Wednesday 5 October 2011

Most atheists ARE also agnostics!

Haven't I said that before somewhere?  Atheist and agnostic are not just different degrees of atheism.  And yet religious people continually argue that it is not true, as if they would necessarily know anything about the subject.

Here is a link to a great article on the subject in the Irish Times by the Irish atheist, Michael Nugent. 

We atheists will change our minds if evidence shows we are wrong

On Facebook Michael says:

Here is the first of a series of five articles that I have written for the Irish Times about atheism and its relationship to reality, morality, faith and Jesus. The other four will be appearing on the next four Tuesdays.

In the Irish Times article he writes:

Some people divide atheists into different types. Strong or positive atheists actively believe that gods do not exist. Weak or negative atheists passively lack a belief that gods exist. And pragmatic atheists simply ignore the idea of gods as being in practice irrelevant to their lives.

What about agnostics? Is it not reasonable to say that you don’t know? Yes it is, and most atheists are also agnostics. Atheism is about what you believe, and agnosticism is about what you claim to know. So if you believe that gods do not exist, but you do not claim to know this, then you are an agnostic atheist.  Read on . . .



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Interesting as I've never seen atheists and agnostics as having any differences...