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[DireStrike]

267. This is mainly a problem in the definition of the words Atheist and Agnostic

If you put those two words on a continuum, any reasonable person would find one of them to be a ridiculous position, depending on how they defined each.

Instead the most productive way to look at is as describing two different questions. The agnostic/gnostic divide is addressing the question of whether we have absolute knowledge of the topic. If someone claims to be a gnostic theist or atheist, you can pretty quickly rule out the possibility of a reasonable conversation. Most reasonable people would say "I can't prove absolutely that there is or isn't a god," making them agnostic. Then they would say:

"BUT, I believe/don't believe there is a god." This is the question of theism. It is possible to have a belief without absolute knowledge. In fact if you really think about it, all the believing we do is in the absence of total knowledge.

Therefore, I call myself an agnostic atheist. Two separate, only loosely related terms. I can't prove there's no god (and I don't think that anyone can), so I don't KNOW. But I find it a completely ridiculous idea, and so I don't BELIEVE.