Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Is "I am agnostic" a valid answer to "Do you beleive in god?"

Sledge · 11-02-2003, 02:05 PM

If you want to get technical, you can draw a line between agnosticism and "weak" or "negative" atheism. Agnostics believe that the existence of God can be neither proven nor disproven, and live their life according to that. So-called "negative" atheists lack belief in a deity because there is no proof for one. (Contrast this to "positive" atheists, who believe definitively that there is no god.) It's a subtle difference, but it's there. I generally identify myself as a negative atheist and a secular humanist.

The terms have come to mean roughly the same thing anyway. I have no problem with people who say they're plain agnostic. "Agnostic Christian" or "Agnostic whatever," though, is a contradiction in terms to me.

11-02-2003, 02:05 PM	#13 (permalink)
Sledge Pasture Bedtime	If you want to get technical, you can draw a line between agnosticism and "weak" or "negative" atheism. Agnostics believe that the existence of God can be neither proven nor disproven, and live their life according to that. So-called "negative" atheists lack belief in a deity because there is no proof for one. (Contrast this to "positive" atheists, who believe definitively that there is no god.) It's a subtle difference, but it's there. I generally identify myself as a negative atheist and a secular humanist. The terms have come to mean roughly the same thing anyway. I have no problem with people who say they're plain agnostic. "Agnostic Christian" or "Agnostic whatever," though, is a contradiction in terms to me.