I do find that lots of people use "agnostic" to mean something like "atheist lite" .. or a lower degree of certainty about their lack of belief.
Of course the two questions are completely separate. I would say that I have 100% no belief in god. As an atheist I question if anyone has any less belief in gods than I since I have none.
At the same time I am completely agnostic. Not only do I not know if gods exist, I don't even know if anyone else knows.
Hell, I sometimes wonder what the hell is meant by gods at all. So put me down for a side order of ignosticism. Since I don't know what gods are how could I possibly know if anyone else has had or could have a close encounter with one? You'd need more knowledge of god than I have to know whether god is knowable so I'd say I'm also 100% agnostic. (In other words, it beats the shit out of me.)
Finally there is the question of how much any of this matters to me. Not much. I scarcely give a shit, really. I can't think of any plans or decisions I'm putting off until I get to the bottom of the god question. But I'm probably not 100% apatheist. I have some empathy for those who are born into a religious cult and are forced to curtail their intellectual development in order to navigate around the god delusion. There but for the grace of .. whatever .. go you or I.
Of course the two questions are completely separate. I would say that I have 100% no belief in god. As an atheist I question if anyone has any less belief in gods than I since I have none.
At the same time I am completely agnostic. Not only do I not know if gods exist, I don't even know if anyone else knows.
Hell, I sometimes wonder what the hell is meant by gods at all. So put me down for a side order of ignosticism. Since I don't know what gods are how could I possibly know if anyone else has had or could have a close encounter with one? You'd need more knowledge of god than I have to know whether god is knowable so I'd say I'm also 100% agnostic. (In other words, it beats the shit out of me.)
Finally there is the question of how much any of this matters to me. Not much. I scarcely give a shit, really. I can't think of any plans or decisions I'm putting off until I get to the bottom of the god question. But I'm probably not 100% apatheist. I have some empathy for those who are born into a religious cult and are forced to curtail their intellectual development in order to navigate around the god delusion. There but for the grace of .. whatever .. go you or I.
