this post was submitted on 25 May 2026
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gnostic or agnostic, atheists are just not convinced. Like I dont believe you, that you have a unicorn at home. If I am gnostic or agnostic about that matter isnt really too important to anyone.
Gnostic atheists aren’t just not convinced, gnostic means “to know”, e.g. certainty. Agnostic atheism is “I’m not convinced, therefore I don’t believe in god.” and gnostic atheism is “I believe there is no god.” They would usually phrase it “I know”, but let’s be real it’s a belief.
Personally I find the distinction important, because gnostic atheists are annoying. This is why I usually label myself simply agnostic when asked.
Yes, you yould make the argument that it is impossible to know that there is no god, as the existence of a god is unfalsifiable. But if your definition of agnostic is this strict, then noone is really an agnostic atheist, because you cannot know that there isnt a very quiet and passive god which doesnt intervene on earth after Jesus. Its just not falsifiable. So if someone examines all arguments by scholars and the most avid theists for a god and comes to the conclusion that they are all bad/not good enough, then I'd argue that this person is a gnostic atheist. Because what else is one supposed to take to become gnostic? You cannot make scientific experiments to prove that there is no god.
And I can appreciate that this is frustrating for a lot of people, but it is simply unknowable.
The default position is “I don’t know”. It’s OK to sit there, you don’t have to have the answer. If you want to get to “I know and here’s the answer”, you either need to prove it or make a leap of belief.
Gnostic and agnostic are not opposites!
Edit: they certainly look like they're opposites, but just like deontology and ontology aren't opposites, these two words are just awkwardly related. See e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism which is not just "believing in a god". I'd say a proper antonym for atheism is theism/deism.
respectfully, your edit made it even more clear that you are misunderstanding the context and meaning of the terms in this case. agnostic / gnostic atheism needent necessarily have anything to do with gnosticism as a general term.
True enough, but even still I don't see that "gnostic atheism" is obviously the opposite of "agnostic atheism". In any case it's not what I claimed. The terminology is confusing and I was hoping to be helpful, although I see now I was far too glib.
https://hmolpedia.com/page/Gnostic_atheist
Offtopic: What in gods name is that wiki? https://hmolpedia.com/page/Main_Page I understand almost every word but dont get the combination of them at all. Am I crazy?
No, no you aren't. I'm worried about the creator of the site, though. Y I K E S
(ETA: Y'all, I think we're being trolled.)
They aren't, but that wasn't the claim. Here's what you said:
The article you linked explains how they're opposites. Gnostic and agnostic are opposites, just like theism and atheism are opposites.
right, one type of atheism and another type of atheism arent "opposites" and no one said they were.
the prefix in question and how it functions in this case are indeed opposites. one is a position of certainty about the topic, and one is a position of a lack of that certainty.
"I know" and "I don't know" aren't opposites?
They are of course, but that's not the meaning I attach to those words.
Oh, I see. "Gnostic" has more than one meaning. It can mean "A believer in Gnosticism", but it can also mean "Of, relating to, or possessing intellectual or spiritual knowledge." I'm using the American Heritage Dictionary, but you can find similar definitions in other dictionaries.
In this case, I'm sure that most people can figure out that a gnostic atheist isn't an atheist who believes in Gnosticism.
Totally right. Worse again though, there is a lesser known term "gnostic atheist", but it doesn't quite mean "a spiritual believer in the absence of a god", nor any other straightforward guess.
in this context, i think they are. aka certainty / uncertainty
I take your point. For the record if you do claim that gnosticism and atheism are indeed opposites, them isn't "gnostic atheism" an oxymoron?
no no ... its like this ... within the context of atheism the prefixes gnostic and agnostic refer to the following term "atheism".
atheist refers to belief gnostic / agnostic refers to certainty
no one claimed anything about gnosticism at all, let alone that its the opposite of atheism. thats doubly wrong. also, iirc you are the one who introduced opposites into this conversation. i do agree the whole situation is semantically confusing. :)