Agnosticism

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Sounds great to me BTHWIDK
'''Agnosticism''' is the position that the existence and nature of a [[god]] or gods are unknown or unknowable. Agnostics are often looked upon as wishy-washy fence sitters by both [[atheist]]s and [[theist]]s; however, most agnostics feel that it's intellectually indefensible to make a strong assertion one way or another.
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==Agnosticism==
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In theory, agnosticism is compatible with all but the most dogmatic of religious faiths, but in practice most agnostics are perceived as godless. Agnostics believe that while there is insufficient evidence to prove that there ''is'' a god, not believing that there is a god also requires a leap of faith (similar to any religious conviction) that lacks sufficient evidence. Simply put, agnosticism merely asserts that we lack the knowledge to determine whether or not God exists - in a sense, it differs from more explicit atheism by being a position based on a lack of knowledge, rather than a lack of belief. True agnostics would actually not fit on a hypothetical scale between [[theism]] and [[atheism]] as they would say the argument is unanswerable and could result in anything, almost like [[Schrödinger's cat]] but where the box can never be opened.
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Most agnostics, however, can additionally be categorised depending on how their beliefs work out in practice, whether they're more atheistic or theistic.
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==Agnostic atheism==
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'''Agnostic atheism''' holds that insufficient [[evidence]] exists to ''disprove'' a [[god]].  Agnostic atheists lean towards [[atheism]] as a sound null-hypothesis, particularly in practice, but acknowledge that they could be wrong.  The difference between atheism and agnostic atheism is subtle and may not be always be discernible, though agnostic atheists are generally more tolerant of the religious than more convinced atheists.
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The distinction between agnostic atheism and atheism is further blurred as most, if not all, [[atheism|atheists]] are in fact agnostic atheists - as [[rationality | rational]] thinking people would certainly stop being atheists if they encounter [[evidence]] of God's existence that was sufficient for them. There is a prevalence of [[fundamentalist]] theists, but it is far rarer, if not impossible, to find [[fundamentalist atheist]]s who would stick to their beliefs in the face of sufficient evidence.<ref>[http://atheism.about.com/od/atheismmyths/p/Fundamentalist.htm About.com - Fundamentalist atheists; they don't exist]</ref> Thus, if accepting the belief "there probably is no God; I'll act as if there's no God, but will change my mind if necessary," it's really just a matter of personal preference whether to identify as an "agnostic atheist" or just plain simple "atheist".
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==Agnostic theism==
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There is also '''agnostic theism''', which maintains a belief in god, but acknowledges uncertainty regarding the characteristics of that god.  Some theist agnostics are also [[Deist|Deists]], believing that God created the universe but is irrelevant to the workings of it. Believing [[Agnosticism|agnostics]] often identify themselves as ''fideists'', a term coined by [[Martin Gardner]] (a theist himself) for people who choose to believe in God because it [[Wishful thinking|comforts]] them and not for intellectual reasons.
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==Somewhat snarky views of agnosticism==
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===An atheist's opinion===
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An agnostic is someone too intelligent to believe in gods but too cowardly to be an [[atheist]]. A secondary opinion is that since an agnostic lacks belief in any gods anyway, they are, well,  an atheist.<ref>An illustration can be found on the internets [http://explosm.net/comics/1312/ here].</ref><ref> A more reasonable version can be found [http://www.atheist-community.org/atheisteve/?id=33 here] </ref>
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===A theist's opinion===
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An agnostic is someone too intelligent to be a closed minded, outright [[atheist]] but too cowardly to believe and commit to belief in gods. A secondary opinion is that since an agnostic is prepared to believe in gods in principle, they are, well, a theist.
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=== An agnostic's opinion ===
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A theist is someone who stubbornly insists that their imaginary friend(s) are real.
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<br />An atheist is someone who just as stubbornly insists that the theist's friend(s) would be measurable if they exist.
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<br />A secondary opinion is that theists and atheists should turn their stereos down because '''''some of us''''' are trying to sleep.
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==See also==
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*[[Agnostic Atheism Wager]]
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*[[Antitheism]]
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*[[Apatheism]]
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*[[Atheism]]
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*[[Ignosticism]]
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==Footnotes==
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<references/>
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[[Category:Atheism]]
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[[Category:Key concepts in atheism]]
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[[Category:Philosophy]]
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[[Category:Religion]]
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[[Category:Religious terms]]
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Revision as of 21:50, 23 April 2011

Sounds great to me BTHWIDK

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