I heard someone say the other day that they were a "Gnostic Atheist." To start with, I didn't know that there was such a thing, because that is completely illogical. He went on to say that "I'm a gnostic atheist because I know for sure that there is no god." This form of belief defies all logic, and here's why: It is impossible to prove a negative. This is a well known logical principle. Therefore, you cannot be logically sure that there is no god. That would be completely absurd.

The same thing applies to belief in a god, it is currently impossible to prove. However, a complete assurance in the non-existence of a god or gods (AKA Gnostic Atheism) is more illogical than the complete assurance in the existence of a god or gods (AKA Gnostic Theism, is guess) because, while it is currently impossible to prove either of them, it will NEVER be possible to prove the non-existence of a god. There is still a chance that we will one day find proof of the existence of a higher power. There will never be proof that such a power cannot possibly exist.

So from where does this notion of Gnostic Atheism come? Is this a widely held belief? Why do people believe it at all?

(June 9, 2014 at 7:47 pm)JimmyNeutron Wrote: So from where does this notion of Gnostic Atheism come? Is this a widely held belief? Why do people believe it at all?

I've never met one. I'm surprised that one exists.

I've met a few who make the positive assertion of the non-existence of god(s). They strike me as being as evangelical as the faithful.

Most atheists I've met are the agnostic variety. I am myself in that group.

Personally, I find gnostic atheism to be as much of an overreach as gnostic theism.

I suppose it depends on one's epistemological standards. I don't think either camp has reached that bar.

I agree with those guys ^^^

Also, OP, why are you capitalizing words that shouldn't be capitalized?

(June 9, 2014 at 8:12 pm)rexbeccarox Wrote: I agree with those guys ^^^

Also, OP, why are you capitalizing words that shouldn't be capitalized?

I don't know what you mean. I capitalized AKA because it's an abbreviation. I capitalized NEVER because I wish to lend emphasis. Guess I should have used italics or something.

Meh. Technically I agree with you. However I can state that I know there is no bigfoot. I know that are no pink aliens in my butt. I don't know why you get so bent out of shape when it comes to God.

There are gnostics in both cams, though I would say there's a higher percentage of theists who claim there is a god then there are atheists that claim there isn't.

Neither claim yet satisfies the burden of proof. One day we may find conclusive proof that there is a superior being (not the christer gawd though). We may also discover enough about the universe to confidently claim there are none. Before you go on about proving a negative, unless you remain agnostic about dragons, leprechauns, fairies, elves, big foot, the Loch Ness monster, unicorns, etc... then you cannot claim there will never be enough evidence to dismiss god claims as absurd.

(June 9, 2014 at 9:48 pm)JimmyNeutron Wrote:

(June 9, 2014 at 8:12 pm)rexbeccarox Wrote: I agree with those guys ^^^

Also, OP, why are you capitalizing words that shouldn't be capitalized?

I don't know what you mean. I capitalized AKA because it's an abbreviation. I capitalized NEVER because I wish to lend emphasis. Guess I should have used italics or something.

I mean none of the words "gnostic', "agnostic", "atheist", theist" should be capitalized. In the title, it's fine because it's a title. Other than that, none of those are proper nouns... especially the adjectives

Gnostic atheism is not a logically defensible position. But, like CapnAwesome said, I would have to stick to that line of reasoning about the invisible dyslexic left-handed rhinoceros that is in my closet as well. I am just as sure that thing doesn't exist as I am about any god(s). But I cannot prove either doesn't exist.