Agnostic: a pointless term?

[Thumpalumpacus]

No, you are flogging an ungrounded and invalid definition of atheism. Atheists believe there is no God, agnostics don't have any belief, as they claim ignorance.

This is factually incorrect on two counts.

First, not all atheists believe that there is no god; some like myself, have no faith in one, but we don't say "There cannot be any god". That is a different statement. Given your fetishism over definitional argumentation, I'm surprised you haven't gone to the Oxford Dictionaries for their definition of atheism: "Disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods." The first clause indicates an active view, the second indicates the passive view, and both views are definitionally correct, no matter your protestations.

Secondly, some agnostics have the belief that the answer to the question "Is there a god?" positively cannot be known. Other agnostics simply haven't weighed the information at hand and decided.

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Show me a historical definition supporting your claim.

Here you go. It took all of two minutes on Google to find this ... but then, I wanted to find it.

A common theme in these definitions is the primary use of "disbelieve" when defining atheism. In the passive sense, "disbelieve" means "not believe" — thus a person who disbelieves a claim may simply not accept the truth of the claim without going any further or asserting the opposite. In the active sense, "disbelieve" involves deliberately refusing to believe something (possible reasons might include a lack of evidence or an incoherent claim).

Definition of Atheism in Late 20th Century Dictionaries:

Webster's Unabridged Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1957

atheism: Disbelief in the existence of God; the state of godlessness. Atheism: unbelief in or denial of God or any supernaturalism; to ancient Greek it meant denial and lack of recognition of state gods. In 18th cent. it was a protest against religious hypocrisy; in 19th cent. it was any system not recognizing the idea of a personal Creator or any one supreme being. It sees marter, not spirit, as sole universal principle; its history one of opposition. Term often loosely used in referring to agnostics who neither deny nor admit the existence of God, or in regard to others who disagree with current theological doctrine.

agnostic: One who, while he does not deny the existence of God, believes there is no proof of a Supreme Being; sometimes confused with atheist.

agnosticism: 1. The doctrine that nothing is known or knowable of the origin or nature of the universe or its creator, except the physical manifestations of phenomena, neither accepting nor rejecting a Deity with supernatural power. 2. Any doctrine which maintains that matters generally accepted as knowledge are problematical, since all are related and trace to a common unknown source.

disbelief: lack of belief, unbelief.

Unlike most dictionaries, this one traces the course of how the term "athiesm" has been used over the centuries, leading us to the more modern usage which incorporates anything which simply does not bother believing in any gods.

Funk & Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictgionary, 1980

atheist: one who denies or disbelieves in the existence of God.

agnosticism: The doctrine and philosophical theory that man cannot know God, first truths, or anything beyond material phenomena.

theism: Belief in, or in the existence of, God, a god, or gods.

disbelief: Lack of belief

Oxford English Dictionary

atheism: (from Greek atheos, "without God, denying God") Disbelief in, or denial of, the existence of a God. Also, Disregard of duty to God, godlessness (practical atheism).

agnostic: (from Greek agnostos, "unknowing, unknown, unknowable") One who holds that the existence of anything beyond and behind material phenomena is unknown and, so far as can be judged, unknowable, and especially that a First Cause and an unseen world are subjects of which we know nothing. [Suggested by Prof. Huxley at a party held previous to the formation of the now defunct Metaphysical Society, at Mr. James Knowles's house on Chapham Common, one evening in 1869, in my hearing. He took it from St. Paul's mention of the altar to 'the Unknown God.' R.H. Hutton in letter 13 May 1881]

disbelieve: 1. trans. Not to believe or credit; to refuse credence to: a. a statement or (alleged) fact: To reject the reality of. (With simple object or object clause). b. a person making a statement. 2. absol. or intr. Whatley Commonpl. Bk. (1864) It is very evident that the opposite to credulity is scepticism, and that to disbelieve is to believe. 3. intr. with in.: Not to believe in; to have no faith in.

disbeliever: One who disbelieves or refuses belief; an unbeliever.

unbeliever: One who does not believe; spec. one who does not accept a particular religious belief, an infidel.

Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged

atheism: (from Greek atheos, "godless, not believing in the existence of gods) 1a: disbelief in the existence of God or any other deity b: the doctrine that there is neither God nor any other deity 2: godlessness esp. in conduct : ungodliness, wickedness.

agnostic: (from Greek agnostos, "unknown, unknowable, not knowing) one who professes agnosticism; broadly: one who maintains a continuing doubt about the existence or knowability of a god or any ultimates <~... came into my head as suggestively antithetic to the gnostic of church history who professed to know so much — T. H. Huxley>

agnosticism: 1a: the doctrine that the existence or nature of any ultimate reality is unknown and probably unknowable or that any knowledge about matters of ultimate concern is impossible or improbable; specif: the doctrine that God or any first cause is unknown and probably unknowable. b: a doctrine affirming that the existence of a god is possible but denying that there are any sufficient reasons for holding either that he does or does not exist.

disbelieve: vt to hold not to be true or real; reject or withhold belief in. ti to withhold or reject belief.

unbeliever: 1: one that does not believe: an incredulous person : doubter, skeptic. 2: disbeliever, infidel.

Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2001.

atheism: disbelief in the existence of God or gods.

disbelief: 1. lack of belief 2. astonishment

Source: http://atheism.about.com/od/definitionof...dard_5.htm

I have added bolding to make the post easier to read.

Clearly, the various denotations of both "atheist" and "agnostic" have been around for a long time.

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Long story short; if you claim to be an agnostic, just grow some fucking balls and admit you know damn well there are no such things as gods. Dithering about with the shit about how you "cannot know" is just a fucking tedious waste of time. You know damn well the truth of the matter. Watching an agnostic try to go on about their hesitations or the "unknown" or what-the-fuck-ever-else they use as their reason for half-assing their belief/non-belief is like watching a gay republican trying to talk about the important of heterosexual Christian family values; it's fucking obnoxious and I already know the truth of the fucking matter. Quit dicking around and just join the rest of us in stating what you already know, dammit.

Belief, lack of belief, and the expressions thereof have nothing to do with courage. Simply because you have an obvious distaste for nuance doesn't mean that those who practice nuanced thinking are afraid to agree with you for any reason ... nor does it mean that they're wrong. Honestly, your screed reminds me of the theists who say, "You know there's a god, you just don't want to admit it" ... "just join the rest of us".

I'm an agnostic atheist. I don't believe any god-claims I've yet heard, but I don't claim to know that no god(s) exist. It's an intellectually honest stance, for me. You need not like it. That's okay. But "grow some balls"? Really?