Are you a minority?

[JWeinCom]

Mr Puggsly said:

ArchangelMadzz said:

You can be both agnostic *and* athiest.

Gnosticism is about knowledge. Theism is about belief. Most Theists and Atheists alike are agnostic. It's the gnostic variants that you should look out for. 

I know enough about Gnosticism to know its a form of Christianity. It just has different ideas of how we achieve salvation.

Saying you're agnostic AND atheist is essentially saying, "there is definitely no God, but there could be!"

I mean both atheism and agnosticism is both kinda philosophical. I am sure people who identify as either entertain spirituality or supreme power in some sense. The only thing I know for certain is the person who identifies as an atheist will generally be the bigger asshole and complains about Christians.

User was banned for this post - Hiku

Gnosticism is, as was explained, a term that relates to claims of knowledge. However, certain sects of Christianity have identified themselves as gnostic. Sometimes words have multiple meanings. 

dark_gh0st_b0y said:

I hope this doesn't turn into another action packed religion discussion 😅 

just wanted to add that in fact we are all have at least a bit of agnosticism in us, since no religion claims to be able to understand God, and no one has a certain answer on whether God exists or not - perhaps apart from Saints, Apostles, prophets, mentally healthy witnesses, monks etc...

so, do I believe God exists? - theist, atheist or agnostic

if theist, do I believe God came into contact with humans - religious or agnostic

if religious, which religion is makes the most sense, most evidence/probability of being right, is best for me... then denominations, interpretations, personal beliefs...

Nobody has a certain answer on whether there is a god or not, but many people claim to have certainty one way or the other. I can definitely refer you to some Christians who claim to know this absolutely.

Within the atheist community at least, the term atheist would refer to someone who does not believe there is a god, and agnostic vs agnostic would refer to how strongly they believe that claim. 

A person who believe in a god that does not interact with humans would generally be labeled a deist, which would be a subset of theism. I've never heard agnostic used to mean someone who believes in a god that does not interact with humans. 

At any rate, if the labels get in the way, the thing to do is drop them. I am not convinced that any gods exist, and I am convinced that every god presented by humans does not exist, at least as described. I would identify as an atheist generally, or an agnostic atheist, but if someone wants to label me differently, I'm not all that concerned, as long as are not trying to use that label to argue that I believe something that I don't (i.e. You're an atheist, so you're absolutely sure god doesn't exist).

Whether that makes me a minority, I dunno. Everybody is going to belong to some kind of minority, but I think the term is best used to describe groups that are easily identifiable. I can pretty easily pick and choose whether or not I want specific people to know that I'm an atheist, whereas if I were black, people would most likely be able to tell by looking at me. So, it's a different thing. Again, I'm not interested in labels (technically both would be minorities), but I think there's an important difference between racial minorities, religious minorities, sexual minorities, etc.