Gnostic v. Agnostic

[Tiberius]

I call myself an agnostic atheist. But is that really how those words are used? "Gnostic" isn't even a word in that sense, it just means someone who follows the religion of Gnosticism.

The term 'agnosticism' was created by Thomas Huxley because the early Christian church used the Greek word 'gnosis' to describe spiritual knowledge. It was never meant in reference to the Gnostic movement.

However, as the Gnostics died out, the word 'gnostic' started being used as the opposite of 'agnostic'; that is, someone who knows (or claims to know) that God exists.