From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Defining agnosticism

Agnosticism is not a creed but a method, the essence of which lies in the vigorous application of a single principle...^ The justification of the Agnostic principle lies in the success which follows upon its application, whether in the field of natural, or in that of civil, history; and in the fact that, so far as these topics are concerned, no sane man thinks of denying its validity.

• Agnosticism and Christianity (1889) 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC aleph0.clarku.edu [Source type: Original source]

^ Adopting a willingness to act as if there is a God coupled with the application of certain principles will produce spiritual experiences even for agnostics.

• Chapter Four: We Agnostics - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.soberrecovery.com [Source type: Original source]

Positively the principle may be expressed as in matters of intellect, do not pretend conclusions are certain that are not demonstrated or demonstrable.^[7]

Etymology

.Agnostic (Greek: ἀ- a-, without + γνῶσις gnōsis, knowledge) was used by Thomas Henry Huxley in a speech at a meeting of the Metaphysical Society in 1876^[7] to describe his philosophy which rejects all claims of spiritual or mystical knowledge.^ I really feel that even with his knowledge of evolution, Dawson cannot adequately address the esoteric nature of faith without delving into history and philosophy.

• onegoodmove: Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC onegoodmove.org [Source type: Original source]

^ By understanding how we and everything around us are interconnected in Space we can then deduce solutions to the fundamental problems of human knowledge in physics , philosophy , metaphysics , theology , education , health , evolution and ecology , politics and society .

• Religions Atheist Atheism Agnostic: Freud, Darwin, Einstein, Nietzsche:Discussion of Atheist Agnostic Quotes 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.spaceandmotion.com [Source type: Original source]

^ In the late 19th century, Thomas Henry Huxley, Robert Ingersoll, and Frederick Nietzsche became atheist prophets.

• Lists & Guides tagged with agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.amazon.com [Source type: General]

Early Christian church leaders used the Greek word gnosis (knowledge) to describe "spiritual knowledge." Agnosticism is not to be confused with religious views opposing the ancient religious movement of Gnosticism in particular; Huxley used the term in a broader, more abstract sense.^[8] Huxley identified agnosticism not as a creed but rather as a method of skeptical, evidence-based inquiry.^[9][10]

In recent years, scientific literature dealing with neuroscience and psychology has used the word to mean "not knowable".^[11] In technical and marketing literature, agnostic often has a meaning close to "independent"—for example, "platform agnostic" or "hardware agnostic."

Qualifying agnosticism

.Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume contended that meaningful statements about the universe are always qualified by some degree of doubt.^ "The fundamental atheism of Spinoza," said David Hume, "is the doctrine of the simplicity of the universe and the unity of that substance in which he supposes both thought and matter to inhere."

• Religions Atheist Atheism Agnostic: Freud, Darwin, Einstein, Nietzsche:Discussion of Atheist Agnostic Quotes 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.spaceandmotion.com [Source type: Original source]

^[12]. He asserted that the fallibility of human beings means that they cannot obtain absolute certainty except in trivial cases where a statement is true by definition (i.e. tautologies such as "all bachelors are unmarried" or "all triangles have three corners"). .All rational statements that assert a factual claim about the universe that begin "I believe that ...."^ You made this statement with absolute certainty when there is no actual facts behind believing in a universe with God or without God.

• Atheism and Agnosticism | We Saved Hitler's Brain | Cracked.com Forums 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.cracked.com [Source type: Original source]

^ I do not believe in God for the sole purpose that a belief does not produce knowledge about the physical universe.

• onegoodmove: Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC onegoodmove.org [Source type: Original source]

^ An ancient text about an invisible all-powerful being better have some objective evidence on which we can judge whether the claims it makes are tenable or not.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

are simply shorthand for, ."Based on my knowledge, understanding, and interpretation of the prevailing evidence, I tentatively believe that...."^ I must hope I am not being too dogmatic in this, but it would > > > > > appear to my peculiar way of thinking, that if you believe > > > > > something, you do so on the basis of some knowledge, be > > > > > it right, or wrong.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ I must hope I am not being too dogmatic in this, but it would > > appear to my peculiar way of thinking, that if you believe > > something, you do so on the basis of some knowledge, be > > it right, or wrong.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ I must hope I am not being too dogmatic in this, but it would > > > > appear to my peculiar way of thinking, that if you believe > > > > something, you do so on the basis of some knowledge, be > > > > it right, or wrong.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

.For instance, when one says, "I believe that Lee Harvey Oswald shot John F. Kennedy," one is not asserting an absolute truth but a tentative belief based on interpretation of the assembled evidence.^ Theists can > > > > > believe and have no evidence but they can still claim that they don't > > > > > actually know whether a god exists (many say they know but they "know" > > > > > because they say they "feel it inside".

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Basically, it was all hear say, not a good base for any belief, don't you agree?

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ So even if they call the other ones "a myth", it says nothing about level of evidence and everything about their existing belief system ...

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

.Even though one may set an alarm clock prior to the following day, believing that waking up will be possible, that belief is tentative, tempered by a small but finite degree of doubt (the alarm might break, or one might die before the alarm goes off).^ We end up scarfing down trivia, day in and day out, that would've been too expensive to learn about before the internet.

• Dusk in Autumn 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC akinokure.blogspot.com [Source type: General]

^ Is it your belief that it's more humane to let people remain as agnostics, even though it's false, rather than progressing to atheism?

• Silly Beliefs - Agnostics - Reader's Comments 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.sillybeliefs.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Although no one at present has any > > > relevant data, it is possible that some may come along in the future.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

The Catholic Church sees merit in examining what it calls Partial Agnosticism, specifically those systems that "do not aim at constructing a complete philosophy of the Unknowable, but at excluding special kinds of truth, notably religious, from the domain of knowledge."^[13] However, the Church is historically opposed to a full denial of the ability of human reason to know God. .The Council of the Vatican, relying on biblical scripture, declares that "God, the beginning and end of all, can, by the natural light of human reason, be known with certainty from the works of creation" (Const.^ While he hated Jehovah, he praised the God of Nature, the creator and preserver of all.

• Why I Am Agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.infidels.org [Source type: Original source]
• Why I Am an Agnostic (Robert G. Ingersoll) 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.positiveatheism.org [Source type: Original source]

^ Then I concluded that all religions had been naturally produced, and that all were variation, modifications of one, -- then I felt that I knew that all were the work of man.

• Why I Am Agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.infidels.org [Source type: Original source]
• Why I Am an Agnostic (Robert G. Ingersoll) 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.positiveatheism.org [Source type: Original source]

^ The reason I dont think God would set up natural selection is because the criteria for God includes omnibenevolence, and I dont see an all-loving God setting up a mechanism that would eventually kill 99% of his creatures.

• Atheism and Agnosticism | We Saved Hitler's Brain | Cracked.com Forums 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.cracked.com [Source type: Original source]

De Fide, II, De Rev.)^[14]

Types of agnosticism

Agnosticism can be subdivided into several categories. Recently suggested variations include:

Strong agnosticism (also called "hard," "closed," "strict," or "permanent agnosticism")

the view that the question of the existence or nonexistence of a deity or deities and the nature of ultimate reality is unknowable by reason of our natural inability to verify any experience with anything but another subjective experience. A strong agnostic would say, "I cannot know whether a deity exists or not, and neither can you."

Weak agnosticism (also called "soft," "open," "empirical," or "temporal agnosticism")

the view that the existence or nonexistence of any deities is currently unknown but is not necessarily unknowable, therefore one will withhold judgment until/if any evidence is available. A weak agnostic would say, "I don't know whether any deities exist or not, but maybe one day when there is evidence we can find something out."

Apathetic agnosticism (also called Pragmatic agnosticism)

the view that there is no proof of either the existence or nonexistence of any deity, but since any deity that may exist appears unconcerned for the universe or the welfare of its inhabitants, the question is largely academic.^{[citation needed]}

Agnostic atheism

the view of those who do not claim to know of the existence of any deity, but do not believe in any.^[15]

Agnostic theism (also called "spiritual agnosticism")

the view of those who do not claim to know of the existence of any deity, but still .believe in such an existence.^ The mere question of the existence of god seems a bit preposterous to even ask without any positive evidence to believe such a thing.

• onegoodmove: Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC onegoodmove.org [Source type: Original source]

Ignosticism

the view that a coherent definition of a deity must be put forward before the question of the existence of a deity can be meaningfully discussed. If the chosen definition isn't coherent, the ignostic holds the noncognitivist view that the existence of a deity is meaningless or empirically untestable. .A.J. Ayer, Theodore Drange, and other philosophers see both atheism and agnosticism as incompatible with ignosticism on the grounds that atheism and agnosticism accept "a deity exists" as a meaningful proposition which can be argued for or against.^ I always find hard agnosticism to be fun because I get to argue with both atheists and theists.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Agnosticism is not a middle ground between > > atheism and theism, there is no middle ground between atheism and > > theism and agnosticism isn't one nor is it defined as being one.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ I always find hard agnosticism to be fun because > > I get to argue with both atheists and theists.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

.An ignostic cannot even say whether he/she is a theist or a nontheist until a better definition of theism is put forth.^ Theists can > > > > > believe and have no evidence but they can still claim that they don't > > > > > actually know whether a god exists (many say they know but they "know" > > > > > because they say they "feel it inside".

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Continuing with our movie analogy, we could say a better definition would be 'Most humans like movies' .

• Silly Beliefs - Agnostics - Reader's Comments 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.sillybeliefs.com [Source type: Original source]

^ If you are an agnostic theist, you are still a theist, whether you are sure of your theism or not.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^[16]

History of agnostic thought

.Since Huxley first used the term, several writers have defended agnosticism as a philosophical viewpoint.^ Someone asked me about a term I used to describe my agnosticism vis certain > > > > types of gods.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ The term agnostic was coined by Huxley and it simply refers to > Unknowability > > and nothing else.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ The term agnostic was coined by Huxley and it simply refers to Unknowability and nothing else.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

A number of earlier thinkers and writings have explored agnostic thought.

In Greek Philosophy

.Agnostic thought, in the form of skepticism, emerged as a formal philosophical position in ancient Greece.^ They are completely dismissive of the ancient Greek gods, yet in ancient Greece an agnostic would have been sitting on the fence regarding Zeus but completely dismissive of the gods in African villages.

• Silly Beliefs - Agnostics - Reader's Comments 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.sillybeliefs.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Ted Drange is only noting some of the intellectual excuses > agnostics may use to justify their vacuous and untenable position of > there may, or may not be a form of Sky Fairy!

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Ted Drange is only noting some of the intellectual excuses > > agnostics may use to justify their vacuous and untenable position of > > there may, or may not be a form of Sky Fairy!

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

Its proponents included Protagoras, Pyrrho, and Carneades.^[17] Such thinkers rejected the idea that certainty was possible.

Hume and Kant

.Many philosophers (following the examples of Aristotle, Anselm, Aquinas, and Descartes) presented arguments attempting to rationally prove the existence of God.^ That is, the evidence presently available in support of God's > existence is > > > > > exactly matched by evidence presently available against God's > existence.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Since even you don't > claim that that is the case, no argument for the existence of God is > sound.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ That is, the evidence presently available in support of God's > existence is exactly matched by evidence presently available against God's > existence.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

Following the skeptical empiricism of David Hume and the antinomies of Immanuel Kant, most later philosophers abandoned these attempts, regarding it impossible to construct any such unassailable proof.

Thomas Henry Huxley

Thomas Henry Huxley.

See also: Thomas Henry Huxley

.Agnostic views are as old as philosophical skepticism, but the terms agnostic and agnosticism were created by Huxley to sum up his thoughts on contemporary developments of metaphysics about the "unconditioned" (Hamilton) and the "unknowable" (Herbert Spencer).^ The term agnostic was coined by Huxley and it simply refers to > Unknowability > > and nothing else.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ The term agnostic was coined by Huxley and it simply refers to Unknowability and nothing else.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ The term agnostic was coined by Huxley and it simply refers to > Unknowability > > > > and nothing else.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

It is important, therefore, to discover Huxley's own views on the matter. .Though Huxley began to use the term "agnostic" in 1869, his opinions had taken shape some time before that date.^ The term agnostic was coined by Huxley and it simply refers to > Unknowability > > and nothing else.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ It is not saying that we will NEVER know which side is right, which is what agnostic really means, so people are using the term incorrectly when talking about science.

• Silly Beliefs - Agnostics - Reader's Comments 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.sillybeliefs.com [Source type: Original source]

^ The argument from some agnostics that we can't categorically dismiss gods is flawed since they've already done it thousands of times.

• Silly Beliefs - Agnostics - Reader's Comments 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.sillybeliefs.com [Source type: Original source]

In a letter of September 23, 1860, to Charles Kingsley, Huxley discussed his views extensively:

I neither affirm nor deny the immortality of man. .I see no reason for believing it, but, on the other hand, I have no means of disproving it.^ There is NO over-arching, cosmic "reason" for us to be here other than the words, "Shit happens."

• Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news. 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.aintitcool.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Just because a person believes there to be no gods does not automatically mean they have an obligation to convert others to this point of view.

• Daylight Atheism > A Memo to Fence-Sitting Agnostics 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.daylightatheism.org [Source type: Original source]

^ On a positive note it's great that you can see no good reason to believe in gods, but I can't say I'm a fan of ignosticism or theological noncognitivism.

• Silly Beliefs - Agnostics - Reader's Comments 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.sillybeliefs.com [Source type: Original source]

I have no a priori objections to the doctrine. .No man who has to deal daily and hourly with nature can trouble himself about a priori difficulties.^ "But, as it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him'" (1 Cor.

• 4 Step Perfect Proof for God of the Bible 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www3.telus.net [Source type: Original source]

^ He never works -- has no trouble about business.

• Why I Am Agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.infidels.org [Source type: Original source]
• Why I Am an Agnostic (Robert G. Ingersoll) 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.positiveatheism.org [Source type: Original source]

^ So, they told of a man who compared himself with his dog.

• Why I Am Agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.infidels.org [Source type: Original source]
• Why I Am an Agnostic (Robert G. Ingersoll) 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.positiveatheism.org [Source type: Original source]

.Give me such evidence as would justify me in believing in anything else, and I will believe that.^ I have given evidence for young earth before, but could only give you broad swaths of such (I’m not an “expert” in such things) and don’t have time even for that.

• WORLDmag.com | Community | Blog Archive | From youth group to agnosticism – Part 1 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC online.worldmag.com [Source type: Original source]

^ I would be worried about his association with Wright if I could find any evidence of Obama having such extreme views himself.

• Pajamas Media » Wright, Ayers, and Obama: An Agnostic Quotes the Bible 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC pajamasmedia.com [Source type: Original source]

^ If you’re not looking for a designer or you don’t believe in one, I’m not sure it would be within the realm of science to make the determination that such a being does “not” intervene.

• WORLDmag.com | Community | Blog Archive | From youth group to agnosticism – Part 1 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC online.worldmag.com [Source type: Original source]

Why should I not? It is not half so wonderful as the conservation of force or the indestructibility of matter...

.It is no use to talk to me of analogies and probabilities.^ In science, “truth” is not ever absolute but can be used to mean highly probable with no credible alternative.

• WORLDmag.com | Community | Blog Archive | From youth group to agnosticism – Part 1 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC online.worldmag.com [Source type: Original source]

.I know what I mean when I say I believe in the law of the inverse squares, and I will not rest my life and my hopes upon weaker convictions...^ If you find it impossible to at least respect the effects of something which gives millions hope and comfort in life, irrespective of whether you believe in it, then I have no interest in winning.

• Atheism and Agnosticism | We Saved Hitler's Brain | Cracked.com Forums 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.cracked.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Yes, but when someone says "I believe in god" you know for sure they're a nutter.

• How I became an agnostic | Stephen Bates | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.guardian.co.uk [Source type: General]

^ I don't know if it is intentional or if just internally you remap the arguments to the different arguments, but you continually make claims as if my argument is what it is not, and to something that is inconsistent with everything else I say or do.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

.That my personality is the surest thing I know may be true.^ I don't know whether this is true but it's the kind of thing that could be argued and supported by evidence) .

• onegoodmove: Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC onegoodmove.org [Source type: Original source]

^ Let us be true to ourselves -- true to the facts we know, and let us, above all things, preserve the veracity of our souls.

• Why I Am Agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.infidels.org [Source type: Original source]

^ In my view, I recognize that these things > are not demonstrated (since you don't react well to the word "proof") > to the level where we can know what is true and what is false.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

But the attempt to conceive what it is leads me into mere verbal subtleties. .I have champed up all that chaff about the ego and the non-ego, noumena and phenomena, and all the rest of it, too often not to know that in attempting even to think of these questions, the human intellect flounders at once out of its depth.^ There is a big difference between these gods and the one and only God, the one "omnipresent" and "all-knowing".

• Agnostic Discourses 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC tonyb.freeyellow.com [Source type: Original source]

^ In Stock Atheism: A Beginner's Handbook: All you wanted to know about atheism and why by Philip A Stahl ( 3 ) Price: $14.95 .

• Lists & Guides tagged with agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.amazon.com [Source type: General]

^ Dawkins knows atheism but I often get the feeling that he doesn't quite as well represent agnosticism, but what do I know, talking about agnosticism is still pretty new to me.

• onegoodmove: Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC onegoodmove.org [Source type: Original source]

And again, to the same correspondent, May 6, 1863:

.

I have never had the least sympathy with the a priori reasons against orthodoxy, and I have by nature and disposition the greatest possible antipathy to all the atheistic and infidel school.^ In its phenomenal aspect, the cosmic One is thus intrinsically dynamic, and the apprehension of its dynamic nature is basic to all schools of Eastern mysticism.

• Religions Atheist Atheism Agnostic: Freud, Darwin, Einstein, Nietzsche:Discussion of Atheist Agnostic Quotes 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.spaceandmotion.com [Source type: Original source]

^ It is this truth or falsehood possibility that makes the framework of logical reasoning relevant to the problem, at least to the extent of forming some sense of the probability of truth of the proposition.

• onegoodmove: Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC onegoodmove.org [Source type: Original source]

^ Then, the schoolmaster carried on the war against their natural sense, and all the books they read were filled with the same impossible truths.

• Why I Am Agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.infidels.org [Source type: Original source]
• Why I Am an Agnostic (Robert G. Ingersoll) 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.positiveatheism.org [Source type: Original source]

.Nevertheless I know that I am, in spite of myself, exactly what the Christian would call, and, so far as I can see, is justified in calling, atheist and infidel.^ I call myself an atheist.That is good enough by me.

• onegoodmove: Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC onegoodmove.org [Source type: Original source]

^ Would you call it self-aggrandizement, should I call myself Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies or should I call myself Doctor Beardris, the Masterdragon or Anubis Lancelot, the Scribe of the Unicorns?

• Agnostic Discourses 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC tonyb.freeyellow.com [Source type: Original source]

^ I always find myself pondering why atheists and theists alike take to calling us "fence sitters" and "intellectual wimps" to demean us.

• Silly Beliefs - Agnostics - Reader's Comments 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.sillybeliefs.com [Source type: Original source]

.I cannot see one shadow or tittle of evidence that the great unknown underlying the phenomenon of the universe stands to us in the relation of a Father [who] loves us and cares for us as Christianity asserts.^ Many can debate many things but the one thing that cannot be debated is Love.

• Agnosticism was what saved my faith | Nesrine Malik | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.guardian.co.uk [Source type: General]

^ This, coupled with the delusion that we can still control our drinking in the face of conclusive evidence that we cannot, is a form of insanity should convince us that we are powerless over alcohol.

• Chapter Four: We Agnostics - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.soberrecovery.com [Source type: Original source]

^ But, from those who would presume to lead us, can we not require a certain amount of care in making choices that affect themselves and others?

• Pajamas Media » Wright, Ayers, and Obama: An Agnostic Quotes the Bible 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC pajamasmedia.com [Source type: Original source]

.So with regard to the other great Christian dogmas, immortality of soul and future state of rewards and punishments, what possible objection can I—who am compelled perforce to believe in the immortality of what we call Matter and Force, and in a very unmistakable present state of rewards and punishments for our deeds—have to these doctrines?^ They may view the issue as so abstract and removed from human experience > > > > that it is impossible that we should have any evidence regarding it, one > > > > way or the other, so the matter is essentially unknowable.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ They > > may view the issue as so abstract and removed from human experience that it > > is impossible that we should have any evidence regarding it, one way or the > > other, so the matter is essentially unknowable.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ They are making the claim that the matter of God's > > > > > existence is essentially unknowable and that there could not possibly be > > > > > evidence regarding it, one way or the other.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

Give me a scintilla of evidence, and I am ready to jump at them.

Of the origin of the name agnostic to describe this attitude, Huxley gave the following account:^[18]

.

When I reached intellectual maturity and began to ask myself whether I was an atheist, a theist, or a pantheist; a materialist or an idealist; Christian or a freethinker; I found that the more I learned and reflected, the less ready was the answer; until, at last, I came to the conclusion that I had neither art nor part with any of these denominations, except the last.^ If they do they are neither agnostics nor atheists--they > > are theists.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ If they do they are neither agnostics nor atheists--they are theists.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ If they do they are neither agnostics nor atheists--they > are theists.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

.The one thing in which most of these good people were agreed was the one thing in which I differed from them.^ And for bad people to do good things, that takes religion.

• How I became an agnostic | Stephen Bates | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.guardian.co.uk [Source type: General]

^ However, convincing yourself of these things in the comfortable modern world we live in now is an impossible sell, not merely a challenging one.

• Dusk in Autumn 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC akinokure.blogspot.com [Source type: General]

^ There is a big difference between these gods and the one and only God, the one "omnipresent" and "all-knowing".

• Agnostic Discourses 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC tonyb.freeyellow.com [Source type: Original source]

.They were quite sure they had attained a certain "gnosis,"–had, more or less successfully, solved the problem of existence; while I was quite sure I had not, and had a pretty strong conviction that the problem was insoluble.^ (I myself am not part of such a church, nor can I say they’re the full answer, or even whether they solve this problem but create others, like more legalism.

• WORLDmag.com | Community | Blog Archive | From youth group to agnosticism – Part 1 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC online.worldmag.com [Source type: Original source]

^ The "something" is more or less up to the believer in question, but occaisionally they'll write a book about it or start a cult.

• onegoodmove: Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC onegoodmove.org [Source type: Original source]

^ In effect people are less hostile to agnostics because they think they will be able to convert them more easily.

• Atheism and Agnosticism | We Saved Hitler's Brain | Cracked.com Forums 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.cracked.com [Source type: Original source]

So I took thought, and invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of "agnostic." .It came into my head as suggestively antithetic to the "gnostic" of Church history, who professed to know so much about the very things of which I was ignorant.^ Now, intelligent men, who are not frightened, whose brains have not been paralyzed by fear, know that the sacred story of creation was written by an ignorant savage.

• Why I Am an Agnostic (Robert G. Ingersoll) 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.positiveatheism.org [Source type: Original source]

^ If any of them came to my classes, they might very well turn to atheism or agnosticism anyway.

• WORLDmag.com | Community | Blog Archive | From youth group to agnosticism – Part 1 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC online.worldmag.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Well, I don't know about agnosticism but atheism is very much like a religion.

• Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news. 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.aintitcool.com [Source type: Original source]

.To my great satisfaction the term took.^ As was to be expected, he chose the former alternative; and I may express my great satisfaction at finding that there is one spot of common ground on which both he and I stand.

• Agnosticism and Christianity (1889) 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC aleph0.clarku.edu [Source type: Original source]

.Huxley's agnosticism is believed to be a natural consequence of the intellectual and philosophical conditions of the 1860s, when clerical intolerance was trying to suppress scientific discoveries which appeared to clash with a literal reading of the Book of Genesis and other established Jewish and Christian doctrines.^ I am God and I helped design and construct the universe, just as every other natural philosopher or scientist or technician has done in the past, the present and will do so in the future.

• Agnostic Discourses 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC tonyb.freeyellow.com [Source type: Original source]

^ I've read a fairly interesting book called "The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ?

• Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news. 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.aintitcool.com [Source type: Original source]

^ The religious philosophers, not satisfied with the tradition of your forefathers, and doctrine of your priests (in which I willingly acquiesce), indulge a rash curiosity, in trying how far they can establish religion upon the principles of reason; and they thereby excite, instead of satisfying, the doubts, which naturally arise from a diligent and scrutinous enquiry.

• Religions Atheist Atheism Agnostic: Freud, Darwin, Einstein, Nietzsche:Discussion of Atheist Agnostic Quotes 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.spaceandmotion.com [Source type: Original source]

.Agnosticism should not, however, be confused with natural theology, deism, pantheism, or other science positive forms of theism.^ Do not confuse this question with whether evolution is true or not , since we Christians are not denying the physical science of evolution that looks at physical changes since the amoeba, prokaryote first replicating organism, or simplest replicating life form however you define it.

• 4 Step Perfect Proof for God of the Bible 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www3.telus.net [Source type: Original source]

^ Simply redefining religious (and other) debate to remove this position doesn't seem to have any value and confuses the debate.

• Silly Beliefs - Agnostics - Reader's Comments 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.sillybeliefs.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Ted Drange is only noting some of the intellectual excuses > > > agnostics may use to justify their vacuous and untenable position of > > > there may, or may not be a form of Sky Fairy!

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

.By way of clarification, Huxley states, "In matters of the intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take you, without regard to any other consideration.^ You can't have one without the other.

• onegoodmove: Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC onegoodmove.org [Source type: Original source]

^ There are other ways to prove God exists, but the Proof is simple and sweet, and based on pure logic without any assumptions.

• 4 Step Perfect Proof for God of the Bible 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www3.telus.net [Source type: Original source]

^ Here’s my philosophical, existential questions for you regarding your position on human beings in light of evolutionary theory.” .

• WORLDmag.com | Community | Blog Archive | From youth group to agnosticism – Part 1 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC online.worldmag.com [Source type: Original source]

And negatively: In matters of the intellect, do not pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable" (Huxley, Agnosticism, 1889). .Although A. W. Momerie has noted that this is nothing but a definition of honesty, Huxley's usual definition goes beyond mere honesty to insist that these metaphysical issues are fundamentally unknowable.^ The term agnostic was coined by Huxley and it simply refers to > Unknowability > > and nothing else.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ The term agnostic was coined by Huxley and it simply refers to Unknowability and nothing else.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ The term agnostic was coined by Huxley and it simply refers to > Unknowability > > > > and nothing else.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

Robert G. Ingersoll

Robert G. Ingersoll.

See also: Robert G. Ingersoll

Robert G. Ingersoll, an Illinois lawyer and politician who evolved into a well-known and sought-after orator in 19th century America, has been referred to as the "Great Agnostic."

In an 1896 lecture titled Why I Am An Agnostic, Ingersoll related why he was an agnostic:

.

Is there a supernatural power—an arbitrary mind—an enthroned God—a supreme will that sways the tides and currents of the world—to which all causes bow?^ There is no point to our existence if God is all powerful.

• onegoodmove: Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC onegoodmove.org [Source type: Original source]

^ Then I asked myself the question: Is there a supernatural power -- an arbitrary mind -- an enthroned God -- a supreme will that sways the tides and currents of the world -- to which all causes bow?

• Why I Am Agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.infidels.org [Source type: Original source]
• Why I Am an Agnostic (Robert G. Ingersoll) 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.positiveatheism.org [Source type: Original source]

^ Don't be so arrogant to think something happens all by itself without a cause, for that goes contrary to everything we observe in the natural world.

• 4 Step Perfect Proof for God of the Bible 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www3.telus.net [Source type: Original source]

I do not deny. I do not know—but I do not believe. .I believe that the natural is supreme—that from the infinite chain no link can be lost or broken—that there is no supernatural power that can answer prayer—no power that worship can persuade or change—no power that cares for man.^ I believe that the natural is supreme -- that from the infinite chain no link can be lost or broken -- that there is no supernatural power that can answer prayer -- no power that worship can persuade or change -- no power that cares for man.

• Why I Am Agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.infidels.org [Source type: Original source]

^ I believe that the natural is supreme -- that from the infinite chain no link can be lost or broken -- that there is no supernatural power that can  answer prayer -- no power that worship can persuade or change -- no power that cares for man.

• Why I Am an Agnostic (Robert G. Ingersoll) 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.positiveatheism.org [Source type: Original source]

^ I can not, do not, believe in anything that there is no evidence for.

• Agnostic Discourses 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC tonyb.freeyellow.com [Source type: Original source]

.I believe that with infinite arms Nature embraces the all—that there is no interference—no chance—that behind every event are the necessary and countless causes, and that beyond every event will be and must be the necessary and countless effects.^ There had been no interference from without.

• Why I Am Agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.infidels.org [Source type: Original source]
• Why I Am an Agnostic (Robert G. Ingersoll) 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.positiveatheism.org [Source type: Original source]

^ There is always a cause to the effects in nature.

• 4 Step Perfect Proof for God of the Bible 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www3.telus.net [Source type: Original source]

^ I can not, do not, believe in anything that there is no evidence for.

• Agnostic Discourses 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC tonyb.freeyellow.com [Source type: Original source]

Is there a God? I do not know. Is man immortal? I do not know. .One thing I do know, and that is, that neither hope, nor fear, belief, nor denial, can change the fact.^ One thing I do know, and that is, that neither hope, nor fear, belief, nor denial, can change the fact.

• Why I Am Agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.infidels.org [Source type: Original source]
• Why I Am an Agnostic (Robert G. Ingersoll) 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.positiveatheism.org [Source type: Original source]

^ I love the fact Bill Maher tore embedded belief systems a new one using the simplest of approaches: asking basic questions.

• Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news. 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.aintitcool.com [Source type: Original source]

^ They can even think > > > (or hope) that a god exists, but unless they can honestly say they > > > hold a positive belief in one, they're atheists.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

It is as it is, and it will be as it must be.

In the conclusion of the speech he simply sums up the agnostic position as:

We can be as honest as we are ignorant. If we are, when asked what is beyond the horizon of the known, we must say that we do not know.

Bertrand Russell

See also: Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell

.Bertrand Russell's pamphlet, Why I Am Not a Christian, based on a speech delivered in 1927 and later included in a book of the same title, is considered a classic statement of agnosticism.^ Bank of Wisdom Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201 10 WHY I AM AN AGNOSTIC. We had the Book of Martyrs, showing that Christians had for many centuries imitated the God they worshiped.

• Why I Am Agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.infidels.org [Source type: Original source]

.The essay briefly lays out Russell’s objections to some of the arguments for the existence of God before discussing his moral objections to Christian teachings.^ They have had a hard time of it before man and during man's existence which is why God never gave them God-consciousness for that would hardly be fair.

• 4 Step Perfect Proof for God of the Bible 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www3.telus.net [Source type: Original source]

^ Since even you don't > claim that that is the case, no argument for the existence of God is > sound.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ I am aware that the assumed instinctive belief in God has been used by many persons as an argument for his existence.

• Religions Atheist Atheism Agnostic: Freud, Darwin, Einstein, Nietzsche:Discussion of Atheist Agnostic Quotes 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.spaceandmotion.com [Source type: Original source]

.He then calls upon his readers to "stand on their own two feet and look fair and square at the world," with a "fearless attitude and a free intelligence."^ YEP, it’s a typo – looks like you have two of your own, LOL – “Philippians” and “incidentally” Report comment to moderator .

• WORLDmag.com | Community | Blog Archive | From youth group to agnosticism – Part 1 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC online.worldmag.com [Source type: Original source]

^ We looked upon this world of warring individuals, warring theological systems, and inexplicable calamity, with deep skepticism.

• Chapter Four: We Agnostics - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.soberrecovery.com [Source type: Original source]

^ They who claim to own their fellow-men, look down into the pit and forget the justice that should rule the world."

• Why I Am Agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.infidels.org [Source type: Original source]
• Why I Am an Agnostic (Robert G. Ingersoll) 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.positiveatheism.org [Source type: Original source]

.In 1939, Russell gave a lecture on The existence and nature of God, in which he characterized himself as an atheist.^ If you're an atheist it doesn't matter if you aren't > sure of the existence of god.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ If you're an atheist it doesn't matter if you aren't sure of the existence of god.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ An atheist lacks a belief in gods but believes that their existence is > > > unknowable.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

He said:

.

The existence and nature of God is a subject of which I can discuss only half.^ Unknowability agnostics, who say that not only is there no evidence > > relevant to the issue of God's existence but that there could be none.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Unknowability agnostics, who say that not only is there no evidence > > > > > > > > > relevant to the issue of God's existence but that there could be none.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Unknowability agnostics, who say that not only is there no evidence > > > > > > relevant to the issue of God's existence but that there could be none.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

.If one arrives at a negative conclusion concerning the first part of the question, the second part of the question does not arise; and my position, as you may have gathered, is a negative one on this matter.^ One will get somewhat conclusive answers, the other will just get more questions.

• Atheism and Agnosticism | We Saved Hitler's Brain | Cracked.com Forums 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.cracked.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Why does it matter if one guy believes in UFOs?

• Atheism and Agnosticism | We Saved Hitler's Brain | Cracked.com Forums 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.cracked.com [Source type: Original source]

^ They may view the issue as so abstract and removed from human experience > > > > that it is impossible that we should have any evidence regarding it, one > > > > way or the other, so the matter is essentially unknowable.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^[19]

However, later in the same lecture, discussing modern non-anthropomorphic concepts of God, Russell states:

.

That sort of God is, I think, not one that can actually be disproved, as I think the omnipotent and benevolent creator can.^ Roger_Penrose#Religious_views "One can imagine that God created the universe at literally any time in the past.

• Atheism and Agnosticism | We Saved Hitler's Brain | Cracked.com Forums 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.cracked.com [Source type: Original source]

^ They can even think > > > (or hope) that a god exists, but unless they can honestly say they > > > hold a positive belief in one, they're atheists.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ They can even think > > > > (or hope) that a god exists, but unless they can honestly say they > > > > hold a positive belief in one, they're atheists.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^[20]

In Russell's 1947 pamphlet, Am I An Atheist Or An Agnostic? (subtitled A Plea For Tolerance In The Face Of New Dogmas), he ruminates on the problem of what to call himself:

.

As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one can prove that there is not a God.^ For example, I can prove giraffes exist by pointing to one and saying, There it is!

• Atheism and Agnosticism | We Saved Hitler's Brain | Cracked.com Forums 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.cracked.com [Source type: Original source]

^ I think it is faith to describe 'god' as a supernatural unquantifiable being (whether you believe or not) Science, which by definition confines itself to observable quantifiable phenomenon is simply not equipt to examine the theory that there exist something that is unquantifiable.

• Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news. 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.aintitcool.com [Source type: Original source]

^ "I call myself an atheist instead of an agnostic only because there are proofs that God does not exist.": Dr. Ted Drange, a philosopher of religion and ex-Professor Emeritus at West Virginia University Reply to author Forward .

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

.On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods.^ Maybe man’s concept of God is anthropomorphic because man’s thinking is anthropomorphic.

• Religions Atheist Atheism Agnostic: Freud, Darwin, Einstein, Nietzsche:Discussion of Atheist Agnostic Quotes 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.spaceandmotion.com [Source type: Original source]

^ What man cannot do (save Himself) God can!

• 4 Step Perfect Proof for God of the Bible 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www3.telus.net [Source type: Original source]

^ They are making the claim that the matter of God's > > > > > existence is essentially unknowable and that there could not possibly be > > > > > evidence regarding it, one way or the other.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

In his 1953 essay, What Is An Agnostic? Russell states:

.

An agnostic thinks it impossible to know the truth in matters such as God and the future life with which Christianity and other religions are concerned.^ It is impossible to know if a god exists of if it doesn't.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ I think Quan has gone the other route and found it easier to agree with religous friends instead of know the issues.

• Daylight Atheism > A Memo to Fence-Sitting Agnostics 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.daylightatheism.org [Source type: Original source]

^ I think it is an unfair and overly broad characterization to say “organized black life” involves extreme christian religiosity and anti-semitism.

• Coming out Black and Agnostic | Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.racialicious.com [Source type: Original source]

Or, if not impossible, at least impossible at the present time.

However, later in the essay, Russell says:

I think that if I heard a voice from the sky predicting all that was going to happen to me during the next twenty-four hours, including events that would have seemed highly improbable, and if all these events then produced to happen, I might perhaps be convinced at least of the existence of some superhuman intelligence.

Criticism of agnosticism

Agnosticism is criticized from a variety of standpoints. .Some religious thinkers see agnosticism as a limitation of the mind's capacity to know reality other than material objects.^ Why should physical reality be made up of anything other than process?

• Atheism and Agnosticism | We Saved Hitler's Brain | Cracked.com Forums 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.cracked.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Unlike his conservative, Christian wife and family, he has come to know that he is agnostic–he believes that the truth about the afterlife, deities and ultimate reality is unknowable.

• Coming out Black and Agnostic | Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.racialicious.com [Source type: Original source]

^ I never really stopped believing in some kind of divine force, though I began to believe it was defiantly more intrinsic than I had been led to believe.

• Coming out Black and Agnostic | Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.racialicious.com [Source type: Original source]

.Some atheists also criticize the use of the term agnosticism as functionally indistinguishable from atheism.^ Perhaps it would be an idea if when we use some terms that others disagree on, we actually define that word for the benefit of the reader.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Ted Drange is only noting some of the intellectual excuses > agnostics may use to justify their vacuous and untenable position of > there may, or may not be a form of Sky Fairy!

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Someone asked me about a term I used to describe my agnosticism vis certain > > > > types of gods.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

Religious criticism

Many theistic thinkers repudiate the validity of agnosticism, or certain forms of agnosticism. .Religious scholars in the three Abrahamic religions affirm the possibility of knowledge, even of metaphysical realities such as God and the soul,^[21] because human intelligence, they assert, has a non-material, spiritual element.^ Theists can > > > > > believe and have no evidence but they can still claim that they don't > > > > > actually know whether a god exists (many say they know but they "know" > > > > > because they say they "feel it inside".

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ There cannot be an "I don't know" that sustains a god of > > which there is no knowledge and at the same time permits > > a belief in such.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ A really civilized man, a really civilized woman, must hold such a God in abhorrence and contempt.

• Why I Am Agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.infidels.org [Source type: Original source]
• Why I Am an Agnostic (Robert G. Ingersoll) 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.positiveatheism.org [Source type: Original source]

.They affirm that “not being able to see or hold some specific thing does not necessarily negate its existence,” as in the case of gravity, entropy, or reason and thought.^ The critiques and methods being employed by atheists, and the scope of activities, simply don't deserve the reaction much less severe descriptions - unless "rabid" now means to write some books and hold reasoned discussions.

• Daylight Atheism > A Memo to Fence-Sitting Agnostics 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.daylightatheism.org [Source type: Original source]

^ Presumably there is some > > > > minimum amount such that any lesser amount would still call for us to deny > > > > the existence of the thing.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ They would probably ask me to provide some proof of my ability to execute these things.

• Pajamas Media » Wright, Ayers, and Obama: An Agnostic Quotes the Bible 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC pajamasmedia.com [Source type: Original source]

However, this argument has two main flaws. .Firstly, it only asserts that the non-material is possible—this is precisely what agnostics believe (that you cannot prove the existence of God).^ A theist believes in gods but believes that their existence is unknowable.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]
• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ 'God's existence and non-existence are exactly equiprobable.'

• onegoodmove: Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC onegoodmove.org [Source type: Original source]

^ Why do you believe in a God?

• onegoodmove: Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC onegoodmove.org [Source type: Original source]

.Secondly, simply because one non-material idea exists as a force does not mean that another idea necessarily exists.^ He simply has no > > > belief in one because there is nothing to hang that belief on.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ It's probably because we need to look at a case where the two words would be substitutes, forcing the user to pick one or the other.

• Dusk in Autumn 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC akinokure.blogspot.com [Source type: General]

^ He simply has no > > belief in one because there is nothing to hang that belief on.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

.For instance, just because gravity exists does not entail that that wizardry, unicorns, or fate exists.^ Just because a person believes there to be no gods does not automatically mean they have an obligation to convert others to this point of view.

• Daylight Atheism > A Memo to Fence-Sitting Agnostics 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.daylightatheism.org [Source type: Original source]

^ G=God exists Just because I'm not given G as an assumption doesn't mean ~G is true .

• Atheism and Agnosticism | We Saved Hitler's Brain | Cracked.com Forums 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.cracked.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Atheism is just “I don’t believe he does exist”.

• Coming out Black and Agnostic | Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.racialicious.com [Source type: Original source]

^[22]

Blaise Pascal

.Religious scholars, such as Brown, Tacelli, and Kreeft, argue that agnosticism does not take into account the numerous evidence of his existence that God has placed in his creation.^ God does not need time to exist to bring time into existence.

• 4 Step Perfect Proof for God of the Bible 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www3.telus.net [Source type: Original source]

^ In such a case, it might > > be argued, the rational stance to take for anyone aware of the evidence is > > that of withholding judgment on the matter.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ They are making the claim that the matter of God's > > > > > existence is essentially unknowable and that there could not possibly be > > > > > evidence regarding it, one way or the other.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^[22] .And for this, Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli cite 20 arguments for God’s existence.^ Since even you don't > claim that that is the case, no argument for the existence of God is > sound.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ I am aware that the assumed instinctive belief in God has been used by many persons as an argument for his existence.

• Religions Atheist Atheism Agnostic: Freud, Darwin, Einstein, Nietzsche:Discussion of Atheist Agnostic Quotes 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.spaceandmotion.com [Source type: Original source]

^ The good news for you is that none of the arguments for the existence > OF God are sound either [grin].

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^[23] .They assert that agnosticism's demand for scientific evidence through laboratory testing is in effect asking God, the supreme being, to become man’s servant.^ LL: All agnostics should be able to state whether they believe in god or not.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Personal accounts are not scientific fact, but they are a form of evidence.

• onegoodmove: Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC onegoodmove.org [Source type: Original source]

^ So I'd argue that reports of interaction with God are likely to reflect experiences interpreted in the context of belief, rather than being any kind of evidence in favor of God.

• onegoodmove: Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC onegoodmove.org [Source type: Original source]

^[24] .They argue that the question of God should be treated differently from other knowable objects in that "this question regards not that which is below us, but that which is above us."^ They may view the issue as so abstract and removed from human experience > > > > that it is impossible that we should have any evidence regarding it, one > > > > way or the other, so the matter is essentially unknowable.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ LL: All agnostics should be able to state whether they believe in god or not.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ They > > may view the issue as so abstract and removed from human experience that it > > is impossible that we should have any evidence regarding it, one way or the > > other, so the matter is essentially unknowable.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^[25] .Christian Philosopher Blaise Pascal argued that, even if there were truly no evidence for God, agnostics should consider what is now known as Pascal’s Wager: the infinite expected value of acknowledging God is always greater than the finite expected value of not acknowledging his existence, and thus it is a safer “bet” to choose God.^ There is no evidence whatsoever that God does exist.

• Agnosticism was what saved my faith | Nesrine Malik | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.guardian.co.uk [Source type: General]

^ "There is no more scientific proof of the existence of God than of the Easter Bunny" .

• onegoodmove: Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC onegoodmove.org [Source type: Original source]

^ Again, I'm not arguing that God should be considered more likely than the Easter Bunny.

• onegoodmove: Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC onegoodmove.org [Source type: Original source]

^[26]

.According to Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, agnosticism, more specifically strong agnosticism, is reasoning that limits and contradicts itself in claiming the power of reason to know scientific truth, but not religious or philosophical truths.^ Unlike his conservative, Christian wife and family, he has come to know that he is agnostic–he believes that the truth about the afterlife, deities and ultimate reality is unknowable.

• Coming out Black and Agnostic | Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.racialicious.com [Source type: Original source]

^ If you knew more about the scientific theory of evolution, perhaps you religious philosophy would be shattered.

• Agnostic Discourses 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC tonyb.freeyellow.com [Source type: Original source]

^ In order for you to support your claim that "One can also be an agnostic atheist" is false, what you have to produce is a reason to concider that both caracteristics are mutually exclusive.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^[25][27] .He blames the exclusion of reasoning from religion and ethics for the dangerous pathologies of religion and science such as human and ecological disasters.^ Yet she produces no reasoning to give such respect exclusively to religion.

• Daylight Atheism > A Memo to Fence-Sitting Agnostics 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.daylightatheism.org [Source type: Original source]

^ Our most holy religion is founded on Faith, not on reason; and it is a sure method of exposing it to put it to such a trial as it is, by no means, fitted to endure.

• Religions Atheist Atheism Agnostic: Freud, Darwin, Einstein, Nietzsche:Discussion of Atheist Agnostic Quotes 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.spaceandmotion.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Dan G Cass Silva wrote: and the christian religion does not value the human soul Indeed, Cass; the main reason for this being, that no religion (nor science, politics or other 'governing body') understands what the 'soul' represents in the 'greater being' of things.

• Agnostic Discourses 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC tonyb.freeyellow.com [Source type: Original source]

^[25][27][28] “Agnosticism,” said .Ratzinger, “is always the fruit of a refusal of that knowledge which is in fact offered to man [...] The knowledge of God has always existed.”^[27] He asserted that agnosticism is a choice of comfort, pride, dominion, and utility over truth, and is opposed by the following attitudes: the keenest self-criticism, humble listening to the whole of existence, the persistent patience and self-correction of the scientific method, a readiness to be purified by the truth.^ Throughout my youth I have always questioned the existence of a “God.” At age 13 and 16, I short bouts of atheism.

• Coming out Black and Agnostic | Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.racialicious.com [Source type: Original source]

^ God knew man would rebel as soon as he was given God-consciousness, but He still had to do the right thing and warn Adam and Even not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

• 4 Step Perfect Proof for God of the Bible 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www3.telus.net [Source type: Original source]

^ Types of Agnostics > > Zero-data agnostics, who allow that it is possible to know whether or not > > God exists, but no one does in fact know it for the simple reason that there > > is zero data regarding the matter.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^[25]

.According to some theistic scholars, agnosticism is impossible in actual practice, since a person can live only either as if God did not exist (etsi Deus non daretur), or as if God did exist (etsi Deus daretur).^ It is impossible to know if a god exists of if it doesn't.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Hard agnosticism is actually quite a militant and argumentative > > > position that involves concepts of naturalism, the supernatural, how > > > knowledge is achieved and other things related to the impossibility of > > > knowing whether or not 'god exists' is either meaningful or possible > > > to discuss.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Hard agnosticism is actually quite a militant and argumentative > > position that involves concepts of naturalism, the supernatural, how > > knowledge is achieved and other things related to the impossibility of > > knowing whether or not 'god exists' is either meaningful or possible > > to discuss.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^[29][30][31] .These scholars believe that each day in a person’s life is an unavoidable step towards death, and thus not to decide for or against God, whom they view as the all-encompassing foundation, purpose, and meaning of life, is to decide in favor of atheism.^ They knew that it was necessary to believe these things and to love God.

• Why I Am Agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.infidels.org [Source type: Original source]
• Why I Am an Agnostic (Robert G. Ingersoll) 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.positiveatheism.org [Source type: Original source]

^ For instance, you might tell yourself that this could be the last day of your friend's life, or that at any moment they could be called home by their family, and so on.

• Dusk in Autumn 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC akinokure.blogspot.com [Source type: General]

^ LL: All agnostics should be able to state whether they believe in god > > or not.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

^[26][29]

Atheist criticism

.According to atheist Richard Dawkins, a distinction between agnosticism and atheism is unwieldy and depends on how close to zero we are willing to rate the existence of any given god-like entity.^ Thats how I am with the existence of God.

• Atheism and Agnosticism | We Saved Hitler's Brain | Cracked.com Forums 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.cracked.com [Source type: Original source]

^ Close How I became an agnostic .

• How I became an agnostic | Stephen Bates | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.guardian.co.uk [Source type: General]

^ Someone can believe in the existence of a God without revendicating > > knowledge and actually stating its impossibility and be willing to > > recognize that position.

• Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]

Since in practice it is not worth contrasting a zero probability with a probability that is nearly indistinguishable from zero, he prefers to categorize himself as a "de facto atheist".^[32]

See also

Atheism portal

• Agnostic atheism
• Agnostic theism
• Asimov's Guide to the Bible
• Atheism
• Existentialism
• Fallibilism
• Gnosticism
• Ietsism
• James I of England
• Jefferson Bible
• List of agnostics
• Laicism
• Nihilism
• Rationalist movement
• Relativism
• Religiosity
• Religious skepticism
• Russell's teapot
• Secularism
• Skepticism
• Solipsism
• The Skeptic's Annotated Bible
• Unbelieving
• Wealth and agnosticism

Notes

1. ^ Carroll, Robert (2009-02-22). "agnosticism". The Skeptic's Dictionary. skepdic.com. http://skepdic.com/agnosticism.html. Retrieved 2009-10-17. 
2. ^ "The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Protagoras (c. 490 - c. 420 BCE)". http://www.iep.utm.edu/p/protagor.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-06. "While the pious might wish to look to the gods to provide absolute moral guidance in the relativistic universe of the Sophistic Enlightenment, that certainty also was cast into doubt by philosophic and sophistic thinkers, who pointed out the absurdity and immorality of the conventional epic accounts of the gods. Protagoras' prose treatise about the gods began 'Concerning the gods, I have no means of knowing whether they exist or not or of what sort they may be. Many things prevent knowledge including the obscurity of the subject and the brevity of human life.'" 
3. ^ Patri, Umesh and Prativa Devi. "Progress of Atheism in India: A Historical Perspective". Atheist Centre 1940-1990 Golden Jubilee. Vijayawada, February 1990. Retrieved 2007-04-02.
4. ^ Major Religions Ranked by Size
5. ^ http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Agnostics
6. ^ http://www.surefish.co.uk/culture/features/pullman_interview.htm
7. ^ ^{a b} Agnosticism & Thomas Henry Huxley
8. ^ American Heritage Dictionary, 2000, under agnostic
9. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=97DaE6BzKTsC&pg=PA41
10. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=97DaE6BzKTsC&pg=PA42
11. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, Additions Series, 1993
12. ^ Hume, David, "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding" (1748)
13. ^ Agnosticism, II., Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent. [1]
14. ^ Agnosticism, VIII., Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent.[2]
15. ^ Cline, Austin. "Atheism vs. Agnosticism: What's the Difference? Are they Alternatives to Each Other?". http://atheism.about.com/od/aboutagnosticism/a/atheism.htm. Retrieved 2006-09-24. 
16. ^ [3] Drange, Theodore (1998). "Atheism, Agnosticism, Noncognitivism". Internet Infidels. Retrieved on 2007-03-26.
17. ^ http://www.philosophyonline.co.uk/tok/scepticism8.htm
18. ^ Huxley, Thomas. Collected Essays. pp. 237–239. ISBN 1-85506-922-9. 
19. ^ Russell, Bertrand. Collected Papers, Vol 10. pp. 255. 
20. ^ Collected Papers, Vol. 10, p.258
21. ^ Shed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas, Journal of Islamic Philosophy, p 21-22.
22. ^ ^{a b} Laurence B. Brown (2007). "Religion of Islam: Agnosticism". http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/641/. Retrieved 2008-05-25. 
23. ^ Twenty Arguments for the Existence of God, from the Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Fr. Ronald Tacelli, SJ, Intervarsity Press, 1994.
24. ^ Ratzinger, Joseph (2007). Jesus of Nazareth. Random House. 
25. ^ ^{a b c d} Ratzinger, Joseph (2005). The Yes of Jesus Christ: Spiritual Exercises in Faith, Hope, and Love. Cross Roads Publishing. 
26. ^ ^{a b} "Argument from Pascal's Wager". 2007. http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/pascals-wager.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-25. 
27. ^ ^{a b c} Ratzinger, Joseph (2004). Truth and Tolerance: Christian Belief And World Religions. Ignatius Press. 
28. ^ Benedict XVI, Address at the University of Regensburg 2006
29. ^ ^{a b} Sandro Magister (2007). "Habermas writes to Ratzinger and Ruini responds". http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/125081?eng=y. Retrieved 2008-05-25. 
30. ^ "Why can’t I live my life as an agnostic?". 2007. http://www.faithfacts.org/search-for-truth/questions-of-christians/why-cant-I-live-my-life-as-an-agnostic. Retrieved 2008-05-25. 
31. ^ Ratzinger, Joseph (2006). Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures. Ignatius Press. ISBN 9781586171421. 
32. ^ The God Delusion

References

• Man's Place In Nature, Thomas Huxley, ISBN 0-375-75847-X
• Why I Am Not a Christian, Bertrand Russell, ISBN 0-671-20323-1
• Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, David Hume, ISBN 0-14-044536-6
• Language, Truth, and Logic, A.J. Ayer, ISBN 0-486-20010-8
• Atheism, the Case Against God, George H. Smith, ISBN 0-87975-124-X
• CIA estimate of religious affiliation by country uses "other", "none", or "unspecified" as descriptive terms

External links

.

• Agnosticism Adherents by Country Interactive world map by ChartsBin.com
• What Is An Agnostic? by Bertrand Russell, [1953].
• Why I am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell (March 6, 1927).
• Why I Am An Agnostic by Robert G. Ingersoll, [1896].
• Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Agnosticism
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry
• Agnosticism from INTERS - Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science
• Agnosticism - from ReligiousTolerance.org
• What do Agnostics Believe?^ Unlike his conservative, Christian wife and family, he has come to know that he is agnostic–he believes that the truth about the afterlife, deities and ultimate reality is unknowable.
  • Coming out Black and Agnostic | Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.racialicious.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ Quote Or in other terms, Science concerns itself entirely with the "how", Religion concerns itself with the "why".
  • Atheism and Agnosticism | We Saved Hitler's Brain | Cracked.com Forums 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.cracked.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ Or in other terms, Science concerns itself entirely with the "how", Religion concerns itself with the "why".
  • Atheism and Agnosticism | We Saved Hitler's Brain | Cracked.com Forums 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.cracked.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  - A Jewish perspective
• Fides et Ratio  – the relationship between faith and reason Karol Wojtyla [1998]
• For a utilitarian analysis of religion, see The (F)Utility of Religion: Who Needs God(s)?–A Prospective Bible for Non-Believers at http://bradmusil.kramernet.org

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Categories: Agnosticism | Criticism of religion | Disengagement from religion | Secularism | Epistemological theories

Hidden categories: Articles needing additional references from November 2009 | All articles needing additional references | Articles that may contain original research from May 2008 | All articles that may contain original research | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from September 2008 | Articles with unsourced statements from November 2008

From Wikiquote

Sourced

• I say that I am an agnostic. .People think that's pusillanimous and covering your bets.^ You better start asking questions and considering what people like Maher and Charles are accusing you of being and why they think your faith is nonsense.
  • Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news. 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.aintitcool.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ It is better to remain silent and have people think you an idiot than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
  • Agnosticism was what saved my faith | Nesrine Malik | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.guardian.co.uk [Source type: General]
  
  .But it's not based on any belief or yearning for an afterlife but on the fact that we actually know so little about the cosmos.^ So when we are talking about god-belief the distinction is a little more significant.
  • Friendly Atheist by @hemantsblog » Atheist Versus Agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC friendlyatheist.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ Sometimes I think I forget about the little brat - the hall monitor I see often, and the know-it-all as well, but the little brat ...
  • I, Agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC legallybarb.blogspot.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ Aye Judy, I know a little about evolution.
  • Agnostic Discourses 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC tonyb.freeyellow.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  .It is a tribute to the complexity and, at our present stage of development, the unknowability of the universe.^ The majority of the configuration is in on of > > the base folders, shared across multiple environments (including > > development, and more importantly, our testing and staging environments).
  • Nabble - ALT.NET Yahoo Group - Environment Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC old.nabble.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  
  ^ While there is obviously still a lot that we don't know about the universe and life, our present scientific understanding of the world is impressive by any standards.
  • Silly Beliefs - Agnostics - Reader's Comments 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.sillybeliefs.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ The majority of the configuration is in on of > the base folders, shared across multiple environments (including > development, and more importantly, our testing and staging environments).
  • Nabble - ALT.NET Yahoo Group - Environment Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC old.nabble.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  
  
  • Martin Amis, in "The New Amis" in The Telegraph (13 May 2000)
• Belief is otiose; reality is sufficiently awesome as it stands. .
  • Martin Amis, "The voice of the lonely crowd", The Guardian, 1 June 2002

• I am a skeptic about everything, including God and atheism.^ And when we have a “natural” explanation for everything, then, like Laplace said to Napoleon about God, science will claim it has “no need of that hypothesis.” .
  • WORLDmag.com | Community | Blog Archive | From youth group to agnosticism – Part 1 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC online.worldmag.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ Foster mentions three types of atheism:(1) dogmatic atheism, which denies that any God exists; (2) skeptical atheism, which doubts that any God exists; (3) critical atheism, which says that if a God exists there is no evidence of it.
  • H. Orton Wiley: Christian Theology - Chapter 11 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC wesley.nnu.edu [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ And, interestingly, you try to disprove my contention that your skepticism about the supernatural played a role in your rejecting the belief in God by ...
  • Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  I am not certain about issues of cosmology. .Sometimes I believe that our universe is the result of random forces.^ Scientists say this great force of gravity is so weak, gravitrons escape out-of the universe somewhere, which I believe to be to the 2nd and 3rd Heavens above.
  • 4 Step Perfect Proof for God of the Bible 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www3.telus.net [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ We found that as soon as we were able to lay aside our prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we commence to get results.
  • Chapter Four: We Agnostics - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.soberrecovery.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ The result of our willingness to believe and a way of life based upon that belief is the removal of our alcoholic problem and a restoration to sanity.
  • Chapter Four: We Agnostics - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.soberrecovery.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  .Other times I believe that there must be some order or purpose, though I do not begin to understand what or who it could be.^ Even the concept of time is destroyed because there is a being that apparently extends well beyond the beginning of time, which doesnt make much sense with modern science.
  • Atheism and Agnosticism | We Saved Hitler's Brain | Cracked.com Forums 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.cracked.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ In order to understand this, it is necessary to realize there is a difference between the texts.
  • Conversations with an agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.therefinersfire.org [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ They are making the claim that the matter of God's > > > > existence is essentially unknowable and that there could not possibly be > > > > evidence regarding it, one way or the other.
  • Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  .I do not expect that these cosmic doubts will ever be resolved in my mind.^ Near my journey's end, I find myself in a condition of something more than mere doubt about these matters.
  • Agnosticism (1889) 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC aleph0.clarku.edu [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ These sermons made but faint impressions on my mind.
  • Why I Am Agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.infidels.org [Source type: Original source]
  • Why I Am an Agnostic (Robert G. Ingersoll) 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.positiveatheism.org [Source type: Original source]
  
  .I am more certain that the miraculous stories that form the basis of most religious beliefs are myths.^ Interestingly, I suspect that most atheists are also agnostics in this sense of not claiming certain knowledge about their beliefs.
  • Friendly Atheist by @hemantsblog » Atheist Versus Agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC friendlyatheist.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ Note that as society has become more liberal, religious belief and its influence would appear to have waned throughout history.
  • Agnosticism was what saved my faith | Nesrine Malik | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.guardian.co.uk [Source type: General]
  
  .Yet I respect the Bible and enjoy reading and teaching it.^ Read: 186 times Last updated: 4/28/08 Rated: Not rated yet Tags: agnosticism , apologetics , atheist , bible , christianity , doubt .
  • Lists & Guides tagged with agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.amazon.com [Source type: General]
  
  ^ We have a small student body and yet in my 6th through 8th grade classes, not one of them had read the Bible all the way through.
  • WORLDmag.com | Community | Blog Archive | From youth group to agnosticism – Part 1 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC online.worldmag.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  .Indeed, I find it even more fascinating as a human creation than as a divine revelation.^ The creator is always more complicated than the creation.
  • Atheism and Agnosticism | We Saved Hitler's Brain | Cracked.com Forums 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.cracked.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator" (Rom.
  • 4 Step Perfect Proof for God of the Bible 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www3.telus.net [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ I simply find a more human (and biased) discussion to be more stimulating than its faux-objective counterpart, and that is why I offer it here in the hope that someone else does, too.
  • deadmetaphors.com :: elvis's konspiracy korner - 'better living through ecstatic agnosticism' 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC deadmetaphors.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  
  .I consider myself a committed Jew, but I do not believe that being a Jew requires belief in the supernatural.^ I have posited a more nefarious reason: True Believers accuse atheism of being a belief system to confuse the argument and anger atheists.
  • David Horton: Agnostics for Obama 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC feeds.huffingtonpost.com [Source type: General]
  
  ^ No, the reason you don't believe in supernatural things or God is -- > > > in large part -- because you hold beliefs that I do not, you believe > > > that there cannot exist supernatural entities being the largest one.
  • Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ When it comes to an supernatural being I am without belief--not agnostic--without belief.
  • Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  .When I attend synagogue, as I often do, or conduct Sabbath, Passover, or Chanukah services at home, I recite prayers.^ If he has been attending church every Sunday and prayer service every Wednesday, a sudden disappearance will guarantee some sort of prying confrontation.
  • Coming out Black and Agnostic | Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.racialicious.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  I am comfortable with these apparent contradictions. .I am part of a long tradition that links to my heritage through the words and melodies of prayer.^ These whores are part and parcel of a long tradition of Black on Black exploitation.
  • Pajamas Media » Wright, Ayers, and Obama: An Agnostic Quotes the Bible 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC pajamasmedia.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ If you think my use of that word entails some sort of absolute certainty on my part, or that I think I can prove the non-existence of god, that’s your problem.
  • Friendly Atheist by @hemantsblog » Atheist Versus Agnostic 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC friendlyatheist.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  .Indeed, it is while praying that I experience my greatest doubts about God, and it is while looking at the stars that I make the leap of faith.^ They are theists if they > > > > believe, even with doubts about the existence of a god.
  • Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ I hope this is helpful to anyone doubting their faith or even someone just curious about life without God.
  • Lists & Guides tagged with agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.amazon.com [Source type: General]
  
  ^ Once we are willing and make the decision to try to build a relationshipwith God we are given techniques that when practiced repeatedly produce a body of successful spiritual experiences the result of which allows us to develop a faith that works.
  • Chapter Four: We Agnostics - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.soberrecovery.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  But it is not faith in the empirical truths of religious stories or in the authority of hierarchical religious organizations. .If there is a governing force, He (or She or It) is certainly not in touch with those who purport to be speaking on His behalf.^ As I said before, the world can be largely divided into three camps: Those who believe in a God, those who believe there is no God, and those who do not hold either belief.
  • onegoodmove: Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC onegoodmove.org [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ There's a certain kind of skeptic who has no patience for the official consensus, especially if it has the imprimatur of a government, or worse, the United Nations.
  • deadmetaphors.com :: elvis's konspiracy korner - 'better living through ecstatic agnosticism' 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC deadmetaphors.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  
  ^ But anyone interpreting the universe's metaphysical creative force in human terms is missing the point just as much as those who deny it's there in the first place.
  • BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | God. Who knows? 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC news.bbc.co.uk [Source type: Original source]
  
  
  • Alan Dershowitz, in "Taking Disbelief out of the Closet" in Free Inquiry, Vol. .19, (Summer 1999)

• One should not have the arrogance to declare that God does not exist.^ The only argument "agnostics" can use is that existing evidence doesn't allow us to convincingly dismiss one or two particular gods of their choosing.
  • Silly Beliefs - Agnostics - Reader's Comments 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.sillybeliefs.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ They can even think > (or hope) that a god exists, but unless they can honestly say they > hold a positive belief in one, they're atheists.
  • Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ For the millionth and one time - atheism is simply the rejection of the idea that gods exist.
  • How I became an agnostic | Stephen Bates | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.guardian.co.uk [Source type: General]
  
  .
  • Umberto Eco, quoted in "Belief or Nonbelief? : A Confrontation By Umberto Eco and Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini" in The Los Angeles Times (18 March 2000)

• I do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment to be called an agnostic.^ Your position is to turn agnostics into atheists by changing what they take these terms to mean, rather than changing the beliefs that agnostics have.
  • Silly Beliefs - Agnostics - Reader's Comments 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.sillybeliefs.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ The Los Angeles Times recounts U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones attending a FEMA emergency preparedness workshop in August 2001.
  • deadmetaphors.com :: elvis's konspiracy korner - 'better living through ecstatic agnosticism' 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC deadmetaphors.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  
  ^ Is it your belief that it's more humane to let people remain as agnostics, even though it's false, rather than progressing to atheism?
  • Silly Beliefs - Agnostics - Reader's Comments 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.sillybeliefs.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  .I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure — that is all that agnosticism means.^ My agnosticism means I don't know, so I don't bother worrying about it.
  • Agnosticism was what saved my faith | Nesrine Malik | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.guardian.co.uk [Source type: General]
  
  ^ How many of you actually know about all the community based organizations set up and run by Trinity?” .
  • Pajamas Media » Wright, Ayers, and Obama: An Agnostic Quotes the Bible 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC pajamasmedia.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ It is not saying that we will NEVER know which side is right, which is what agnostic really means, so people are using the term incorrectly when talking about science.
  • Silly Beliefs - Agnostics - Reader's Comments 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.sillybeliefs.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  .
  • Clarence Darrow, Speech in Dayton, Tennessee (13 July 1925), defending John T. Scopes, on trial for teaching Darwinian concepts of Evolution.

• When I reached intellectual maturity, and began to ask myself whether I was an atheist, a theist or a pantheist, a materialist or an idealist, a Christian or a freethinker, I found that the more I learned and reflected, the less ready was the answer.^ Henceforward, I might hope to hear no more of the assertion that we are necessarily Materialists, Idealists, Atheists, Theists, or any other ists, if experience had led me to think that the proved falsity of a statement was any guarantee against its repetition.
  • Agnosticism and Christianity (1889) 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC aleph0.clarku.edu [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ Then, when teaching comes, it’s baby lessons, stuff we’ve learned in Sunday School and will learn many times more by the time we’re out of youth group.
  • WORLDmag.com | Community | Blog Archive | From youth group to agnosticism – Part 1 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC online.worldmag.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ I always find myself pondering why atheists and theists alike take to calling us "fence sitters" and "intellectual wimps" to demean us.
  • Silly Beliefs - Agnostics - Reader's Comments 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.sillybeliefs.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  .The one thing on which most of these good people were agreed was the one thing in which I differed from them.^ It seems to mean different things to different people.
  • BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | God. Who knows? 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC news.bbc.co.uk [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ However, convincing yourself of these things in the comfortable modern world we live in now is an impossible sell, not merely a challenging one.
  • Dusk in Autumn 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC akinokure.blogspot.com [Source type: General]
  
  ^ There is a big difference between these gods and the one and only God, the one "omnipresent" and "all-knowing".
  • Agnostic Discourses 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC tonyb.freeyellow.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  .They were quite sure they had attained a certain "gnosis" — had more or less successfully, solved the problem of existence; while I was quite sure that I had not, and had a pretty strong conviction that the problem was insoluble.^ From the atheist perspective, what we’re really confronting in the paradoxes and perplexities of existence are not mysteries at all, but just very complicated material problems that are not yet solved.
  • agnosticism « Prometheus Unbound 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC santitafarella.wordpress.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ Surely agnostics are sitting on the fence if they cannot admit to the unlikely existence of a being such as God?
  • BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | God. Who knows? 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC news.bbc.co.uk [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ (I myself am not part of such a church, nor can I say they’re the full answer, or even whether they solve this problem but create others, like more legalism.
  • WORLDmag.com | Community | Blog Archive | From youth group to agnosticism – Part 1 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC online.worldmag.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  
  • Thomas Huxley, in ''Christianity and Agnosticism: A Controversy (1889)

• I took thought, and invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of "agnostic." It came into my head as suggestively antithetic to the "gnostic" of Church history, who professed to know so much about the very things of which I was ignorant. .To my great satisfaction the term took.^ As was to be expected, he chose the former alternative; and I may express my great satisfaction at finding that there is one spot of common ground on which both he and I stand.
  • Agnosticism and Christianity (1889) 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC aleph0.clarku.edu [Source type: Original source]
  
  .
  • Thomas Huxley, in ''Christianity and Agnosticism: A Controversy (1889)

• Agnosticism is not properly described as a "negative" creed, nor indeed as a creed of any kind, except in so far as it expresses absolute faith in the validity of a principle which is as much ethical as intellectual.^ Much of our youth is intellectually unprepared to deal with the assaults which come from atheistic and agnostic presuppositions in academia.They want to have “fun” but they do not want to think.
  • WORLDmag.com | Community | Blog Archive | From youth group to agnosticism – Part 1 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC online.worldmag.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ As this concept was so clearly set forth by Huxley, > it > > > can unequivocally be found to express the essence of agnosticism.
  • Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ As this concept was so clearly set forth by Huxley, it > > > > can unequivocally be found to express the essence of agnosticism.
  • Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  .This principle may be stated in various ways, but they all amount to this: that it is wrong for a man to say that he is certain of the objective truth of any proposition unless he can produce evidence which logically justifies that certainty.^ They are all man-made.
  • Religions Atheist Atheism Agnostic: Freud, Darwin, Einstein, Nietzsche:Discussion of Atheist Agnostic Quotes 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.spaceandmotion.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ Essentially, you had two competing ideas: Cartesian epistemology that said that you could only know what was absolutely certain, followed on and in some sense co-ordinated with logical positivism that said that unless you had a grounding in a direct, observable experience you shouldn't in any way assent to that proposition.
  • Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ The authors, whose drinking patterns were so similiar to ours, state that they have also had these objections to leading a spritually based way of life.
  • Chapter Four: We Agnostics - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.soberrecovery.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  .This is what agnosticism asserts; and, in my opinion, it is all that is essential to agnosticism.^ In my opinion all religious and spiritual experiences can be explained scientifically.
  • onegoodmove: Agnosticism 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC onegoodmove.org [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ It is my opinion that the popular concept of agnosticism is that it places the person off the thiest athiest spectrum.
  • Silly Beliefs - Agnostics - Reader's Comments 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.sillybeliefs.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  .
  • Thomas Henry Huxley, in "Agnosticsim" published in The Nineteenth Century (February 1889) ; also in Christianity and Agnosticism (1889)

• Agnosticism simply means that a man shall not say he knows or believes that for which he has no grounds for professing to believe.^ Agnostics are those who simply believe we will not know if god exists or not.
  • Coming out Black and Agnostic | Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.racialicious.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ I simply do not know what to believe.
  • BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | God. Who knows? 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC news.bbc.co.uk [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ Yes, but when someone says "I believe in god" you know for sure they're a nutter.
  • How I became an agnostic | Stephen Bates | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC www.guardian.co.uk [Source type: General]
  
  .
  • Thomas Henry Huxley, quoted in The Great Quotations‎ (1960) by George Seldes, p.^ Thomas Henry Huxley: A Reminiscence .
    • Huxley's Bibliography 2 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.math.clarku.edu [Source type: Academic]
    • Huxley's Bibliography 2 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC cs.clarku.edu [Source type: Academic]
    
    ^ Some Reminiscences of Thomas Henry Huxley .
    • Huxley's Bibliography 2 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.math.clarku.edu [Source type: Academic]
    • Huxley's Bibliography 2 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC cs.clarku.edu [Source type: Academic]
    
    ^ Marsh, O. C. Thomas Henry Huxley.
    • Huxley's Bibliography 2 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.math.clarku.edu [Source type: Academic]
    • Huxley's Bibliography 2 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC cs.clarku.edu [Source type: Academic]
    
    .345

• It's important to abolish the unconscious dogmatism that makes people think their way of looking at reality is the only sane way of viewing the world.^ Whether He did it that way or not is not really that important.
  • WORLDmag.com | Community | Blog Archive | From youth group to agnosticism – Part 1 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC online.worldmag.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ Do I think that any of these languages correspond to reality in a privileged way, or can be used for predictive purposes?
  • agnosticism « Prometheus Unbound 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC santitafarella.wordpress.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ If the only way you have to signal your trivia mastery is through face-to-face meetings with people from your city or region, you need to have a fair amount under your belt.
  • Dusk in Autumn 10 February 2010 10:55 UTC akinokure.blogspot.com [Source type: General]
  
  .My goal is to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone, but agnosticism about everything.^ Agnosticism is about knowledge, but knowledge of god, not nature.
  • Silly Beliefs - Agnostics - Reader's Comments 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.sillybeliefs.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ And when we have a “natural” explanation for everything, then, like Laplace said to Napoleon about God, science will claim it has “no need of that hypothesis.” .
  • WORLDmag.com | Community | Blog Archive | From youth group to agnosticism – Part 1 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC online.worldmag.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ In the same way, if you want to engage with people on whether it is reasonable for them to be an agnostic about gods existence, it doesn't seem reasonable to then redefine agnosticism in such a way that it no longer matches their beliefs, and then tell them their beliefs are wrong.
  • Silly Beliefs - Agnostics - Reader's Comments 19 September 2009 15:53 UTC www.sillybeliefs.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  .If one can only see things according to one's own belief system, one is destined to become virtually deaf, dumb, and blind.^ So, in my system, that means that these things are about belief.
  • Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ So, in > my system, that means that these things are about belief.
  • Agnosticism - Atheism vs Christianity | Google Groups 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: Original source]
  
  ^ Not that I care one way or the other but, really, being taught to look at theories scientifically instead of blind belief might actually have some benefits.
  • FARK.com: (4292172) Jesus will not be riding his dinosaur in Texas 19 January 2010 9:51 UTC www.fark.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
  
  
  • Robert Anton Wilson, in "Robert Anton Wilson: Searching For Cosmic Intelligence" - interview by Jeffrey Elliot

See also

• Atheism
• Theism

Wikipedia has an article about:

Agnosticism

Look up agnosticism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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