Atheism vs. Agnosticism

There are a lot of people on both sides of the religious debate that do not know what agnosticism really is. I remember being told, when I was a child, that atheism was more respectable than agnosticism because at least atheists “take a stand’. The reality, as pointed out by magician, atheist, and all around smart person Penn Jillette, is that atheism and agnosticism answer two different questions.

The word agnostic comes from the Ancient Greek for “without knowledge”. That’s all it means. Lack of knowledge. Since no one knows for a fact whether or not a god exists, everyone is actually agnostic. Anyone who claims otherwise is lying to themselves and to you. Or, perhaps, they don’t understand what the words mean. So if someone asks you if you KNOW there is (or is not) a god, agnosticism is the answer.

Atheism, monotheism, and polytheism all answer a different question. These are based on what you THINK or BELIEVE. If someone asks you if you THINK there is or is not a god, or if you BELIEVE there is or is not a god, one of these *isms will be the answer.

My Catholic family mocked agnostics for the phrase “God, if there is a god, send me to heaven, if there is a heaven.” In reality, agnosticism is the only logical stance. No one knows if god is real. No one knows WHICH god is real. People simply THINK they are right. There is no proof one way or the other. Since we all lack the capacity to know for sure, we are all agnostic.

Another thing is that they aren’t mutually exclusive. I am an agnostic atheist. I don’t know if a god exists or not, but don’t believe so. Many people don’t know but they do believe, thus making them agnostic theists.

I am an atheist because I don’t think there is a god. I could be wrong. A monotheist would say that there is a god (who just so happens to be the one they believe in). They could be wrong. A polytheist would say that the gods they worship are real. They could be wrong. None of us know for sure. We probably never will.

What’s funny about agnosticism is that people on both sides mock agnosticism. Even Richard Dawkins called agnostics “fence sitters” and “intellectual cowards”. But I think that agnosticism is the only true answer in the entire discussion of deities. No one KNOWS. That’s the whole point.  I don’t KNOW there is no god, but I don’t THINK there is a god. My parents don’t KNOW there is a god, but they BELIEVE there is one. How is it cowardly to admit you don’t know? I don’t know that unicorns exist, but I don’t think they do.