Atheism vs. Agnosticism: What's the Difference?
Many people who adopt the label of agnostic reject the label of atheist - there is a common perception that agnosticism is a more "reasonable" position while atheism is more "dogmatic," ultimately indistinguishable from theism except in the details.

Theism means to be with belief in god, therefore, Atheism means to be without belief in god.

Agnosticism, however, is absent of belief, but instead relies on gnosis, or knowledge. Gnostics (for example, gnostic christianity) claimed to have 'knowledge of god'. Agnostics, therefore, do not claim to have 'knowledge of god'.

I find it somewhat humorous that:

A theist and

Atheist are considered worlds apart.

Likewise:

A Gnostic and

Agnostic are considered opposites on the same spectrum.

But to answer the question, I find that agnostics are those that haven't made up their mind one way or the other. Atheists are convinced that there is no (evidence for) God.

My understanding is that there are at least wo versions of each:

An atheist can either be someone without a belief in God/gods/goddesses or the disbelief in God/gods/goddesses. An infant could be the former while the later is more of an affirmation.

A person can also be in a state of agnosis or an affirmed agnostic. A person who does not have "knowledge of God" even if they count themselves as an adherant of a particular religion, would be agnostic in the sense they are without the "secret knowledge". Likewise, a person who makes an affirmation that such knowledge is unattainable, may or may not exist, but can never be verified or known is an agnostic.

Travis

Hey Travis,

Do you think it's plausible that one could be agnostic in this minute. Then say 5 minutes later, in a state that reflects atheism and then say 20 minutes later (re)affirm a conviction of belief in God/Goddess?

Sure, in fact, while he debated the merits of atheism and theism he was still in a state of agnosticism, as is anyone who doesn't have knowledge of God. I don't think people keep tabs on their current state while they are debating such issues for themselves. A few years ago I think I moved from atheist to agnostic in one long evening in a tavern with a couple of my best friends! Not only that, but only a week prior I was closer to becoming a charismatic Christian as well! What a wonderful journey this thing called life.

Travis

I've heard some Atheists claim that since Atheism is simply a lack of belief in god that Agnostics are actually Atheists because Agnostics also lack a belief in god. I don't buy that argument or that definition of Atheism. As far as I'm concerned Atheism is the disbelief in god or gods and not simply the absence of belief or lack of belief.

As an Atheist at heart I believe it merely means living a life as a non believer.
So....what's the difference between a dead Atheist, Dead Christian and Dead Muslim? Nothing. We are all worm food in the end.

__________________

You are the place where I find shelter left out in the cold.
You are the Hell in helter skelter

nobody loses all the time

i had an uncle named
Sol who was a born failure and
nearly everybody said he should have gone
into vaudeville perhaps because my Uncle Sol could
sing McCann He Was A Diver on Xmas Eve like Hell Itself which
may or may not account for the fact that my Uncle

Sol indulged in that possibly most inexcusable
of all to use a highfalootin phrase
luxuries that is or to
wit farming and be
it needlessly
added

my Uncle Sol's farm
failed because the chickens
ate the vegetables so
my Uncle Sol had a
chicken farm till the
skunks ate the chickens when

my Uncle Sol
had a skunk farm but
the skunks caught cold and
died and so
my Uncle Sol imitated the
skunks in a subtle manner

or by drowning himself in the watertank
but somebody who'd given my Uncle Sol a Victor
Victrola and records while he lived presented to
him upon the auspicious occasion of his decease a
scruptious not to mention splendiferous funeral with
tall boys in black gloves and flowers and everything and
i remember we all cried like the Missouri
when my Uncle Sol's coffin lurched because
somebody pressed a button
(and down went
my Uncle
Sol

and started a worm farm)

-- E. E. Cummings

__________________
Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control;
these three alone lead one to sovereign power.
Tennyson