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I'm sure I've read this elsewhere and didn't come up with the distinction on my own, but my thoughts on this are: Theism and atheism refer to a belief or lack

I'm sure I've read this elsewhere and didn't come up with the distinction on my own, but my thoughts on this are: Theism and atheism refer to a belief or lack of belief in the existence of god(s). Gnosticism and agnosticism refer to a (claim of) knowledge of the existence of god(s). I'd consider myself an atheist because I don't personally believe there are gods, but I'm also agnostic regarding the possibility. I don't have enough info to rule out the possibility of a deity or deities, but I don't have any reason to believe there are any (or at the very least, not any that have a direct and personal interaction with humanity).

lotsofpulp 6y ago
That seems like an unnecessary complication of the words “belief” and “knowledge”. Belief = assumption + ego. I prefer to use the word assumption, it’s much cleaner and means the same thing as belief, without invoking emotions. Therefore I don’t see any difference in assuming or not assuming the existence of god(s), and knowledge of the existence of god(s), which are still assumptions anyway. I’m only seeing the utility of defining the following 3 groups: 1) assumes existence of god(s) 2) assumes lack of existence of god(s) 3) assumes nothing regarding the existence of god(s)