Editing Existence of God (section)

=== Agnosticism ===

{{Main|Agnosticism}}

Agnosticism is the view that the [[truth value]] of certain claims—especially claims about the existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Carroll |first=Robert |date=2009-02-22 |title=agnosticism |url=http://skepdic.com/agnosticism.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090925141206/http://www.skepdic.com/agnosticism.html |archive-date=2009-09-25 |access-date=2009-10-17 |website=The Skeptic's Dictionary |publisher=skepdic.com}}</ref> Agnosticism does not define one's belief or disbelief in gods; agnostics may still identify themselves as theists or atheists.<ref name="Agnostic Types">{{Cite web |last=Cline |first=Austin |title=What is Agnosticism? |work=About.com Religion & Spirituality |url=http://atheism.about.com/od/aboutagnosticism/p/overview.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426195921/http://atheism.about.com/od/aboutagnosticism/p/overview.htm |archive-date=2012-04-26 |access-date=2009-01-08 |publisher=[[About.com]]}}</ref>

==== Strong agnosticism ====

[[Strong agnosticism]] is the belief that it is impossible for humans to know whether or not any deities exist.

==== Weak agnosticism ====

{{Main|Weak agnosticism}}

Weak agnosticism is the belief that the existence or nonexistence of deities is unknown but not necessarily unknowable.

==== Agnostic theism ====

{{Main|Agnostic theism}}

Agnostic theism is the [[philosophical]] view that encompasses both theism and agnosticism. An agnostic theist believes in the existence of a god or God, but regards the basis of this proposition as ''unknown or inherently unknowable''. Agnostic theists may also insist on ignorance regarding the properties of the gods they believe in.<ref name="about">{{Cite web |date=2012-04-13 |title=Introduction to Agnosticism: What is Agnostic Theism? Believing in God, but not Knowing God |url=http://atheism.about.com/od/aboutagnosticism/a/theism.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605134502/http://atheism.about.com/od/aboutagnosticism/a/theism.htm |archive-date=2011-06-05 |access-date=2013-05-14 |publisher=Atheism.about.com}}</ref>

==== Agnostic atheism ====

{{Main|Agnostic atheism}}

Agnostic atheism is a philosophical position that encompasses both atheism and agnosticism. Agnostic atheists are atheistic because they do not hold a [[belief]] in the existence of any deity and agnostic because they claim that the existence of a [[deity]] is either unknowable in principle or currently unknown in fact.

The theologian [[Robert Flint (theologian)|Robert Flint]] explains:

{{Blockquote|If a man have failed to find any good reason for believing that there is a God, it is perfectly natural and rational that he should not believe that there is a God; and if so, he is an atheist, although he assume no superhuman knowledge, but merely the ordinary human power of judging of evidence. If he go farther, and, after an investigation into the nature and reach of human knowledge, ending in the conclusion that the existence of God is incapable of proof, cease to believe in it on the ground that he cannot know it to be true, he is an agnostic and also an atheist, an agnostic-atheist—an atheist because an agnostic."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Flint |first=Robert |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_DWMtAAAAYAAJ |title=Agnosticism |publisher=C. Scribner sons |year=1903 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_DWMtAAAAYAAJ/page/n66 50] |chapter=Erroneous Views of Agnosticism |quote=agnostic atheism. |access-date=2009-11-15}}</ref>}}