Athiest or Agnostic?

real one

How can one be considered an athiest? Athiest means you believe God does not exist. Agnostic means you don't know if God really exist. I'm confused.

AlmostAtheist

Like any other religious tag, you make up your own definition and say, "That's me!"

Seriously, very few atheists say "There is absolutely, positively no chance at all of there being any sort of god" which sort of flies in the face of the dictionary definition. I think the likelihood of a loving god existing is vanishingly low, and the likelihood of unconcerned but powerful creator-god is pretty low.

So I leave open the possibility that such a being exists. And yet I claim I'm an atheist.

One of my best friends is an agnostic-leaning muslim. Another close friend is a wiccan-leaning agnostic. "Absolutes" don't enter my sphere much anymore! ;-)

Dave

Sad emo

'Athiest' means nothing.

Now, if you meant 'atheist', that would be another thing

Ok I'll take my spelling nazi hat off now.

Simply - an agnostic keeps an open mind as to whether a god exists - they haven't seen any evidence yet.

An atheist has concluded that there is no evidence for the existence of a god.

Deputy Dog

real one

Romans 1:19

because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.

Everyone knows about God.

changeling

I call myself an atheist because I don't believe in god. I am open to the possibility of a "creator" of sorts who got the ball rolling, but I don't believe this creator is "god". Humans created the concept of god and the worship that god demands.

changeling :)

real one

Almost:

Seriously, very few atheists say "There is absolutely, positively no chance at all of there being any sort of god" which sort of flies in the face of the dictionary definition. I think the likelihood of a loving god existing is vanishingly low, and the likelihood of unconcerned but powerful creator-god is pretty low.

see thats what i mean. Im still confused

serotonin_wraith

A theist is someone who believes in at least one god.

The 'a' in atheist means 'without'.

So atheist means someone without belief in a god.

Being without belief doesn't mean believing something doesn't exist.

I'll give you an example:

Do you believe in the fardamatic-oradub?

No, you're without belief in it.

Were you without belief in it before I mentioned it?

Yes.

But notice you didn't used to believe it didn't exist.

You'd never even heard of it. Yet you also didn't believe in it.

hamilcarr

One has to distinguish between the narrow and the broad definition of the term atheism. Strictly speaking, atheism means the rejection of theism (belief in a personal god). People often use 'atheist' as a pejorative epithet because they believe it's an explicit position affirming the non-existence of God. This mustn't be the case though. A more neutral term for the so-called 'broad' defintion of atheism, i.e. the absence of belief in deities, is non-theist, a term I personally prefer. American theists need to know that many Europeans who don't believe in God rarely call themselves atheists because of the negative connotations, but prefer the term 'agnostic' even though they reject theism.

real one

Deputy Dog Thanks, Romans 1:18-32

18 From heaven God shows how angry he is with all the wicked and evil things that sinful people do to crush the truth. 19 They know everything that can be known about God, because God has shown it all to them. 20 God's eternal power and character cannot be seen. But from the beginning of creation, God has shown what these are like by all he has made. That's why those people don't have any excuse. 21 They know about God, but they don't honor him or even thank him. Their thoughts are useless, and their stupid minds are in the dark. 22 They claim to be wise, but they are fools. 23 They don't worship the glorious and eternal God. Instead, they worship idols that are made to look like humans who cannot live forever, and like birds, animals, and reptiles.

24 So God let these people go their own way. They did what they wanted to do, and their filthy thoughts made them do shameful things with their bodies. 25 They gave up the truth about God for a lie, and they worshiped God's creation instead of God, who will be praised forever. Amen.

26 God let them follow their own evil desires. Women no longer wanted to have sex in a natural way, and they did things with each other that were not natural. 27 Men behaved in the same way. They stopped wanting to have sex with women and had strong desires for sex with other men. They did shameful things with each other, and what has happened to them is punishment for their foolish deeds.

28 Since these people refused even to think about God, he let their useless minds rule over them. That's why they do all sorts of indecent things. 29 They are evil, wicked, and greedy, as well as mean in every possible way. They want what others have, and they murder, argue, cheat, and are hard to get along with. They gossip, 30 say cruel things about others, and hate God. They are proud, conceited, and boastful, always thinking up new ways to do evil.

These people don't respect their parents. 31 They are stupid, unreliable, and don't have any love or pity for others. 32 They know God has said that anyone who acts this way deserves to die. But they keep on doing evil things, and they even encourage others to do them.

AlmostAtheist

>>see thats what i mean. Im still confused

Maybe it would help if you told me what your definition of an atheist is? You've gotten some good ones from other posters here, but perhaps yours is different.

Dave

Athiest or Agnostic?

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