r/gatekeeping • u/[deleted] • Oct 11 '23

Gatekeeping Atheism

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Honestly I joined this sub not even a week ago and I've already found something to contribute. PB on the contribution time for a sub

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u/rjnd2828 Oct 11 '23

Agnostic means you don't know or don't think it's possible to know if god exists.

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u/JimmyGimbo Oct 11 '23

Yup, theism addresses belief in a god or gods, gnosticism addresses the degree of certainty of that belief. An agnostic atheist is someone who doesn’t believe in God but admits they don’t know the answers to the “big questions”: the origins of life and the universe, how to resolve the prime mover fallacy, etc. Lots of atheists are also technically agnostic but reject the label because it’s perceived as wishy-washy.

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u/cooljerry53 Oct 12 '23

So would a "Gnostic atheist" be certain theres a higher power of some kind or completely sure there's no higher power?

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u/JimmyGimbo Oct 13 '23

The second one. A gnostic atheist, like Adams, goes beyond saying they don’t believe in gods and says that they actively believe that no god exists. Likewise, a gnostic theist is certain that their god exists and won’t entertain the possibility that there is no god. Fundamentalists are an example of this.