No, agnosticism is a whole other issue from any of this. Agnosticism, technically speaking, is the position “it is impossible to know whether a god or gods exist.” That’s a separate position from “I do not believe that gods exist”, “I believe that gods do not exist”, and “I believe that gods exist.” You can be an agnostic theist or a non-agnostic atheist. They’re along two different axes, like the Dungeons and Dragons alignment system with the law/order and good/evil axes.
Unfortunately the term has gained some additional meanings in common parlance, where it can commonly mean “I’m an atheist/theist but I don’t want to say that because it gets me in trouble.” Or “I’m not sure what I think so I’m going with the option that sounds the most unsure.”
It’s led to a huge mess when trying to categorize belief systems in polls like this one.
No, agnosticism is a whole other issue from any of this. Agnosticism, technically speaking, is the position “it is impossible to know whether a god or gods exist.” That’s a separate position from “I do not believe that gods exist”, “I believe that gods do not exist”, and “I believe that gods exist.” You can be an agnostic theist or a non-agnostic atheist. They’re along two different axes, like the Dungeons and Dragons alignment system with the law/order and good/evil axes.
Unfortunately the term has gained some additional meanings in common parlance, where it can commonly mean “I’m an atheist/theist but I don’t want to say that because it gets me in trouble.” Or “I’m not sure what I think so I’m going with the option that sounds the most unsure.”
It’s led to a huge mess when trying to categorize belief systems in polls like this one.
Interesting, I didn’t realize that. Thank you