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"48.9 per cent claimed not to believe in any god, with 49.6 per cent claiming no religious affiliation[....]an astonishing 57.3 per cent of the Oxford sample di

by almost 17y ago

"48.9 per cent claimed not to believe in any god, with 49.6 per cent claiming no religious affiliation[....]an astonishing 57.3 per cent of the Oxford sample did [consider themselves as "athiest" or "agnostic"]." How does that make sense? Doesn't that mean there are quite a few who both consider themselves "athiest" or "agnostic" yet still do believe in (at least one) god? I'm confused.

stonemetal 17y ago
I know people who claim to be agnostic, but still fall on the side of believing in a god. It is just one that is unknown. Generally I think they would be considered deists but the term seems to be relatively unknown\out of favor.
- SamAtt 17y ago
  I'm not sure that's true. A Deist is someone who believes there's a God. That's different from someone who is agnostic but who would say there's a God if forced to give an opinion. Example: A deist is probably going to read religious text even if they don't completely believe in them. Because a Deist believes there is a God meaning that God has some preference as far as our behavior and so they'd be looking for evidence of that preference even if they don't believe in things like miracles (think Thomas Jefferson creating a Bible that omitted any supernatural elements). An agnostic who might lean towards a God isn't going to preoccupy his or her self with moral judgments of a God because they're not really convinced one exists. They might try to be a good person for secular reasons and "just in case" but they aren't going to go out of their way to divine the judgement of something that may very well be imaginary. In other words: One's a seeker while the other just holds an academic belief that there might be something to seek.
olalonde 17y ago
One (of the many) definitions of agnosticism is to " the view that the truth value of certain claims - especially claims about the existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims - is unknown or unknowable." In other words, you think it's impossible to know. I've written a blog post on the matter a few days ago http://syskall.com/why-we-should-eradicate-agnosticism-from-the http://syskall.com/why-we-should-eradicate-agnosticism-from-...
aplusbi 17y ago
Among atheists the terms "gnostic atheist" and "agnostic atheist" are thrown around a lot. It's the different between a positive assertion and a lack of assertion, i.e. - "I believe there is no god" vs. "I don't believe in god." (A)gnosticism has more to do with certainty than belief - someone who is gnostic is sure, someone who is agnostic is not sure. There are plenty of agnostic theists, as many religious people don't claim to be sure about the existence of god, but choose to believe or think it probable.

by almost 17y ago

stonemetal 17y ago

I know people who claim to be agnostic, but still fall on the side of believing in a god. It is just one that is unknown. Generally I think they would be considered deists but the term seems to be relatively unknown\out of favor.

SamAtt 17y ago
I'm not sure that's true. A Deist is someone who believes there's a God. That's different from someone who is agnostic but who would say there's a God if forced to give an opinion. Example: A deist is probably going to read religious text even if they don't completely believe in them. Because a Deist believes there is a God meaning that God has some preference as far as our behavior and so they'd be looking for evidence of that preference even if they don't believe in things like miracles (think Thomas Jefferson creating a Bible that omitted any supernatural elements). An agnostic who might lean towards a God isn't going to preoccupy his or her self with moral judgments of a God because they're not really convinced one exists. They might try to be a good person for secular reasons and "just in case" but they aren't going to go out of their way to divine the judgement of something that may very well be imaginary. In other words: One's a seeker while the other just holds an academic belief that there might be something to seek.

olalonde 17y ago

One (of the many) definitions of agnosticism is to " the view that the truth value of certain claims - especially claims about the existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims - is unknown or unknowable." In other words, you think it's impossible to know. I've written a blog post on the matter a few days ago http://syskall.com/why-we-should-eradicate-agnosticism-from-the http://syskall.com/why-we-should-eradicate-agnosticism-from-...

aplusbi 17y ago

Among atheists the terms "gnostic atheist" and "agnostic atheist" are thrown around a lot. It's the different between a positive assertion and a lack of assertion, i.e. - "I believe there is no god" vs. "I don't believe in god." (A)gnosticism has more to do with certainty than belief - someone who is gnostic is sure, someone who is agnostic is not sure. There are plenty of agnostic theists, as many religious people don't claim to be sure about the existence of god, but choose to believe or think it probable.