What is the difference beetwen an agnostic and an atheist?
395887
an atheist does not beleive in the concept of a God.\n\nan agnostic thinks there may be a God, and is intelligent enough to admit that no man-made religion knows what God is, nor is he, the agnostic, wise enough to define or understand God.\n\nif only people were intelligent enough to acknowledge that, and not need a crutch like religion to get through life.
884494
I think you may have your terms a little off.  \n\nAn agnostic is someone who feels that the belief in a diety cannot be proven therefore his or her own belief is one of ambivalence. They don't necessarily have faith, but they don't necessarily deny God's existence either.  They are simply saying they don't know.  \n\nA person who has a belief in a diety, but feeling the existence of that diety, or it's characteristics is unknowable would be a mystic.
856640
I'm an atheist.  That means I don't believe in any god.
730582
agnostic means you're not sure if there is a god or not . . .\n\natheist is when you believe there is no god
168223
How do you do? I'm an agnostic.
908673
Atheist philosophy is philosophical, not scientific or deity centered.  Philosophy is distinct from religiosity AND science.
503041
"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?
633375
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.
1007652
Here is the definition of agnostic.\nag·nos·tic  (g-nstk)\nn.\n1. \na. One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God.\nb. One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism.\n2. One who is doubtful or noncommittal about something.\nadj.\n1. Relating to or being an agnostic.\n2. Doubtful or noncommittal: "Though I am agnostic on what terms to use, I have no doubt that human infants come with an enormous 'acquisitiveness' for discovering patterns" William H. Calvin.\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n[a-1 + Gnostic.]\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nag·nosti·cal·ly adv.\nWord History: An agnostic does not deny the existence of God and heaven but holds that one cannot know for certain whether or not they exist. The term agnostic was fittingly coined by the 19th-century British scientist Thomas H. Huxley, who believed that only material phenomena were objects of exact knowledge. He made up the word from the prefix a-, meaning "without, not," as in amoral, and the noun Gnostic. Gnostic is related to the Greek word gnsis, "knowledge," which was used by early Christian writers to mean "higher, esoteric knowledge of spiritual things"; hence, Gnostic referred to those with such knowledge. In coining the term agnostic, Huxley was considering as "Gnostics" a group of his fellow intellectuals"ists," as he called themwho had eagerly embraced various doctrines or theories that explained the world to their satisfaction. Because he was a "man without a rag of a label to cover himself with," Huxley coined the term agnostic for himself, its first published use being in 1870.\n\nhttp://www.thefreedictionary.com/agnostic\n\nI consider myself agnostic..the short definition is "I don't know"\nagnostic=I don't know\nI am not comfortable laying claim to atheism nor do I plan to join a church.\n\nSo your definition is incorrect.\nnice try at backdoor proselytizing though.
649915
Not assigning yourself a specific religions is called AGNOSTIC\nIt's NOT an athiest... an Athiest is someone who does not believe in god\n\nThe correct definition of not having relgion is AGNOSTIC
1163226
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! :)
967415
The only way I can really tell the difference is because Atheist seem to always start problems, I've been in fights with hundreds of them. \n\nReligious people seem to be able to find a middle ground and go from there. \nAtheist are too dumb to do that, I can't stand them and don't for long. \nTheir the assholes of the world.
361055
The term derives from two Greek words  "a" and "gnosis" which translate as "the opposite/against/un-/non-" and "to know" respectively.\n\nGnostics in the bible were ones who sought, not to know science) but to know as much as they could about God.\n\nLiterally then, an a-gnostic is one who, unlike an a-theist (who is against God), is one who wishes not to know anything about God.  However, in popular definition an agnostic who does not know what to believe about God.
546799
Example:\n\n"Do you believe in a Supreme Being?"\n\nAtheist: "No"\n\nAgnostic: "There is no evidence either way, so I don't know what I believe." (translation into English: "No.")\n\nAgnostics are wimpy atheists more concerned about what others think than expressing their real opinions.\n\nAdditional comment:\n\nThe "why" is irrelevant; agnostics do not believe in a Supreme Being and are atheists.
376857
Atheist or Nihilist.\n\nAn Atheist, by strict definition, is someone who doesn't believe in God. That doesn't mean that Atheists can't believe in other things.\n\nA Nihilist on the other hand doesn't believe in anything whatsoever.
324226
they probably have atheist and agnostic mixed up
769794
As an agnostic I had once thought that atheism could be a belief\nbut no\nAtheists don't claim anyhing\nwhat they do is refusing the existing claims\nso atheism can't be considered as a religion\ndenying a claim is not a belief\nbut what I don't understand is how can they be such sure\nhow can they be sure that all the claims are wrong\nI personally don't make claims\nand don't totally deny all claims\nfor example: deists' claim seem rational: a supreme being not related to religions\nthis can be true\nhow can I completely deny this?\nhow can I be sure?\nI even can't completely disprove religions' claims\na theist, a deist, an atheist \nthey are all sure\nan agnostic asks: how can you be so sure, all of you?