Atheist vs. Agnostic
Main DifferencePeople generally think that both the atheists and agnostics are the same group of people with similar beliefs which are that they do not believe in God or the existence of God and other religious affairs. But, in truth, they both are a separate group of people with vastly different beliefs. Atheists believe and state that there is no God and also give various reasons and proofs supporting their theory of the non-existence of God. Agnostics, on the other hand, believe that human beings do not possess enough intelligence or knowledge about the unseen, meaning that they cannot think beyond the physical world or physical realm which they can actually see and thus cannot know whether God, angels or Satan exists or not. Atheism is a belief that God does not exist and they support their belief too and no amount of knowledge can convince atheists and falter them from their belief while agnosticism is a theory of knowledge, they believe that they do not have such knowledge to know outside their physical realm, they do not deny that there is no God neither they agree that there is God, they just state that they cannot know what is the truth and what is false. An agnostic can also be an atheist but an atheist cannot be an agnostic because no matter what an atheist does not believe in the existence of God whereas an agnostic firmly stated that he has no knowledge but he does not even deny the existence of one God. Atheism and agnosticism are two fundamentally different philosophies, atheism has taken a bold step regarding the mysteries of the unseen that God does not exist which implies that human perception can be unlimited and human beings can make such claims about the unseen regardless of the proofs whereas to claim there is no point in trying to prove or disprove God’s existence is to acknowledge the limits of human perception.
Difference Between Atheist and Agnostic
Atheist vs. Agnostic
An atheist is a belief while an agnostic is the theory of knowledge.
Atheist vs. Agnostic
An atheist does not believe in the existence of god while an agnostic says that he cannot possibly have enough knowledge to know about the existence or nonexistence of God.
Atheist vs. Agnostic
An atheist claims to that there is no God while an agnostic is neutral.
Atheist vs. Agnostic
An atheist denies the existence of God whereas an agnostic neither affirms and neither denies the existence of God.
Atheist vs. Agnostic
An agnostic can be an atheist but an atheist cannot be an agnostic.
Atheist vs. Agnostic
An atheist will deviate from his belief even after proofs from others while an agnostic will give the benefit of the doubt and listen to other people’s answers and beliefs.
Atheistnoun
A person who does not believe in deities.
Agnosticadjective
Of or relating to agnosticism or its adherents.
His agnostic viewpoint is summarized in his book.Atheistnoun
(narrowly) A person who believes that no deities exist one who has no other religious belief.
Agnosticadjective
Doubtful or uncertain about the existence or demonstrability of God or other deity.
She left the church when she became agnostic.Atheistnoun
(broadly) A person who rejects belief that any deities exist (whether or not that person believes that deities do not exist).
Agnosticadjective
(computing) Of a software component etc.: unaware or noncommittal regarding the specific nature of the components with which it interacts; polymorphic; modular; pluggable
The socket communications layer is agnostic with regard to its underlying transport mechanism -- it is “transport-agnostic”.Atheistnoun
(loosely) A person who has no belief in any deities, such as a person who has no concept of deities.
Agnosticadjective
(usually with a prepositional phrase) Having no firmly held opinions on an issue or matter of uncertainty.
I'm agnostic on whether ethanol is a green fuel.He says he's agnostic concerning the Secretary's claims.Atheistnoun
(uncommon) A person who does not believe in a particular deity (or any deity in a particular pantheon), notwithstanding that they may believe in another deity.
Agnosticnoun
A person who holds to a form of agnosticism, especially uncertainty of the existence of a deity.
Atheistadjective
Of or relating to atheists or atheism; atheistic.
Agnosticnoun
a person who doubts truth of religion
Atheistnoun
someone who denies the existence of god
Agnosticadjective
uncertain of all claims to knowledge
Atheistadjective
related to or characterized by or given to atheism;
atheist leaningsComparison Chart
| Atheist | Agnostic |
| An atheist is a person who does not believe in the existence of God and firmly believes that no God exists. | An agnostic person does not know whether God exists or not |
| Nature | |
| An Atheist would never change his belief and even give the benefit of the doubt | An agnostic does not deny that there is no God, also he does not even agree that there is a God |
| Stance | |
| Extreme | Neutral |
| Openness | |
| Will deviate from his belief even after proofs from others. | Will give the benefit of the doubt and listen to other people’s answers and beliefs. |
Definition of Atheist
An atheist is a person who does not believe in the existence of God and firmly believes that no God exists. Widely explained in different terms atheism is the lack of belief in a god or the absence of belief in a god or simply a disbelief in god. An Atheist would never change his belief and even give the benefit of the doubt, no matter how many reasons or justifications or facts they are given their belief will not change. Of all the atheists living together, you can have a wide variety of reasons for their denial as well as many different levels of certainty. Some will deny out rightly that God does exist and will also give a variety of proofs of God’s non-existence while Other’s will simply say they do not believe there is a God though they will have no proof to support their theory that God does not exist. The common denominator is that they do not believe in God. Although atheists are commonly assumed to be irreligious, some religions, such as Buddhism, have been characterized as atheistic because of their lack of belief in one God.
Definition of Agnostic
An agnostic person does not know whether God exists or not, an agnostic will simply say that people cannot possibly know of the outer world that is outside their physical knowledge and perception. Agnosticism is a theory of knowledge, that people cannot have knowledge that whether God exists or not, they simply cannot know of the unseen. An agnostic does not deny that there is no God, also he does not even agree that there is a God, he just stays neutral and just says that he cannot know. An agnostic is a person who is doubtful and non-committal meaning he has the benefit of the doubt, which also means that at some point he does believe that God is there because he is not denying it. Agnostics claim that they cannot have absolute or even certain knowledge of the existence of God.
ConclusionWe all know about Atheist but there are other similar words which have a different meaning, they might be similar in the way they sound but the actual root can be variable. This article has, therefore, gave the details about the two terms and then given the differences to make it easier for people to understand the correct usage.
