I here the above terms. But not exactly clear on them. Could someone please clarify those terms and other classifications if there are. But mainly I want to know the above two are exactly. Thanks.
Agnostic, Aethiest.
An athiest doesn't believe in a god, while an agnostic doesn't know whether there is a god or not.
| dlseven777 wrote: |
| Could someone please clarify those terms and other classifications if there are. |
As woundedhealer said above, an atheist is someone who doesn't believes in God, fullstop; an agnostic is someone who is unsure, who doesn't believe in God, but doesn't disbelieve in its existence.
| dlseven777 wrote: |
| Could someone please clarify those terms and other classifications if there are. |
Other classifications include theist, someone who does believe in God (the oppsite of atheist); a polytheist (someone who believes in several Gods) and a monotheist (someone who believes in just one God).
If there are any i've missed out, you should be able to work them out with the information i have given. Theist means does believe in God; poly means many and mono means one (polytheist = many Gods, monotheist = one God).
Simple
One addition about agnost: gnosis (old greek word) means knowledge. As you might have noticed by Genesiz 'a' means 'not' (for example: 'ahistoric'-> non historic, a-theist: no Gods) so a-gnost means literally: 'I don't know'.
JohanFH
JohanFH
i'm afraid pretty much every answer so far is wrong.
First, let's deal with atheist and atheism. What is atheism? Very simply, it is not theism (as johanfh said, "a-" means "not"). Theism is belief that a god or gods exist. So atheism is anything that is not "i believe that a god (or gods) exist".
That covers:
✹ "i believe that no gods exist." (strong atheism)
✹ "i don't know if gods exist." (weak atheism)
✹ "i don't even care enough to consider the question." (weak atheism)
✹ "What is a god, anyway?" (weak atheism)
✹ "Duh." <drools> (weak atheism)
All of those things are atheism.
So what is agnosticism? Well, agnosticism has nothing at all to do with believing that gods exist or don't exist. Agnosticism is just thinking that it might not be possible to answer the question. An agnostic says: "i don't think that it is possible to prove that a god exists."
That covers:
✹ "i don't think that it is possible to prove that a god exists." (weak agnosticism)
✹ "i don't think that it will ever be possible to prove that a god exists." (strong agnosticism)
A lot of people believe that atheism, agnosticism and theism are just three points on the same spectrum, where theism and atheism are the two extremes and agnosticism is in the middle, but that's not true. Agnosticism has nothing to do with theism or atheism. You can be an agnostic theist, or an agnostic atheist. Or you can be a non-agnostic theist or a non-agnostic atheist. (Note: the opposite of an agnostic is not a gnostic... because that word is used for something else.)
Myself, i am a strong agnostic and weak atheist.
For more information on atheism or agnosticism, there's a crapload out there... just use google to start.
First, let's deal with atheist and atheism. What is atheism? Very simply, it is not theism (as johanfh said, "a-" means "not"). Theism is belief that a god or gods exist. So atheism is anything that is not "i believe that a god (or gods) exist".
That covers:
✹ "i believe that no gods exist." (strong atheism)
✹ "i don't know if gods exist." (weak atheism)
✹ "i don't even care enough to consider the question." (weak atheism)
✹ "What is a god, anyway?" (weak atheism)
✹ "Duh." <drools> (weak atheism)
All of those things are atheism.
So what is agnosticism? Well, agnosticism has nothing at all to do with believing that gods exist or don't exist. Agnosticism is just thinking that it might not be possible to answer the question. An agnostic says: "i don't think that it is possible to prove that a god exists."
That covers:
✹ "i don't think that it is possible to prove that a god exists." (weak agnosticism)
✹ "i don't think that it will ever be possible to prove that a god exists." (strong agnosticism)
A lot of people believe that atheism, agnosticism and theism are just three points on the same spectrum, where theism and atheism are the two extremes and agnosticism is in the middle, but that's not true. Agnosticism has nothing to do with theism or atheism. You can be an agnostic theist, or an agnostic atheist. Or you can be a non-agnostic theist or a non-agnostic atheist. (Note: the opposite of an agnostic is not a gnostic... because that word is used for something else.)
Myself, i am a strong agnostic and weak atheist.
For more information on atheism or agnosticism, there's a crapload out there... just use google to start.
Wow Indi, now THAT's a response 
//Say's the Agnostic Christian
//Say's the Agnostic Christian
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