Agnosticism for Beginners – Basic Facts About Agnosticism and Agnostics

What Agnosticism Is

Agnosticism is the Absence of Knowledge of Gods:

Although sometimes used metaphorically to denote a lack of commitment with respect to any given issue, agnosticism strictly taken means not claiming to know for sure if any gods exist. This is the definition for agnosticism in standard, unabridged dictionaries. Because of the use for “lack of commitment” other areas, many attribute that back to the question of gods’ existence as well and conclude that agnostics are “uncommitted” to any position on whether any gods exist. This is a mistake.

Weak Agnosticism vs. Strong Agnosticism:

Sometimes a distinction is made between weak agnosticism and strong agnosticism, an analogy to the distinction between weak atheism and strong atheism.

A weak agnostic refuses to make any knowledge claim for themselves; a strong agnostic denies that any human could possibly know. So a weak agnostic says “I don’t know if any gods exist or not.” A strong agnostic says “no one can possibly know if any gods exist or not.”

Agnosticism should be Philosophical:

A person who is self-consciously agnostic is (or should be) agnostic for philosophical reasons derived from their epistemology and their ethics.

Technically, though, a person doesn’t have to have thought about the issues very much to be agnostic. They don’t even have to care whether any gods exist or not — they can be completely apathetic about the question. The definition of agnosticism doesn’t depend upon a person’s reasons for their agnosticism

Agnosticism is Compatible with Religion:

Being an agnostic doesn’t necessarily mean that a person can’t be religious. To the degree that a religion’s dogmas include claiming to know that a god exists it will be difficult for an agnostic to be part of that religion. That’s common to western religions, which may be part of why most agnostics in America don’t attend religious services.

In some religions, though, agnosticism can play an important role. That said, though, agnosticism itself is not a religion and cannot be a religion, just as atheism and theism are not themselves religions and cannot be religions.