Agnostic: a pointless term?

[robvalue]

It's a bit of a gray area.

Personally, I would say that to be an atheist you have to actually understand the claim that you are rejecting. So I would say your sock is neither an atheist nor a theist. It is not aware of the claim to pass comment. Your doggy is probably not an atheist or theist either, although we're not entirely privy to what goes on in their cute little heads They may believe in some dog god, who knows? I'd say unlikely though.

The thing is, agnostic means "I don't know for sure". So it has to be accompanied by what the claims is you don't know for sure, such as agnostic atheist. Or agnostic soulist. Or something. Otherwise you haven't answered the question, "Do you believe the claim that a god exists". You're either convinced by the claim, and you believe it is true (theist) or you're not (atheist). There is no middle ground. That is the general consensus as I understand it, anyhow. Of course people are free to use words however they like, but I try to recommend what words most likely mean when someone says them. To use them in a different way is going to cause confusion, or requires defining words with every person you speak to.