Atheist or Agnostic - Do You Believe in God?

Five of the world's most known religions are the Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Hinduism.

But the question is, do you believe in spiritual beings? Do you believe in God?

If you don't answer Yes to these question, you might think of yourself as an atheist. But then there a people who claim to be agnostics.

So, what is the difference, really?

What is an Agnostic?

An agnostic claims that there is no certainty in the existence of God or any other spiritual being. Since there is no absolute or certain knowledge, the agnostic is a skeptic. However, they agree that there may be the possibility of God or any other deity. The term agnostic stems from the Greek words a, meaning "without", and gnosis, meaning "knowledge."

According to Bill Young in "The Origin of the Word Agnostic",Thomas Henry Huxley invented the word agnostic in the Spring of 1869.

In 1883, Huxley is quoted as follows, "Some twenty years ago, or thereabouts, I invented the word 'Agnostic' to denote people who, like myself, confess themselves to be hopelessly ignorant concerning a variety of matters, about which metaphysicians and theologians, both orthodox and heterodox, dogmatise with utmost confidence...."

The human kind is without exact knowledge - that is the view of an agnostic. The important point is, however, that the agnostic is merely sceptical of the existence of God, he does not denounce him.

What is an Atheist?

Atheism is a little easier to understand than agnosticism. Atheism is, in fact, the complete lack of belief in the existence of God or other spiritual beings.

One could say that a new born child is an atheist. George Hamilton Smith, a libertarian and atheist writer, coined the term implicit atheism to refer to "the absence of theistic belief without a conscious rejection of it" and explicit atheism to refer to the more common definition of conscious disbelief.

A new born child is the perfect example of implicit atheism. Another form of implicit atheism is a person without any religious teachings, someone who has never heard of the concept of gods.

Explicit atheism, however, is a person who makes the deliberate choice not to belief. Compared to the agnostic, an atheist "knows" that God or other spiritual beings can not exist. But even among atheists the degree of non-believe varies. Philosophers such as Antony Flew and Michael Martin contrasted strong atheism with weak atheism. The explicit affirmation that gods do not exist is strong atheism. Applying this definition, agnosticism can be seen as a form of weak atheism.

So, what are you? An agnostic, an atheist, or a believer?

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._Smith

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/reason/agnosticism/agnostic.html