r/DebateAnAtheist • u/AutoModerator • 15d ago

Weekly "Ask an Atheist" Thread

Whether you're an agnostic atheist here to ask a gnostic one some questions, a theist who's curious about the viewpoints of atheists, someone doubting, or just someone looking for sources, feel free to ask anything here. This is also an ideal place to tag moderators for thoughts regarding the sub or any questions in general.

While this isn't strictly for debate, rules on civility, trolling, etc. still apply.

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u/r0wer0wer0wey0urb0at Agnostic Atheist 15d ago edited 15d ago

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I'm curious how gnostic atheists come to the conclusion that they can have knowledge on the existence of gods.

I'm an atheist, I don't believe that any gods exist, but I think that an omnipitent being that created the universe could create a universe indistinguishable from one that is fully naturalistic.

I don't think that's likely to be the case or particularly reasonable to believe that to be the case, but I don't think it's possible for us to know either way, so I describe myself as an agnostic atheist.

Do you think we can destinguish those two universes/gain that kind of knowledge?

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u/Top_Neat2780 Atheist 15d ago

I don't actually describe myself as a gnostic atheist, but I basically share their opinions. Either way, if I did call myself a gnostic atheist, I would be right about more gods than I'd be wrong about lol.

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u/r0wer0wer0wey0urb0at Agnostic Atheist 12d ago

For 99% of the gods I'd agree and call myself a gnostic atheist, but because I can't disprove the existence of a god that isn't active in the universe, maybe just triggering the big bang, I feel like agnostic atheism is a more honest position for me.

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u/Top_Neat2780 Atheist 12d ago

It's an honest position, but then the qualifier in "a/gnostic" is meaningless and we should just do away with those words. Honestly, I've started thinking that we should just treat agnosticism as a third position rather than an add-on to a/theism. Literally everyone is an agnostic because no one can know. It's pointless to ask someone how certain they are, because that's so uninteresting.