Agnosticism Puns

Growing up I was a devout Christian. When I moved out at 18 and went to college, I realized there was so much more to reality than blind faith and have settled in a mindset that no supernatural facts can be known.

Past me would say that we can't know everything so it is better to have faith to be more comfortable with the world we live in. Present me would say that it is the lack of knowledge that drives us to learn more about the world we live in.

What leaves me questioning where I am now is a lack of solidity when it comes to moral reasoning. If we cannot claim to know spiritual truth, can we claim to know what is truly good and evil?

What are your thoughts on Agnosticism and what can be known about the supernatural?

I believe we can't know whether a god exists, but also that we will never be able to know, as a god could always choose not to impact humans at all, or that coincidences could keep happening, making it seem like there is a god, even if there is not. For this reason, I also believe trying to find out if one does or does not exist is pointless, as there is no way for us to know

It is my opinion that if people were to just leave kids alone about religion, atheism and agnosticism would skyrocket. The majority of religious people are such because they had been raised to be. At the earliest stage of their life when their brain is the most subject to molding, when theyre the most gullible and will believe anything their parents say without a second thought, is when religion becomes the most imbedded into their brains. To the point that they cant even process that what they had been taught might be a lie later in life. If these kids were left out of this and they were let to just make their own decisions and make up their own minds, atheism and agnosticism would both go through the roof. Without indoctrination, no religion can function.

Rather than state my opinion right off the bat, I'll start by admitting ignorance. Agnosticism as a position on belief/disbelief in the existence or non existence of god, does not not compute with me. I do not understand how one can say: "I'm neither a theist nor an atheist, I'm an agnostic".

Ok, so this is my opinion: belief or disbelief in God is a dichotomy. Either you do or you don't. Agnosticism is always there because I think you would agree that the majority of people wouldn't claim gnosticism concerning God but rather, simply belief or disbelief. So there is always agnosticism concerning what I hope we would agree is currently an unfalsifiable concept. However, it isn't a position concerning one's belief or disbelief.

Look at it this way: You're watching a documentary about bigfoot sightings. "Is bigfoot really out there?" Is the theme of the documentary. So, you're there watching it. The suspenseful music, the voice of the narrator and the promise of new information never brought to light before piques your interest. It is exciting. Maybe you want to believe in bigfoot but you don't. You're simply waiting to see convincing evidence.

You never really know if bigfoot exists or not but by the end of the documentary, you're either convinced by the blurry photos of grisly bears, people in gorilla costumes and wild personal testimonies or you're not. You either believe or you dont.

It's the same with the existence of God. You are either convinced or you're not. If you're not convinced, you dont believe. Of course you're agnostic because you dont know 100% but you don't believe. Or perhaps you are convinced by some kind of personal experience or something and you do believe in God. You're agnostic because you cant be 100% certain but you believe there's a God.

Either you are convinced or not. If you are convinced, you believe, if you're not convinced, you don't believe. Agnosticism is not a position on belief or disbelief.

Am I wrong? Are we going to split hairs here?

I hadn’t realized it before but the Bible has a very good portrait of who agnostics are. (Several in fact). Maybe the clearest is Pilate. He has not only the authority to help the people but, at least according to God, the duty to do so. He knows there is nothing bad about Jesus. He even has ppl share their supernatural anecdotes. Does he have proof Jesus is God? Idk that’s a good question. But he makes the wrong decision when he won’t decide. Let’s the crowd decide. Innocent man dies.

Like Pilate we have duty. We are indeed our brothers’ keepers. “Love your neighbor.” Etc. History shows how careful practice of the Bible benefits humanity. Also how twisting it / banning it or following almost all if not all other moral codes is detrimental. We have seen enough to know that leaving morals up to our fellow men in collective decision or apathy against tyranny leads to Hitlers and Stalins and Muhammads/Bin Ladens and Joseph Smiths/Jim Jones. Or just ancient Rome with brutal rape and slavery and ostracizing the sick.

That’s what agnosticism can’t fight. Won’t fight.

Tldr all agnostics are Pilate

This question was really stuck on my mind, so I wanted to ask this question.

But please, before answering this question, I'll leave the definition of the words down below:

A theist is someone who believes in a higher being. Most of them are religious, and I'll include deists because they believe in a higher being

An atheist is someone who doesn't believe in a higher being. However is atheism not believing in a higher being or believing no higher being exists?

An agnostic is someone who believes it's impossible to prove a higher being exists or don't.

Thanks for those who answer my question

I’ve been questioning my faith for a few years but it’s recently become more serious as I’ve allowed myself to delve deep into atheist content and have open conversations with my atheist friends.

I’m currently at a place where I feel as though I’ve logically accepted that Christianity is unlikely to be true. However, I can’t help but panic when I start to wonder if I could be wrong. It’s also hard for me to look at beautiful things in nature and imagine that they may not have been ‘designed’. Another struggle is that many of my family members are strong believers and everything they do revolves around this i.e. their jobs, their friends, conversations at the dinner table etc

In your experience, are these things that get better with time? I am starting to process my lack of faith but I haven’t reached a conclusion yet and I think it’s because fear is holding me back

"I'm on nobody's side."

~Squidward Tentacles

I was just curious since I have an Uzbek friend who has become a convinced atheist, but I've literally never heard of Uzbek atheists before. From what I understand the constitution states freedom of religion (or none) but Uzbeks are predominantly Muslim. Any insight?

I’ve always been confused about religion since I was younger but I’ve finally found that I believe that there isn’t a higher being or anything like that. Sometimes I still wonder if there is one and I don’t know if that’s me actually pondering or the religious guilt from leaving Christianity. Would I be considered an agnostic atheist or should I just call myself atheist?

Hey everyone. For most of my life I have been agnostic, and I still am today. However, in the last 6 months or so I have become increasingly anxious about existence, death, etc.

I'm curious how you all maintain spiritual health while being agnostic.

One of the main reasons I am agnostic is my mixed background. My family has Catholics, Hindus, Muslims, and even Buddhists. Having cultural loyalty to all my backgrounds has always made it hard for me to pick one religions and accept it.

Anyone?

These three things have done wonders for my life. With agnosticism I don't need to burden myself any longer with hypothetical scenarios or what's outside of my control or ability to understand and observe. Humanism is something I lean hard on too, since I believe that enjoying life, living it to the fullest and helping others reach the same goal based on the individual's self-defined values and parameters for success and fulfillment is not only gratifying but also good, seeing as how you have much potential to not only give love to others but receive it as well.

And last but definitely not least, stoicism, which in short basically means worrying only about what's within your control, and domesticating your emotions so that they help to serve you and your purposes, rather than letting yourself be controlled by them.

All three have helped maintain and provide a consistently clear and peaceful state of mind as well as the security of believing in myself and knowing I can adapt and overcome any life circumstances no matter how difficult, challenging or terrifying they may become.

What have you found to be helpful for you, in regards to agnosticism?

Hello, and much Love to you.

All of my life I have been a strict Materialist. I abandoned any kind of belief system when they told me at a young age that a snake spoke to and offered an apple to a lady. I had seen a snake before and knew that snakes could not talk. From then on I considered all of religion and spirituality to be a lie.

This was one of the core beliefs of my life. Religion was fake, Science was all there was, and people who had any kind of faith or religion were stupid. I actively looked down on others for believing, largely in order to build myself up as being smarter than them or above them in some way. I spent the better part of 3 decades like that.

My original experience with Psychedelics was with mushrooms, I've always struggled with suicidal ideation and wanting to kill myself. It was never the pointlessness of life, I've never cared that life is meaningless it just means we get to create our own meaning, rather it was the sheer pain of being alive. Mushrooms gave me total and complete relief from wanting to kill myself for about 6 months after that. This relief opened my mind with regards to Psychedelics and I continued my journey. Took mushrooms a few more times, LSD once or twice, and generally improved on myself and tried to figure out and rise above my darker patterns.

Then came "The" Trip. An LSD trip with some of my friends that was more profound than any trip I had had before. For a while I felt our consciousnesses merge and had the thought "What if Consciousness is something we all share... all of the time?"

With that thought on my mind, and the trip starting to peak, I started feeling another presence. Some... fourth dimensional being beyond time. I went outside and looked at the grass and insects and just started trying to connect with them.

I met God, or the Collective Unconscious, or The Universe, or something. I connected with everything and everyone everywhere. In that moment I was 100% convinced, with absolutely no doubt, of the Divinity of the Universe. There truly was something beyond this material reality.

This was such a shattering experience to the core of my identity that I felt, and watched, myself die. The person who I was died and someone new, yet the same, took their place.

Now. It's entirely possible that everything I experienced was just a result of my human brain having chemical reactions to a chemical. But I still had the experience, there was no way I could deny what I had felt. And I realize

I think many Christians, especially those raised in the faith, can get so caught up in thinking about God and Heaven that they lose sight of the only thing that matters right now – living a life of discipleship on earth.

Live like the healthy Christian agnostic. Stop worrying about the Heaven to come, look at your neighbor in front of you, pick up your hands and feet, and use them to bring about the Reign of Love, now, today, in whatever small way you can – on earth as it is in Heaven.

Jesus Is the Way – not only the Destination; indeed, you cannot reach the Destination without following the Way! Bear the Death of Jesus in your body today, pour yourself out like Him for your least brother and sister in the world today. All your praise, all your worship, all your prayer are nothing to Him without this.

Trust in God, Who Is Love, Who Is Justice, to take care of whatever comes after. If He exists, all will be well. If He doesn't, nothing matters anyway. So live as though He does.

He is looking at your works today. How will you live for Him today?

>For an example I have given to you, that just as I have done to you, also you might do.

— John 13:15.

I hope this doesn't get removed, but I want to seek further perspective.

I was raised in a strictly Christianic household. My first year at college on campus changed my life because I started to see the world as it really is. It's such an immoral world we live in, all the way down to the things that we as humans do and consider as "normal" (i.e. butchering and skinning animals for recreation/food, domesticating animals as pets against their will, and many other cases that currently aren't on my mind).

As I began to question the existence/validity of my [Christianic] God due to all of the trauma I had experienced throughout life, something clicked in my head. Put simply, there are 4200+ religions that believe they are correct. What do they all have in common? Once again put simply (perhaps too simply), they all rely on faith. Otherwise, theoretically, we would all flock to one religion—living the way we're "supposed" to and be on our way. This is what led me into the world of Agnosticism.

I felt like it was the most logistical standpoint; the father of all perspectives. The conclusion that "we can not know" struck home with me. This was the best feeling I had ever felt: feeling like I was on top of the world and can pursue anything I'd like in this life without any supernatural concequences (maybe, right? Lol). Not knowing that the worst demons this existence has to offer were waiting to accompany me on my blind journey into the darkness.

It turns out there's nothing that makes me happy, and everything I pursue is short-lived due to lack of motivation. Long story short: the repetition of this process has resulted in major depression, uncontrollable anxiety, ocd, and intrusive/non-intrusive suicidal ideation. The main drive for all of this is despair. It feels impossible to fall back on a different religion because I'd be starting back at phase one.

Fast-forward three years and at this point I'm walking through life aimlessly. I've been hearing the reaper knocking on my door everyday for the past three years. I have realized that these demons have 2 faces. As an Agnostic, how do you live life not knowing? Are you content? Are you struggling? Are you desperately looking for answers? What's your story? Any feedback is welcomed. Even if I said something wrong or have something misconstrued that you'd like to point out. I'm here to learn and possibly grow from the input of others. And if you've made it this far, thank you for reading. Thank you for hearing

Definitions of Atheism and Agnosticism are quite confusing. I hardly understand the difference between these words.

Some say that it is nothing but a lack of belief in God. By that definition, Agnostics are atheists because they have lack of belief. But Agnostics became angry when someone says that to them.

Some say that it is a philosophical position that God does not exist. Such as Alex O Connor a.k.a Cosmic Skeptic pointed it out in his recent QnA video. https://youtu.be/mmO9kLOpUL8

Even Rationality Rules makes a video but that doesn't really end my confusion about these terms.

........

When I talk about religion I'm on the side of I don't believe there is a God. However, I also don't believe anyone can know whether there is a God or not in this life. Does that mean I'm somewhere in the middle? Are the end of the day, it's just a label and definition but one of my friends said that saying you can't know if there is a God is more on the agnostic side of things. Just trying to get clarity on these terms.

The older I get the more I can't get past the idea of the hard limits of science that are in plain sight. Godel's incompleteness theorem. Quantum weirdness and all the holes in cosmology. The inherent chaotic mess of biology at every level.

It all leads me to consider myself a scientific agnostic- deeply aware of what seem to be fundamental limits on the knowability of the world around us.

Is there a better word to describe such a philosophical position?

Sore komodos, pgn nanya ttg opini kalian ttg Agnosticism/Atheism/ yang agama nya KTP doang.

1. apa yang membuat kalian bisa mengarah ke arah agnosticism/atheism/KTP doang/ atau malah gk tralu pusingin hal yg berkaitan tentang agama ini sendiri?
2. bagaimana kalian bertindak di circle kalian? misal kalian 1 circle sama org agama tertentu, apa mreka bkal memandang u dgn sebelah mata? or mreka trima trima aja?
3. apa opini u tentang agnosticism or atheism ini sendiri?

Dimulai dari gw, gw sendiri dari family itu smua nya budhis, walaupun gitu gw jg gk rajin bgt ke vihara, bisa d itung jari brp x gw ke vihara. Gw sejak SMA uda mlai gk tralu peduli ttg agama ini sendiri, tp masi memang percaya klw emg ada Tuhan, mulai mengarah ke agnostik + ud gk tralu pusingin. Karena itu gw anggep prinsip gw untuk berbuat baik aja, karena agama juga smua ajarin untuk berbuat baik itu sndiri, kenapa harus pilih salah 1.

Lanjut sekarang gw d LN, salah satu kluarga gw disini itu kristen, dan ngajak gw k greja, gw anggep itu sbg pembelajaran gw bagaimana gw bisa berbuat baik kepada orang & cari temen karena gk ada tmen disini, bukan sbg gw emg mw masuk ke agama itu, walaupun gw ud d bujuk brp tahun untuk baptis. Circle pertemanan di gereja ini untungnya gk nge judge gw karena perbedaan gw.

Untuk pasangan gw sndiri dia dan family pemeluk budhis yang lmyan kental, dia prnah tanya gw ttg hal ini dan emg gw jelasin pengertian gw sndiri, dia jg untung nya ngertiin ttg hal ini, tp dia ada minta kalau bisa yaa tentuin 1 agama yg stidaknya bakal u pegang bwt acuan u, bukan jadi nano nano campur campur. Ortu gw sndiri jg blg ya itu pilihan u, tapi klw misal u pindah, siapa yg bkal doain mreka klw kita aja gk bole pegang incense.

Klw opini gw ttg agnostik atau atheism sndiri itu wajar wajar aja, karena makin kesini arti memeluk agama sndiri uda makin vague. Ada yg blg slalu ikutin agama, tp kerjaannya ngeresahin/susahin org lain (bukan cuma ngomongin kelompok tertentu), ada yang emg dia blg dia gk pusingin hal ini itu, tp ya berbuat baik. Jd mnurut gw slama orang tersebut emg berbuat baik kepada siapapun, gk susahin orang, dan hormatin orang yang beragama saat ada kegiatan tertentu ya mnurut gw fine fine aja.

bagaimana pendapat para komodos ttg hal ini?

karena ini hal yg lumayan sensitif, remember to keep it cool when discussing this

• What are the most common reasons that cause Christians to lose their faith and turn to atheism, agnosticism or skepticism?
• Are these reasons only effective against young Christians, or are long-time committed Christians also vulnerable to have their faith "shaken" by these reasons? What about pastors, priests, evangelists, missionaries, etc.?
• Lastly, what measures (if any) are Christian churches taking to counteract these reasons for deconversion? Do any Christian churches or organizations teach people how to have an unshakable faith, even in the face of the most challenging objections?

I think these are important questions to answer, especially with so many atheist activists spreading skepticism and atheism nowadays. Wikipedia has an informative list of atheist activists and educators. There are also the "Four Horsemen of the New Atheism", namely, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, and Sam Harris. In social media we also find lots of content producers who spread agnosticism, atheism and skeptical ways of thinking. For example, on YouTube I'm familiar with CosmicSkeptic (446K subscribers), The Atheist Experience (365K subscribers), AronRa (263K subscribers) and Bart D. Ehrman (83K subscribers). Here is a list with the top 50 atheist YouTube channels.

I understand that a large group of people use agnostic to define their stance on religion, however you are either an agnostic theist or an agnostic athiest. There is no in-between. Would it be better to use the proper meaning more in conversation, or is it not worth the hassle?

I take Cosmic Nihilism to be the sort of position advocated by Nietzsche or Camus (thought neither were themselves nihilists, but both against nihilism itself), which is the position that there is no universal, objective meaning or higher order purpose (telos) underlying the universe. It is NOT the position that our lives are meaningless (existential nihilism), nor the moral anti-realism of moral nihilism. The nihilist position in my encounter with it often seems to proceed from the idea that there is not ultimate purpose or meaning to the universe (cosmic nihilism), to argue that there can then be no objective meaning or purpose to our own lives beyond mere arbitrary preference based in our subjective whim (Moral and existential nihilism).

What I wonder is whether cosmic nihilism taken by itself is rational. It seems to me that given that we have somewhat of a strong propensity to believe that there are such things as real value or meaning to the cosmos, and that if we lack any sufficient evidence to establish the lack of cosmic purpose or meaning or the real presence of it, the rational response in the face of no evidence one way or another is agnosticism about the ultimate meaningfulness or purpose of the universe.

Why am I wrong, or is there a strong position in favor of agnosticism (not necessarily about God, but just about whether or not the universe does have some inherent or overarching purpose)?

I've been thinking about this for years, because I in no way feel connection to the Christian or Catholic religion despite being raised in a Christian household. My parents aren't heavily religious, but they always made me go to church on Sunday and attend bible study on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Also made me go to the gatherings as well. I had always felt a strong disconnect with the religion, but didn't think much of it since I was a kid at the time and didn't understand a lot of things about myself or the world. But now that I'm older I feel trapped by religion in general. First reason is being a woman of color. Historically, Christianity was forced upon people of color and isn't our native religion. Second reason is because most people who have a religion have to follow certain rules, traditions, and live by certain standards. Although this is how life is basically it's amplified by religion and through a lense. People who follow religions don't all do things exactly by the book either, but heavily religious people make me uncomfortable. I don't mean any disrespect, but that's how cults end up forming most of the time is being deeply into religion or religious beliefs in general sometimes. Not all heavily religious people turn into a cults or join them, but they have a higher probability at doing so. There's also people who say they need more in their lives. Also just my personal opinion and feelings so please correct me if I'm wrong. I like to think with an open mind and I just want some different perspectives on this. I don't want to jump to conclusions nor offend anyone. I'd also like to know how I would go about legally changing my religion as well.

First and foremost, I want to leave Christianity and religion in general. I mean I don't worship Jesus. Every time I have the chance to criticize Christianity ill always used it. The thing is that I still feel like there's a God but it's none of the abrahimic religions. Currently I'm not a closeted non Christian but I still identify as one even though I don't believe in Christianity. Does anyone feel like this way?

Qualifying agnosticism

Critics of the term "agnostic" claim that there is nothing distinctive in being agnostic because even many theists do not claim to know god(s) exists -- only to believe it. Under this asserted distinction between the words "belief" and "knowledge," agnosticism has recently started suffering from terminological ambiguity. While critics maintain the distinction is not contrived; others reject the distinction as trifling. By contrast, compare:

• "I believe god(s) exist(s)" means that "I know god(s) exist(s)".
• "I believe god(s) exist(s)" can still mean "I don't know if god(s) exist(s)".

If this distinction is accepted, the term agnostic becomes orthogonal to theism without further qualifiers, and many qualifiers become contradictory unless the distinction is accepted. If this distinction is ultimately accepted by the larger public, the group formerly described by the term will again find themselves without a label, because the qualifiers provided would be inappropriate for their philosophy.

Recently suggested variations include:

• **Strong agnosticism (also called hard agnosticism, closed agnosticism, strict agnosticism, absolute agnosticism)—**the view that the question of the existence or nonexistence of god(s) are unknowable by nature or that human beings are ill-equipped to judge the evidence.
• **Weak agnosticism (also called soft agnosticism, open agnosticism, empirical agnosticism, temporal agnosticism)—**the view that the existence or nonexistence of god(s) is currently unknown but is not necessarily unknowable, therefore one will withhold judgment until/if more evidence is available.
• **Apathetic agnosticism—**the view that there is no proof either existence or nonexistence of god(s), but since god(s) (if exist) appear unconcerned for the universe or the welfare of its inhabitants, the question is largely academic.
• **Ignosticism—**the view that the concept of god(s) as a being is meaningless because it has no verifiable consequences, therefore it cannot be usefully discussed as having existence or nonexistence.
• **Model agnosticism—**the view that philosophical and metaphysical questions are not ultimately verifiable but that a model of malleable assumption should be built upon rational thought. This branch of agnosticism does not focus on a deity's existence.
• **Agnostic theism (also called religious agnosticism)—**the view of those who do not claim to know existence of god(s), but sti