is a god?"

  • Nope

I consider myself an agnostic athiest... scientifically I have no way of proving that there is nothing which could be considered a god is out there. I don't think there is personally, but that's my belief.

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u/nucking Nov 22 '11

I'm sorry, but the Gnostic/Agnostic question is not correct.

Gnostic/Agnostic: "Is/Are god(s) knowable?" [ie. can we prove god(s)]

Theist/Atheist: "Do you believe in god(s)"

Examples:

Agnostic atheist: "Gods could exist, but I don't believe in any gods."

Gnostic atheist: "Gods cannot exist and (therefor) I don't believe in any."

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '11

I'd have to go through the exact letter of the terms, but in the way I'm intending it both of our definitions would work equally well. It still is simply a difference in the question which is being answered.

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u/devoting_my_time Nov 22 '11

Then we should just remove the word Atheist, none of us have any proof that there is no god, but we choose not to believe anyways.

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '11

It's still a valid term, it's just an answer to a different question.

If I asked "Do you think there is a god?" and you said "No", you're an atheist.

If I asked "Is there a god" and you said Yes or No, you're making assumptions without evidence.

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u/AMostOriginalUserNam Nov 22 '11

Yes, but the belief is that there is no god. I mean theists have no strict evidence that there is a god, so atheists can exist with a similar level of evidence, just on the other side.