JWeinCom said:
monocle_layton said:
How does agnostic mean you're afraid to be an atheist?
Atheists are confident in the fact that there isn't a superior deity who controls the world. Agnostics don't believe in any religion specifically, but they don't deny the possibility that there may be some sort of figure above us. it just may not be Jesus/Allah/whatever in their eyes
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Not exactly...
Gnostic comes from the greek gnostos meaning knowledge. If you are gnostic about any claim then you are claiming it with certainty. If you're agnostic you're not claiming certainty.
Being an atheist just means you'd say "no" to the question "do you accept that there is a god". It doesn't, on its own, imply confidence that there is no god. If you are certain (or very confident) there is no god, you'd be an gnostic atheist. If you don't believe it, but don't necessarily claim to know it for a fact, you'd be an agnostic atheist. You can also be an agnostic theist or a gnostic theist. They're not mutually exclusive terms.
People do use the terms as you do, but I think that's confusing. Because if you asked me about my position regarding any god existing, I'd classify myself as an agnostic atheist. As in, I don't believe it, but I don't know. If you asked me if I believed in the judeochristian god, I'd classify myself as a gnostic atheist. I'm pretty sure that doesn't exist. If you're using gnostic or agnostic those terms have no meaning on their own. They have to be attached to a specific claim.
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Thanks for the info about its origins. I can see where you're coming from now
