[split]Atheism is based of ignorance.

[Whateverist]

A + Gnosis is a negation of knowledge, namely the claim that "It is impossible to know whether God exists or does not exist."

I suppose given this definition it is possible to be an agnostic theist which would seem to what Frodo used to lean towards.


But if they don't believe in god then they would be agnostic atheists.

See how that works.

If someone doesn't believe in god they are an atheist, the reason they don't believe or even the strength of their conviction is unimportant.

Correct. When I find no evidence or experience of what is being asked then, not having been coerced at a young age, I don't believe in weird shit for which no evidence is available. My being agnostic goes to the lack of evidence of any kind, for or against. It says nothing about my confidence level. I don't register any 'confidence level' when the matter under discussion is too poorly defined or lacking in evidence.

That shouldn't be interpreted as uncertainty regarding the existence of god. I'm entirely certain that I don't believe in any. I'm simply not at all certain what counts as a god. Since I lack any reliable information about gods, I have no basis to make any pronouncements one way or the other.

The situation is analogous to the night when I was very young and sent out with a bag to hunt snipe. I was never entirely sure what a snipe was but I did go out and yell "snipe!" for a while before I gave up. The experience afforded me no conclusive evidence as to whether or not snipe exist. I do know that I no longer believe in snipe and my hunch is that the adults were just having some fun at my expense. So I'm as agnostic toward snipe as I am toward gods. I am also as a-snipist as I am a-theist.

However, I'm not an anti-snipest. I don't really care if some adults believe in snipe though I think they're pretty gullible. The same goes for gods. I'm sure many adults really do believe in gods but the importance they attach to this doesn't make it any more urgent an issue to my mind than the question of whether snipe exist. There may well be a snipe-hell for those who don't believe, but if there is, I'll be proud to be admitted.