Where are all the agnostics hiding?

It isn’t either of your suppositions.

Most people, including agnostics, feel it is one of your business. It is a private matter. Only those who see the world in black and white terms and feel the need to declare their beliefs are vocal.

Most atheists don’t go around declaring themselves either. It is just that there are some veryvocal well known atheists.

They are everywhere. It’s just they don’t feel a need to boast. There’s nothing to be that proud about being an agnostic, an atheist or even a theis anyway.

You really believe just because they don’t tell you it automatically means they don’t have it?

The religious and the irreligious both feel the need to proselytize in order to prove their point of view is correct. Those who don’t care, don’t so you never hear from them.

Like this agnostic right here. Nobody “knows” why/how we are here. Discussions about religion or the lack of “god” are like listening to people argue about which football team will win and why. I could care less.

I’m an agnostic. I’ve said it here on Fluther numerous times. Not hiding at all.

I know quite a few agnostics. The problem with saying your agnostic to some religious people, is religious people who try to convince you there is a God, they can see it as an opportunity to preach.

In a group of Evangelicals the agnostic or the atheist in the room is very likely to say nothing. That’s usually what I do. Since you seem to be an evangelical Christian to me, and I assume many of your friends are too, you are less likely to know who the agnostics and the atheists are in the room.

IMO, being agnostic is a natural evolution from being a theist. And a step in the direction of atheism.

That’s how it was for most atheists I know.

I know ,personally, that I was raised Baptist. Then eventually that made no sense, so I abandoned that ,but still felt there was ‘something, ’ so being agnostic fit for a while. Then I further evolved my view points to what could be /is described as atheist thinking.

I think many here are at that step in spiritual growth. Already passed that step, not that it was never part of our lives.

I think it would be weird to go from religious, straight to atheist. As with most spiritual growth, it is a unique journey for all of us, with many variables shaping our beliefs.

Since I recognize that I do not know whether a God or Gods exists, or if so what form a God or Gods would take, I am an agnostic.

Agnosticism doesn’t mean what you think it means. Agnosticism is not being unsure whether a god or gods exist, it’s having the positive belief that the existence of a god or gods is unknowable.

Hmm. Maybe there are ‘degrees ’ of being agnostic, as I learned here on Fluther, there are divisions of atheism….

Not hiding. Just don’t advertise.

Sounds like most here are apatheistic, not agnostic.

@SmashTheState gave the correct definition of agnostic. Agnostics are uncertain as to the existence of a God.

The difference between agnostic and atheist is not that great. Those who call themselves atheists are subject to the argument of how they can be certain there is no God, and isn’t that a type of faith? That is why, if I am pressed on the issue, I will say that technically I am an agnostic, but I consider myself an atheist, because nothing that I do is predicated on the possible existence of a God. What you believe is manifested in how you behave. Actions speak much louder than words.

@zenvelo Most people, including agnostics, feel it is one of your business. It is a private matter.
I do not know if they feel it is one of by businesses, I don’t care. I frankly do not ask anyone, most of the time they offer it up because they know I am a man of faith, and thus have a starting or finishing point of any conversation dealing with God, or not.

Only those who see the world in black and white terms and feel the need to declare their beliefs are vocal.
That would be the same from both camps, myself I am not all hat and no cattle, I walk the walk I talk, so there is no need to put on blast what I am and Whose I belong to, if they ask because I am not asking as those with no God, I will tell them why.

@Mimishu1995 There’s nothing to be that proud about being an agnostic, an atheist or even a theis anyway.
There are things to be unashamed about being a Believer, but I hardly know ant true Believers that boast of the fact, their witness is their testimony, those who have the need to project to others they are Christian are usually ones who are not really or want the benefits but are not living the life.

@JLeslie Since you seem to be an evangelical Christian to me, and I assume many of your friends are too, you are less likely to know who the agnostics and the atheists are in the room.
I do not know if one is atheist or agnostic, less they say so, but I can tell if they are not Believers because if they do not even acknowledge Him, or tenants of the Bible they seem lost in the woods about as if we are speaking a foreign language, I can reason they are not Believers.

@SmashTheState Agnosticism is not being unsure whether a god or gods exist, it’s having the positive belief that the existence of a god or gods is unknowable.
If agnostics do not know if it is even possible to know if there is a God out there, how could they even think there is anything out there, and if they cannot think of anything being out there, that would make them more of an atheist of a different flavor to me.

@rojo I think you are onto something there.

I’m not hiding!

@Hypocrisy_Central No. It’s not that agnostics don’t know whether or not it’s possible know whether a god or gods exist. It is the positive belief that it’s not possible to know whether a god or gods exist. This means agnostics can believe in a god or gods, not believe in a god or gods, or be unsure of the existence of a god or gods, but that it is always based on faith because it’s not possible to obtain proof. In other words, you can be an atheist agnostic, a theistic agnostic, or anything in between.

@HC athiests try to claim agnostics as their own all the time but we are not exactly athiest in the conventional vernacular. Most of us reject theism but do not reject the idea of creation or even the idea of intelligent design. We are giving an honest “I don’t know”, the only true answer. If any “god” will hold speaking the truth in contempt then it’s no god worthy of worship. That said like anything else there are many different factions within the agnostic umbrella.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA

Another question posed by HC so he can shoot at fish in his personal barrel. Don’t climb in the barrel, folks.

@cazzie For a second I thought you said the OP asked a question at You Tube.

@SmashTheState, Wikipedia defines agnosticism as “the view that the truth values of certain claims – especially metaphysical and religious claims, such as whether God, the divine, or the supernatural exist – are unknown and perhaps unknowable.” Since I recognize that I do not know, why would the label agnostic not apply to me?

I think one can admit to not knowing if there is a supernatural existence, but yet, still easily dismiss the Abrahamic and other theistic beliefs, therefore, be atheistic.

Who’s hiding? I’m agnostic, I have posted agnostic quotes on Flurther, I even went by the handle “Agnostic Guy” on another Q&A site, similar to this one. No need to hide from anything or anyone. At the end of the day. none of you can prove squat, either one way or another. And while you religionists and atheists argue back and forth ‘till the cows come home, I’ll mosey on with my life and take my chances with the afterlife, when I bite the burrito. If the is a God, then I’ll need sun tan lotion in hell. If there’s not a God, I wont know the difference anyway. What, me worry?