11 Aug '09 11:18>
Originally posted by JigtieI have no use for the term 'agnostic.' People go by the false assumption that there are three separate categories: theism, agnosticism and atheism. This is completely and utterly incorrect. There are only TWO categories: theism and atheism, and everyone is one or the other. If you believe in a god then you are a theist. If you are not a theist, then by definition you are an atheist (without theism). It doesn't matter whether you claim to "know" god does not exist, or whether you suspect he probably doesn't, both are sufficient to make you an atheist. 'Agnostic' can be used to qualify one's theism or atheism, as in agnostic theist, or agnostic atheist, but it does not exist as a separate category despite its popular usage as one.
Interesting. If you don't claim knowledge on the question of divinity, doesn't that make you an
agnostic by definition? The only reason I don't call myself an atheist is that I fail to see how I can
possibly know one way or the other, though I too tend to think of the supernatural as highly unlikely.
'Agnostic', as it is commonly used, is a term appropriated by charlatans and linguistic fools who buy into the mistaken notion that all atheists claim to "know" that god does not exist. Very few atheists make that foolhardy claim. Even the notorious Richard Dawkins does not claim to "know" that god does not exist. Even he leaves open the possibility that he may be wrong.