Question (Agnosticism)

by romansh , Sunday, May 08, 2011, 04:27 (4949 days ago) @ Nolander

This may be semantics, but agnosticism seems to sit on a different dynamic then say atheism. The two Greek words have different meanings. One speaks of knowledge and the other, belief. 
As an agnostic I would agree. But then agnostics get some scorn from both sides.
As you likely know its not truly a greek word. It's 19th century conconction. But ultimately all words definitions etc get defined in slightly different ways at different times and contexts.
 
> I found that agnostics can be in both categories of theism and atheism. I sometimes wonder if the word atheism scares people from being ostracized from their communities which may be theistic dominate. Therefore they stick with the word agnostic so they don't expose his/her real beliefs on the topic. Or people don't come out at all, and they pretend to believe so they don't lose status in society. 
While some may use agnostic as a shield, I would argue the average evangelical would not differentiate between the two positions much.-I think the deism - theism divide is more interesting. The average theist (evangelical) would also have problems with the typical deist or ietsist-Plus fideist might be a good term for an agnostic theist (or deist for that matter).-> I would think most people are agnostic whether they are religious or not, but they believe deep down people make decisions based on beliefs since knowledge isn't always given before decisions are made.-One would have thought so.