While participating in a discussion on agnosticism on Facebook (The Omaha Atheists Group) I was introduced to the idea that the terms "theist" and "atheist" have to do with belief while the terms "gnostic" and "agnostic" have to do with knowledge (or certainty), and that the two distinctions are independent of each other. This leads to the conclusion that there are four separate categories:
Agnostic Atheist: Does not believe that a god exists. Does not claim to be certain that no god exists.
Gnostic Atheist: Does not believe that a god exists. Claims to be certain that no god exists.
Agnostic Theist: Believes that a god exists. Does not claim to be certain that a god exists.
Gnostic Theist: Believes that a god exists. Claims to be certain that a god exists.
Using this particular taxonomy, I am an Agnostic Atheist.
I am going to try to explain my position on God as clearly as I can.
I am a gnostic atheist with regard to anthropomorphic gods such as the Greco/Roman gods and the Judeo/Christian God. (Gods whose behavior resembles and was obviously patterned after human behavior. Gods who wish to be worshipped and want human beings to be aware of their existence.)
Premise 2: There is no valid proof that such a god exists.
Conclusion: Such a god does not exist.
(The conclusions of valid deductive arguments are as certain as their premises.)
I am an agnostic atheist with regard to the deist concept of god. (An intelligent creator who is far beyond human beings, who does not interfere with its creation, who is not concerned with human behavior and probably doesn't consider human beings to be any more important than other animals, and who makes no attempt to reveal its existence to us.)
Why?
1. I doubt that human beings are capable of recognizing the existence of such a god, i.e. I don't think we'd ever be able to tell the difference between the existence of that type of god and the non-existence of a god. As a result, I don't believe we could ever prove or disprove that such a god exists.
2. I don't believe that there is any evidence that proves, or any argument that adequately supports the idea that any particular god necessarily exists. However, I believe that the "argument from design" is the best argument for proving that some god might exist, and that it is sufficient for suggesting the possibility that some sort of god could exist (though it does nothing to reveal the nature of that god other than it is an intelligent and powerful creator). Because of the possibility of a god which I believe is suggested by the argument from design, because of the problems with anthropomorphic god myths which I've already explained, and because I believe it's impossible for us to disprove the existence of the type of god that deists believe in, I believe the existence of a deist type of god to be the second most likely possibility after the possibility that no god exists at all. (I don't believe that the argument from design is sufficient to suggest that the existence of a god is the most likely possibility.)
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