Personally, I believe in a God, or creator of life. However, I've noticed some people on here claim to be either an Atheist or Agnostic. Not that I see a problem with it...to each is their own...but I honestly don't know the difference between the two, or if there even is. So, I'm just curious. If anyone out there knows, I'm real interested in finding out, and would appreciate your input. Thanks a bunch in advance.
120603
Theist comes from the greek word theos meaning 'God' and Gnostic comes from the greek word gnosis,which means knowledge.An 'a' in front of the word means 'without', so an atheist is without god and an agnostic is without knowledge (of God).
230981
"Think about it, you have to acknowledge that there is a god (higher power) for you not to believe in, right? In that case, wouldn't you be agnostic?"\nTHAT MAKES NO SENSE, SHOULD I SAY: I DON'T BELIEVE THAT GOD EXISTS, IS THAT BETTER?
466408
Why would I believe in Jesus "the supernatural son of a god"?  Perhaps a man named Jesus did exist and was executed, but that doesn't prove his divinity.\n\nWe "all" don't know Jesus is the son of God.  That presupposes the existence of God and atheists are WITHOUT belief in deities.  You can't "prove" something simply by saying "well of course you believe in this".\n\nYou didn't solve the problem, you just added another imaginary deity to it.
279879
Personally I'm agnostic. But the category is religion not atheism. That's probably why.
320343
Interesting... I have great respect for deist, if I did not believe in the validity of my own religion I would probably be one, but I did not know that they do not think there is a afterlife. The concept of a Omnipotent Creator with out any kind of afterlife strikes me as illogical
334257
Hmm...  Apparently slacking on your agnostic studies are we?  Well, ok, here is what my scouting has taught me:\n\nYou will not get one answer on this question because the many religions have conflicting messages and then the sects have conflicting messages within the religions.  Some christians think you will be damned if you don't accept Jesus in your lifetime, some will say you're damned if you don't recognize God after you die, some say you have to have secret passwords (like God's true name is ""Jehovah" or "Erasu" or "Dave"), while others say that your level of salvation will depend upon the level of your faith.  Some will even say you can be a completely vile, evil person and still get into heaven as long as you praise God!  The sheer volume of confusion on this matter seems to me what I call "the agnostic's dilemma" within "Pascal's Wager."\n\nPascal's Wager states simply that if betting on whether God exists, it is better to bet on God and be wrong than bet against a God and be wrong: There is no risk in betting on the idea that a God exists from the perspective of life after death, but being wrong and rejecting God might lead to damnation.\n\nThe bloody difficult agnostic, however, throws a wrench into the works by asking what your question begs: "How the heck do I know which God is the real God?!"  You don't, hence Pascal's wager is ALMOST meaningless.  Hedging the bet as much as possible, the agnostic keeps studying to find an answer, while avoiding signing on with one religion or another lest they later learn that they stepped on the wrong set of divine toes.\n\nSO, now the real meat of the question!  What is the sense in being good?  Now that has been something of a concern.  It seems to me from my studies that a number of things are universal among religions, with the number one thing being true nature of Good and Evil.  While there may be some disagreement in what exactly constitutes bad behavior, it apparently exists, hence there must be some basis for morality, regardless of religion.\n\nMy answer has generally been this:  If God created me, God made me this way - agnostic.  If that is unacceptable to God, then God has a self-conflict, not a conflict with me.  I exist because God made me so and to be untrue to my own form would be more of an insult to God than to try to be something I didn't believe (to live a lie - which appears to be universally wrong among religions if you think through all the consequences).\n\nI also think about what kind of God would I WANT to worship.  If God is a vile, selfish, hateful creature that tortures the good for petty reasons, I often think that I would rather be tortured right along with them than cowtow to such a hideous thing.  This has actually been very helpful in sorting out several religions right away as simply unacceptable- even if... maybe especially if that is the correct God!  It is not perfect, however, as there are still plenty of sects, branches, religions, and whatnot that are not so filled with hate, so I am still left with agnostic uncertainty.\n\nAt the very least, be reassured that, where ever you end up, I will probably be right there along with you.  Whatever that fate may be, I hope it is at least a mildly pleasant one.
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your right, i actually cant explain it very well. I'm not defensive, i just want you to read this \n\n\nhttp://everystudent.com/features/isthere.html?OVRAW=God%20existence&OVKEY=existence%20of%20god&OVMTC=standard\n\n\nit has overwhelming info that should help you see that there has to be a God, because this world is no accident
461021
I am Agnostic and get angry when I get lumped in with Atheists.  I think it is very ignorant to claim to know for a fact that there is no God.  Maybe there is maybe there isn't.
271500
Hmmm. Hi. Perhaps my perception on things hasn't been explained clearly enough. I apologize for that. Here is, in short, what I do and don't believe:\n\nThere is no such thing as a god. To me, the concept of the existence of a deity (besides being unproved and absurd) is just that- a concept. And a misleading one, at that. To me, it's a lie.\n\nI do not worship the christian devil. Hell, I do not even believe in it! To me, Satan is a reflection of humanity. You are your own god, and are free to accept it or not. Satan is not an entity, it's a force, it's in us. It's our vital force.\n\nHave fun, and be tolerant.\n\nBy the way, when I say Satan's spawn, it doesn't mean I believe I am the child of your devil, it means I am the Satan, as it is in me. It's sometimes also meant to shock. Depends.\n\nHappy, now?
662509
I would agree that I'm not sure you can be both.\n\nMy understanding of Agnostic is one who is unconvinced on the existance of a higher being...which would leave it open to their possibly encountering something that convinces them. Basically they don't know one way or the other, so they choose to err on the side of caution and not put their faith in something intangible.\n\nWhile an Athiest is someone who is adamantly convinced there is no higher power.\n\nOne of my favorite lines from the tv show "Northern Exposure" is "I respect Athiests, I think it takes a lot of faith to not believe in God."\n\nI personally beleive in God, while not subscribing to any particular organized religion, and so far this is working out pretty well for me! :)\n\nTake care and God Bless you too! :)
298794
What country you live in????\nGreat to discover, your fellow citizens don't believe in a so called "God" or "Other Gods".\nI'm glad I'm not the only one on this planert who's a non-believer.\nIn my country (i.e. Belgium), we have almost every kind of religion.
334569
"Everything that has a beginning has to have a cause." \nWhy do you say this?  As you should know, absolute statements are frequently wrong.  Still, I can roll with this.  Okay, for the moment I'll play along and say that everything must have a beginning.\n\n"Only God is self-existing without beginning, without a cause outside Himself." \nWhat?!?!?!?  What about your statement above?  Can't you see that you totally contradict yourself?  You have just violated logic and trashed your own argument.  Sigh.  If everything needs a beginning, then so does a creator.  If you make an exception for a creator, then you could also make an exception for the universe.\n\nWhere is your evidence for either of these two statements?  Where is your evidence for a creator without beginning?  I think you are trying to avoid falling into the "Who created the creator" question, but skirting the question does not eliminate it.\n\nOccam's Razor:  which is the simpler theory?  A universe without beginning or a creator without beginning that created a universe?\n\nI hesitated answering this question because I felt that you merely asked it to find someone who agreed with you, and that you would choose that as the "best answer".  I didn't want to screw up my best answer ratio... but thought it more important to show you the flaws in your logic.\n\nGood luck in your Q&A's.
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An atheist can very well have a belief system.  Being an atheist just means that you lack belief in a god or gods.  An atheist could believe in UFOs, alien abductions, Santa Claus, etc.  \n\nI, however, am a skeptic, an Objectivist, a Bright (depending on the nomenclature you are using).\n\nI try to have as few belief as possible.  I try to hold a scientific worldview.  I take in data/information and try to understand what I am learning.  I make guesses/theories about how the data relate.  When I make up a guess, I then test it to make sure it's correct.  If it fails, then I continue to use that theory until a better one comes along.  If a better one comes along, then I reject the old one.\n\nA good example of this is the sunrise.  Do you believe that the sun rises in the East?  I don't.  I have a scientific theory that the earth rotates and revolves around the sun.  I test my theory every day because my theory PREDICTS the sun will appear on the eastern horizon.  \n\nYou might say that a scientific worldview cannot account for everything in reality.  Really?  Like what?  A soul?  I don't believe that exists either.\n\nI could be wrong.  Before bacteria were seen under a microscope, people believed that disease was  caused by disruptions of the 4 humours.  If I was a skeptic back then, I would have denied the existence of bacteria... until a scientific theory could come about and explain and predict their existence.  So if someone were to present to me concrete evidence of a god... then I would admit that I am wrong and become a believer.\n\n-------------------------------\nAgnosticism and atheism are kissing cousins.  Still, does a agnostic believe in Santa Claus?  Why or why not?  There is no evidence for Santa to exist... but there is always the possibility.  I deny Santa's existence, while a true agnostic could never say yes or no.\n\nBasically, there is a ton of bullhsit out there.  There are hundreds, if not thousands, of religions in the world.  This doesn't include ones that have died out or ones that have yet to be created.  I withhold belief until I find evidence for one that is correct.  Sure I could sometimes be wrong with my worldview/philosophy... but science/logic/rational thought has a far better track record in only a few hundred years than all of the history of religions.\n---------\nAlso, I think you have a misunderstanding on what a "freethinker" is.  A freethinker is someone who looks at life/reality without superstition... someone who uses rational thought.  There is no evidence for a supernatural being... so that falls outside of "freethinker".
304313
I'm agnostic in the proper sense of the word as it was intended by the person who coined it, Thomas Huxley.  It was meant to describe a person who holds the view that it is wrong to assert the truth of a proposition without logically satisfactory evidence. Since he invented it, people have taken it to mean someone who says that we can never know whether or not a god exists, but this is far from what Huxley intended by the word. I would prefer to stick with his original meaning, and on that basis I consider myself an agnostic atheist.\n\nNote that Christians, Muslims and any other kind of theist, as well as atheists, can all be agnostic in the proper sense of the word.
580288
Sounds good, an atheist is someone that doesn't believe in God, has nothing to do with religion. Your outlook on God is a refreshing change from the usual dyed-in-the-wool pew sitter.
249228
Woo hoo, a comment clearly designed to start a big argument on here, which I don't agree with, everyone has their own opinions!\n\nHowever, I sense that the basis of your point is that there is no real hard evidence to sustain the existence of any god, which is not the same as saying he doesn't exist, but is a definite statement to say that wehave no way of knowing. \n\nSo why everyone doesn't just live their life based upon earthly things, eg looking after and revering the earth around us, rather than pinning our hopes on some concept of a higher being, I don't know. \n\n(by the way, there IS actually hard evidence to suggest that the whole idea of a god stems from a part of the human brain, which operates only to convince us of a higher power, so we feel more significant than we actually are..)
121958
There is only one agnostic belief that I know of.\nGenerally, agnostics don't believe or disbelieve... they ponder the existence of a God, and are open to any suggestion that may prove or disprove thier opinion.