What Is an Agnostic Atheist?

If an agnostic is someone balanced 50/50 between belief in God and atheism; how can anyone be an agnostic atheist? First, let's get rid of the 50/50 idea straightaway. Forget about people teetering on fences. Agnosticism has nothing to do with percentages but a great deal to do with knowledge and certainty.

The root word to agnostic is the word gnostic. Gnosticism is a positive knowledge claim. The "a" added to agnosticism indicates a lack of a positive knowledge claim. The "a" in agnostic is much like the "a" in atheism; you can think of that "a" as the word "without" and have a pretty accurate view of what both agnostic and atheist mean, assuming you already know the words theist and gnostic.

If someone is absolutely certain of God's existence, he or she is what we'd call a gnostic theist. If someone is not absolutely, 100% certain of God's existence he or she would be called an agnostic theist.

Most atheists I know are agnostic atheists. That means that while they are atheists, they do not make a positive knowledge claim about God's non-existence. I have yet to meet (in person) a gnostic atheist. A gnostic atheist is one who is certain that no God exists. I am an agnostic atheist.

I think the reason the label agnostic atheist has become so popular among atheists is because the unflattering myths about us tend to paint us all as gnostic atheists. The rare gnostic atheist is the strawman many people have used to demonize all atheists when, in fact, most atheists are agnostic atheists. One thing I've heard over and over again is that atheism is a horribly arrogant position because one must know everything in the universe to be an atheist. What they are really talking about are the few, rare Gnostic atheists rather than the much more common agnostic atheist.

Some people are choosing the term agnostic atheist to describe themselves because they are slowly "coming out" atheist and may have been know as agnostics for years before. A lot of atheists are moving away from the wishy-washy terms they may have used to protect themselves from discrimination and are seeking more accurate terms to describe their absence of belief in God. Agnostic atheist is a more accurate term for many.

The label of agnostic atheist starts conversations at any rate and, in my opinion, talking is always better than fighting.