apparently atheist agnostic is contradictory

[Nine]

5 people now friends or family say its impossible to be both. Still.
Their question: if you don't know if there isn't a god, how can you say you don't believe if you don't know?

You could explain it in terms of something else. Aliens for example. I believe there are probably some other living things outside of our own planet somewhere. But I can't know for sure yet. Its kind of in reverse but getting the religious to do thought experiments is even tougher if you use other gods or magical things as examples.

Stick dragons in I guess. I don't think dragons exist. But I can't be sure they aren't hiding in Merlins cave.

I never use the label agnostic just because I'm not sure of anything so it seems rather pointless. Plus you end up with the extra hassle.

---

Now I thought of loads! Quite fun thinking of them all to be honest.

I believe my shoe's are tied. But I don't know unless I look!

[Angrboda]

The multiverse hypothesis is another good example. Whether or not we can know anything about multiple universes is independent of whether you think there likely are or are not multiple universe. One speaks to epistemology and knowledge, agnosticism, and the other speaks to ontology and belief, atheism. They are separate questions.

[frz]

I really don't like the introduction of agnostic/gnostic in this. Nobody who claims gnosticism on either side is telling the truth.

I was just thinking today about that. That there are about just two categories really that sound true, agnostic atheist and agnostic theist. While atheists don't believe in god/s, and theists do, no one can say they know there is a god. So that makes us all agnostics really, atheists and theists alike. Yay!

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The use of the term 'agnostic' was popularized by Thomas Henry Huxley in the latter half of the nineteenth century. When it was originally popularized by Huxley, it typically did refer to theists who were agnostic because of their beliefs about the knowability of the specifics of God, rather than that they doubted His existence. Thus, there is historical precedent for suggesting that being an agnostic and an atheist are contradictory terms. However, words, like anything else, change over time, and its current usage appears neutral toward belief or non-belief. Regarding your family and others brow beating you over it, simply point out to them that it is an example of the to insist that the original usage and the etymology of a word dictate usage beyond that era, and that its current usage by both theists and atheists is the only fact that is relevant; any other argument is simply 'invalid'.

How you always find the right and comforting words for almost everything is really something.

[Jackalope]

The multiverse hypothesis is another good example. Whether or not we can know anything about multiple universes is independent of whether you think there likely are or are not multiple universe. One speaks to epistemology and knowledge, agnosticism, and the other speaks to ontology and belief, atheism. They are separate questions.

While the above is all true, I suspect that bringing such things into the mix (multiverses, epistemology, ontology) is only going to serve to confuse the issue.

[Minimalist]

I was trying to make it easier on them by letting them know I didn't for sure know there isn't a god Ryantology.. I consider myself an atheist because I don't believe there is. Fml oh well.

That's what you get for being nice.


It's the major reason I never recommend it.

[Whateverist]

5 people now friends or family say its impossible to be both. Still.
Their question: if you don't know if there isn't a god, how can you say you don't believe if you don't know?
Aaaaaauuuuuuuuuugggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh

There is another way to approach this. Tell them you certainly do not pretend to know for a fact that their belief is wrong. Emphasize instead that you just don't share it. Tell them you've never felt the presence of God, that you tried to do as they taught you when you were younger but now that you're adult you have to decide for yourself.

[JesusHChrist]

You can always just say regardless of the wordsmithing and semantics, you have investigated various god claims (whatever they may be) and they don't check out. No Adam and Eve. No Noah. No Exodus.

No evidence for much of the bible nonsense is a good place to start. It's no more believable and indistinguishable from any other mythology and so on.

Put them on the defensive. Make them defend their claims, which is where the burden always should be.

[Dragonetti]

Most people just need to read the bible and koran from cover to cover.

[Fruity]

so sorry to hear, missluckie. I guess nothing I say may be of much help, but just remember that they are speaking out of ignorance. Plus, it's best you know who supports you and who doesn't and what that support depends on. Hang in there. You're a strong one.

don't forget I'm just a few clicks away.

[pocaracas]

Girl, you tell those people they know jack shit about it.
And since they know jack shit about it, they are agnostic about you.... because, you know, that's the bloody definition of "agnostic": to not know... to be aware that you don't know.