Agnosticism & Atheism

by Gabbie

Despite considering myself nonreligious, I’ve never fully understood the difference between atheism and agnosticism. But now, with the popularity of non-religion on the rise (Phan), I thought that the knowledge might become useful, and I wanted to share my findings with anyone else who’s also confused by this subject.

For an issue so personal and possibly arbitrary, I chose to go straight to the source. I found an atheist psychology student who maintains a blog called The Atheist Mind, where he recently posted an article entitled “Atheism vs. Agnosticism.” This post could not be more relevant, and can be found here: http://www.atheistmind.com/atheism-vs-agnosticism. The author gives a simplified, easy-to-understand comparison, where he describes agnosticism as claiming that “there is, nor ever will be, anyway to prove beyond a responsible doubt that a God does or does not exist,” while atheism is “complete disbelief in any form of deity.”

To back up what I read on The Atheist Mind, I explored the Skeptic’s Dictionary, an offbeat website describing itself as “a collection of strange beliefs, amusing deceptions, and dangerous delusions.” There I found definitions of atheism and agnosticism. Though at first the Dictionary appears questionably reliable (its alphabetical definitions list is titled “From Abracadabra to Zombies), it is actually well-cited and offers a wealth of suggestions for further reading. Its definition of atheism stipulates “active rejection of belief in the existence of God” and goes on to describe distinct categories of atheism, which include apatheism and polyatheism. Its article on agnosticism is short and to the point, defining it as “the position of believing that knowledge of the existence or non-existence of god is impossible.”

After reading articles with a decidedly non-theist bias, I decided to look for a different perspective, and happened upon the website of the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry. With resignation, I anticipated righteous, holier-than-thou arguments – perhaps unfairly, and was surprised at what I found instead. The author of “What is atheism?” lent an intelligent, reasonable tone to a helpful and well-written article. He defined atheism as “the lack of belief in a god, and/or the belief that there is no god” and listed some basic tenets of atheism, as well as exploring the varying degrees of atheism, ranging from weak to militant. He also included a paragraph on agnosticism, saying that members of this group “have concluded that there is no God” but “are open to further evidence for God’s existence”.

I enjoyed the chance to find some interesting information from some unlikely sources, and hopefully this article can help clear up your confusion. If you consider yourself atheist or agnostic, we’d love to have your take on the differences and similarities.

Works Cited
"Atheism vs. Agnosticism." Web log post. Atheist Mind. Blogger, 24 Feb. 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. http://www.atheistmind.com/atheism-vs-agnosticism

Phan, Katherine T. "Survey: Non-Religious Americans on the Rise in Every State Christianpost.com." ChristianPost.com - Today's Christian News Online. 9 Mar. 2009. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. http://www.christianpost.com/article/20090309/survey-non-religious-americans-on-the-rise-in-every-state/

Popa, Cristian. "Agnosticism - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com." The Skeptic's Dictionary. Robert T. Carroll, 9 Dec. 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. http://www.skepdic.com/agnosticism.html

Slick, Matt. "What Is Atheism? Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry." CARM - Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry. Web. 11 Dec. 2010. http://carm.org/what-is-atheism