Am I the only one that realizes that this poll for “self-described agnostics” has answers that mostly require people to identify with something other than agnosticism?
How?
No, you’re not the only one.
.
Well, please explain.
I looked for an option that equaled “While it is virtually certain that no specific mythological deity (whether Zeus, Odin, Yahweh, or so on) exists, it is probably impossible to completely rule out the existence of a creator.” As there was no such option, I didn’t vote.
What I’m saying is that this poll is deeply flawed. Best as I can tell, there isn’t a single question that is a fair representation of agnosticism, including the center, or presumably neutral, question.
The more the questions diverge toward negative or positive answers the more they have in common with atheism, or theism. Much more, actually.
Dictionary.com says, in part, agnosticism “is an intellectual doctrine or attitude affirming the uncertainty of all claims to ultimate knowledge” while Wikipedia says, in part, "Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable. Agnosticism can be defined in various ways, and is sometimes used to indicate doubt or a skeptical approach to questions. In some senses, agnosticism is a stance about the differences between belief and knowledge, rather than about any specific claim or belief "
Yet virtually every question in this poll for agnostics requires them to take a position that it is inconsistent with agnosticism.
Whats up with that?
From wikipedia:
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable.
So asking self-described agnostics (who own a dictionary) what they ‘believe’ is just plain stupid, they dont believe (by definition).
Are you an agnostic? Or atheist?
The Op says that this is “only for self-described agnostics.”
Shouldn’t you be witnessing over in GD?
- As far as I can tell, it is possible to be both.
- Leave the modding to the experts. If you have a problem, use the “Report This Post” button.
How can you be both?
This is how.
Just because you claim to not be able know something doesn’t mean you can’t form a belief about it.
I consider myself to be both an atheist and an agnostic. Here’s a blog post I wrote about it, and here’s a thread I started about it.
Then tell me…could a person be both a theist and agnostic?
Please read the link in the previous post, and this one.
Wow. I read the threads and there appears to be a crisis of faith within the atheist community.
I sure hope they can pull it together.
Would you mind taking this hijack elsewhere, please?
I have pretty much always believed that a deity was involved in the creation of the universe, as I find it difficult to believe that all that we see and know is the result of a random accident. However, I acknowledge the opposite point of view and know that I can’t prove my own beliefs, and that I might be wrong altogether.
In terms of the particular deity involved, I grew up Catholic and believed in that God growing up. Since I’ve been in my late teens, that specific belief has been steadily fading to the point where I have little (if any) belief remaining in any sort of benevolent God taking an active role in our lives. As with the atheist point of view, I haven’t completely discounted this idea, either, but it is no longer a guiding principle in my life.
My vote was that I am pretty sure there is some sort of god.
I am a self-described agnostic. I don’t believe (or disbelieve) in a creator god or any other supernatural entity; I think it is most likely that no such entity exists, but I also think the proposition is impossible to prove or disprove. I positively disbelieve in Yahweh, though (and also Aslan, Superman, Wotan, Zeus, Iluvatur, and Marduk). (I refuse to rule out Thor, though. 
)
And I don’t witness. I have no interest in converting other persons to my point of view.
This is not a poll about how self-described agnostics define agnosticism, it’s about what self-described agnostics think/believe/suspect the chances are for the existence of deities.
It’s just not true. You can “believe” or suspect that, and live your life as if, there aren’t any gods, or you can be a full believing member of some religion and in either case still hold that “he truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable”.
I realize that that is a potential problem with the poll; not all hypothetical gods are equally likely. I’m not sure how to address it* given the limited kinds of polls we can create here, so if that leads people not to vote, then so be it.
- I considered a rule like “vote for whatever god you think is most likely”, but I’m not sure if that would work.
I would have phrased it thus:
It is unlikely that any supernatural entity exists, but the proposition cannot be entirely ruled out.