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 | Agnosticism is not a religion or complete ethical system. It is simply a belief that we cannot prove either the existence or the non-existence of deity; (i.e. of one or more gods, one or more goddesses, or combinations of the above). Many Agnostics believe that we can never know about the existence of a deity. Others suggest that we cannot know anything about deity or deities at this time with the currently available evidence, but that this could conceivably change in the future. | ||||
| Atheism is also not a religion or a
complete ethical system. It has two main definitions:
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| The Brights: This is a recently created network of individuals who view the universe as "free of supernatural and mystical elements." Brights consist of a diverse community including: Agnostics, Atheists, Freethinkers, Humanists, Rationalists, Secularists, religious skeptics, some Buddhists, Unitarian Universalists, Wiccans, Neopagans, and followers of other religions. | ||||
| Ethical Culturalism: This is a movement founded in the U.S. by Felix Adler (1851 - 1933). He advocated replacing religious beliefs and codes with a secular ethic. | ||||
| Freethinking: This originally referred to persons who doubted the Trinity -- the concept that a Godhead existed composed of a Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They supported the concept of a single indivisible deity. It has since changed its meaning to include persons who reject religious beliefs in general. | ||||
| Humanism is a philosophy which in most cases embraces Agnosticism or Atheistic belief about the non-existence of a deity. But it goes further to create ethical systems based upon reason and logic. It regards humanity as the measure of all things. Humanists emphasize a belief in the importance of doing good in society. | ||||
| Rationalism: This was a movement in the 18th century Protestantism that abandoned the idea of Biblical inerrancy and adopted the belief that the Bible can be analyzed as a historical document. Some Rationalists assert that the existence of some form of deity can be proven by reason. Others see Rationalism and Atheism as synonyms. |
About non-theists:
Many Agnostics, Atheists and Humanists have a negative attitude towards traditional formal religions. Some feel that:
| Reliance on an interaction with a mythical deity interferes with one's ability to interact with fellow humans. |
| Reliance on god's will, and expectations of an eternity spent in Heaven reduce our motivation to solve our own problems on earth. This leads to many social evils being neglected. |
| Such religions promote the idea that perfectly natural feelings (such as anger, lust, pride, wanting things) are evil and sinful. But feelings are not normally under conscious control. The result can be debilitating feelings of guilt where none should be present. |
| That traditional beliefs are often supported by fear of eternal punishment after death and by fear of retaliation by an angry and vengeful god during this lifetime. To live in a state of fear is unhealthy. |
According to a study by Barna Research, "roughly 7% of the adult population - approximately 14 million people - describe themselves as atheistic or agnostic. America has more atheists and agnostics than Mormons (by a 3 to 1 margin), Jews (by a 4 to 1 margin) or Muslims (by a 14 to 1 margin)." 2 They further found "that atheists and agnostics are dominated by:
| whites (71%), |
| men (64%), |
| adults under 35 (51%), |
| residents of the Northeast and West (56%)." |
In at least one area of life, they exhibit strong "family values". According to Barna Research, they have one of the lowest (if not the lowest) divorce rate of any religious group -- much lower than for conservative Christians, for example.
Reference:
- "Introduction," American Atheists, at: http://www.atheists.org/
- "Atheists and Agnostics Infiltrating Christian Churches," 1999-OCT-15, at: http://www.barna.org/
- Deus, is a freethought philosophy and religion forum. See: http://deus.org
Copyright © 1996 to 2007 by Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Last update: 2007-FEB-19
Author: B.A. Robinson
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