What Is an Agnostic?

Agnosticism is not a religion. Its followers aren't theists, but they are not necessarily atheists, as they can sometimes be confused. Instead, agnostics are somewhere in the middle. Agnosticism has been written about by philosophers and religious scholars. Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell and Pope Benedict XVI have all had something to say about agnosticism. So, what is an agnostic?

History

Thomas H. Huxley invented the term "agnostic" in the mid-1800's to sum up his beliefs with regards to the immortality of humans. Huxley felt that he could neither confirm or deny the immortality of humans, thus he could neither confirm nor deny the existence of a God that would make them so. Bertrand Russel, another well-known agnostic, wrote a pamphlet titled, "Why I Am Not a Christian," which is considered to be one of the classics of agnosticism.

Features

An agnostic generally believes that claims regarding the existence of deities, an afterlife or spiritual beings are impossible to prove or disprove. It is because of this that agnostics are often considered to walk the middle ground between theists and atheists, or those that believe in a deity or deities and those that definitively don't believe in them.

Types

Agnostics can be further defined into different types. There are agnostic theists who believe it likely that a God exists. Agnostic atheists believe that it is most likely that a God does not exist. Empirical agnostics believe that, while a God might exist, little to nothing can be known about him. Finally, there are agnostic humanists who are uncertain about the existence of a God and don't feel that the question about the existence of a God is really all that important.

Theories/Speculation

Some believe that agnosticism can't be practiced because there are only two ways that one can live one's life: as if there were a God and as if there weren't a God. They claim that you either follow the laws of a God and live as if one exists, or you don't follow the laws of any God, therefore living as if one doesn't exist.

Agnosticism and Atheism

While agnostics are not theists, in that they do not believe in a God, gods, goddesses, or any other deities, some agnostics do consider themselves to be atheists. This stems from the fact that there are two ways that atheism is defined. One is having a definite belief that no God exists; the other way is that one simply does not have a belief in a God. The second definition seems to include agnostics since it doesn't deny a God; it simply states that you don't have a definitive belief in a God.