# Is agnosticism really worth distinguishing from atheism, or is it just a defense?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-agnosticism-really-worth-distinguishing-from-atheism-or-is-it-just-a-defense/331114>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [November 15, 2005, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-agnosticism-really-worth-distinguishing-from-atheism-or-is-it-just-a-defense/331114 "2005-11-15T03:59:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![ombre3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@ombre3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ombre3)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-agnosticism-really-worth-distinguishing-from-atheism-or-is-it-just-a-defense/331114/101 "2005-11-19T03:00:22Z")

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I think agnosticism is an excellent position to take. I was one for many years. Am now a theist------or at least an agnostic theist.

For me agnosticism is simply stating “I dunno”. And possibly —"I don’t really care all that much about something that cannot be proven one way or the other. "

The idea that agnosticism entails thinking that “I cannot and will never know” seems a little false to me—even though that is the technical definition.

“I cannot and can never know” is faith based. Isn’t it?

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**Author:** ![ombre3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@ombre3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ombre3)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-agnosticism-really-worth-distinguishing-from-atheism-or-is-it-just-a-defense/331114/102 "2005-11-19T03:11:17Z")

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> [@ombre3](#):
>
> I think agnosticism is an excellent position to take. I was one for many years. Am now a theist------or at least an agnostic theist.
> 
> For me agnosticism is simply stating “I dunno”. And possibly —"I don’t really care all that much about something that cannot be proven one way or the other. "
> 
> The idea that agnosticism entails thinking that “I cannot and will never know” seems a little false to me—even though that is the technical definition.
> 
> “I cannot and can never know” is faith based. Isn’t it?

Somebody mentioned “non-theist” as an acceptable alternative to agnostic. ----------I don’t like that one. Not really very clear. “Non-theist and non-atheist” might work better, but that seems a little cumbersome. -----------and does not bring up knowledge at all-----the lack thereof is the essence of agnosticism.

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**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-agnosticism-really-worth-distinguishing-from-atheism-or-is-it-just-a-defense/331114/103 "2005-11-19T12:45:50Z")

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> [@Voyager](#):
>
> We saw a friend of ours believe that her husband was going to beat cancer. That kind of belief serves a real purpose, and goes way beyond probabilities and guesses.

Oh, absolutely. There is nothing _wrong_ with pushing one’s needle about for whatever reason. I would hope I could manipulate it myself like that in such circumstances - do pass on my sympathies to your bereaved friend in the hope that her needle might move towards a belief that she can live her life without him.

> [@](#):
>
> Lottery tickets are limited enough so that someone is certain to win sometime.

And my assessment of gods is such that even the sum of _all_ the gods I have ever heard of still does not shift my needle off “negligible” for the proposition “G/god exists”.

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