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by SamReidHughes 4345 days ago
That's not what agnostic means. Most people who believe in God wouldn't say they can prove God exists, and they aren't agnostic.
3 comments

No, that is exactly what it means. It doesnt take very long to look something up (eg. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism ).

Agnosticism is not about being uncertain, it's the position that the answer is unknowable or unknown - which is much stronger than merely being uncertain.

You have a point, but the person you're responding to makes a more important one - the colloquial definition of agnostic, in reference to religion, is a person who's not sure what they think about the existence of gods. When you call yourself an agnostic, that's what people typically understand by it.
That's the problem with surveys like this: the categories are political not philosophical.

It would be better to ask, "Does a deity feature amongst your considerations when making a decision?"

I take it that's what people are mainly interested in anyway.

If this question was asked alongside the others in these questionnaires I think you'd see a high percentage of non-atheist responders agreeing.

I am not making a point about the colloquial definition. The wikipedia article he linked disagrees with him too.
If that's the definition then it's useless as a distinguishing label since everyone on either side of faith can't know. If anyone could know, faith and belief wouldn't be necessary.
Many atheists and theists believe you can provide evidence one way or another. Most people are not agnostic.
There is a difference between saying you can prove something and saying you know something. Your own Wikipedia article disagrees with you.
Just because they wouldn't admit to it does not mean that the condition doesn't exist. And I have met Christians who have stated that they can't prove God one or another but that doesn't stop their belief.
Sorry, but designNERD is right.

Agnosticism has the greek root "gnosis", which means "knowledge". It's technically defined as a view that some things ("God" being a common, but not sole example) are unknowable. It's an epistemological concept.

Theism has the greek root "theos", meaning "God". Its primary concern is with the actual existence of God, so it's an ontological concept.

It's possible to think of agnosticism as side-stepping the theism debate by saying, "the nature of knowing matters more to me than the nature of being," but they're definitely compatible. You can say that the existence of God is unknowable (agnosticism,) but you believe that He's still out there (theism.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theism

Saying you know something and saying you can prove something are two different things.