Agnosticism
Formal doubt doctrine
Agnosticism is the position that the existence of God or ultimate reality is unknown or unknowable.
Unlike atheism, which denies God's existence, agnosticism suspends judgment—neither affirming nor denying.
The term extends beyond religion to any stance of principled uncertainty: His agnosticism about economic forecasts kept him from making predictions.
An agnostic holds this view.
Disposition toward doubt
- uncertaintyState of being unsure
- doubtLack of firm belief
- epistemologyTheory of knowledge
- unknowableImpossible to understand
suspension · inquiry · rationalism · freethought · humanism · secularism · neutrality · open-mindedness
Quality of eluding understanding
- limitsImposed maximum points
- certaintyTotal absence of doubt
- knowledgeUnderstood facts and skills
- proofDemonstration of truth
verification · falsifiability · evidence · reason · logic · belief · justification · truth
Rejection of deities
- theismBelief in deity
- deismNon-intervening creator belief
- nonbeliefLack of religious faith
- spiritualityConnection to the sacred
faith · God · afterlife · divine · secular · irreligion · Christianity · Buddhism
Not having chosen
- noncommittalNot expressing clear opinion
- fence-sittingRefusing to take sides
- neutralityState of taking sides
- ambivalenceConflicting emotions coexisting
indifference · apathy · pragmatism · disengagement · lapsed · unchurched · questioning · seeking
skepticism
Disposition toward doubt
- uncertaintyState of being unsure
- doubtLack of firm belief
- epistemologyTheory of knowledge
unknowable · suspension · inquiry · rationalism · freethought · humanism · secularism · neutrality · open-mindedness · questioning
unknowability
Quality of eluding understanding
proof · verification · falsifiability · evidence · reason · logic · belief · justification · truth · claims
atheism
Rejection of deities
spirituality · faith · God · afterlife · divine · secular · irreligion · Christianity · Buddhism · Hinduism
undecided
Not having chosen
- noncommittalNot expressing clear opinion
- fence-sittingRefusing to take sides
- neutralityState of taking sides
ambivalence · indifference · apathy · pragmatism · disengagement · lapsed · unchurched · questioning · seeking · exploring
- European faithsCatholicism, Protestantism, Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy
- NZ ReligionChristianity, Anglicanism, Presbyterianism, Catholicism, Methodism
Agnosticismgnosticism
Privileging inner revelation
certainty · dogmatism · conviction · certitude · absolutism
Agnosticismtheism
Belief in deity
atheism · fundamentalism · piety · religiosity · monotheism
Agnosticismdogmatism
Unyielding adherence to doctrine
fanaticism · zealotry · closed-mindedness · fundamentalism · blind faith
agnostic, agnostics, agnostically, gnostic, gnosticism, gnosis, knowing, knowingly, acknowledgement