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The differences are:

  • Theism knows there are gods. Divisions in this group know which are the "right" gods.
  • Atheism knows there are no gods
  • Agnosticism doesn't know of there are or aren't gods
  • Apatheism doesn't know and doesn't care if there are or aren't gods and doesn't care if you can prove it one way or another because no matter whether there are or aren't gods - they still don't care.
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The differences are:

  • Theism knows there are gods. Divisions in this group know which are the "right" gods.
  • Atheism knows there are no gods
  • Agnosticism doesn't know of there are or aren't gods
  • Apatheism doesn't know and doesn't care if there are or aren't gods and doesn't care if you can prove it one way or another because no matter whether there are or aren't gods - they still don't care.
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Apathy means not caring. Someone who is apathetic doesn't care. The person has no feeling one way or the other.

Someone who is apathetic, in terms of spirituality, lacks interest in a deity. For example, they wouldn't consider the question "does god exist?" to have meaning or relevance in there life. Apatheists believe that the existence or nonexistence of a god has no effect on the actions of humans and may actually cause more human suffering than benefit.

Apatheism argues that if a deity wanted people to believe in them, then the deity could demonstrate their existence with miracles, and explain their plan(s) for humanity or the lack thereof. Being all-powerful, if they truly wanted humans to believe, they could send a divine sign not left up to interpretation. Since they do not seem to care if humans believe or not, apatheists will not care until they show them a reason to, and perhaps not even if such an event occurred.

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Ignosticism is theological position that every other theological position (including agnosticism) assumes too much about the concept of god and many other theological concepts.

While agnosticism is defined as not a creed (Religion) but a method, the essence of which lies in the vigorous application of a single principle... Positively the principle may be expressed as in matters of intellect, do not pretend conclusions are certain that are not demonstrated or demonstrable.

The difference is subtle, but the argument is that agnostics consider the argument of god to be inconclusive until further evidence is met. Therefore, he believes in a stagnant idea of "God."

An ignostic would argue that he couldn't form such an opinion, on the basic that there is no singular definition of "God." which would lead to the question of; "If there is infinite definitions of god, then would they not contradict each other?" proceeding to the theory of; "If all gods exist, then no gods would exist." Due to the contradicting definitions of "God." Therefor; making the term "God" is meaningless.

Ignosticism is not to be confused with apatheism, a position of apathy toward the existence of God. An apatheist may see the statement "God exists" as insignificant; yet they may also see it as meaningful, and perhaps even true.

An ignostic maintains that they cannot even say whether he/she is a theist or an atheist until a sufficient definition of theism is put forth. And until a coherent claim comes up, Most/(All) ignostics ignore the question of God.

-Coherent Claim:

"God has a beard"

"He might one."

-Incoherent Claim:

"God has a beard"

"Of course he does"

or

"God has a beard"

"No he doesn't, silly"

So, from there, an ignostic can decide before getting into a debate, and with applying logic unto the beard claim, whether he believes or disbelieves in God (having a beard).

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Some are, some are not. Buddhism does not make any effort to preclude followers from following other traditions as well. It is not uncommon for a Buddhist to also be a Shintoist or Taoist as well. In this way Buddhism is more of a philosophy than it is a religion.

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Atheism is the rejection of all currently made god claims. Just like Theism, it is an umbrella category for an incredible variety of different ideologies and moral systems. Just like there is no one leader for Theism -- there are actually leaders of different branches of Theism and there are branches of Theism that are more Congregationalist or Individualist -- the same is true of Atheism.

There are numerous categories of Atheists who add belief systems to create a moral system since the religious moral system is no longer applicable. Some of these groups include:

1) Rationalist Skeptics: The most prominent type of Atheists today are Rationalist Skeptics who believe that empirical results and the scientific method can be used to determine whether something is true or false and that information can be plugged into some sort of utilitarian system in order to determine its morality. These Atheists tend to have a more individualist attitude, but rally around particular individuals who they argue are advocates of the movement. These leaders include, but are not limited to: Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Matt Dillahunty, Aron Ra, and Maryam Namazie. Rationalist Skeptics, like most Theists will disagree with these leaders on particular aspects of policy, such as Hitchens's endorsement of the Iraq War, but will generally agree with the world view provided.


2) State-Religionists: Another type of Atheists are the State-Religionists, who believe in the validity of the founding ideals of a state or a political system as being the arbiter of moral justice. State-Religionists are usually termed as "nationalists" or "patriots" and have been behind most of the major democides of the 20th century, the Soviet democide, the Chinese democide, the Cambodian democide, etc. The leaders of State-Religion are usually the leaders of the state, who often have a quasi-divine sheen to them. Stalin, Mao, Ataturk, etc. are the leaders of these State-Religions and the Atheists who follow them allow the morality of these leaders to supersede their own. North Korea's Juche is often considered to be a state-religion which has actually crossed back into a Theistic Faith since it actually deifies Kim Il-Sung and his progeny.


3) Apatheism: Still another type of Atheist is the Apatheist, which is person who does not believe in gods because he or she does not care to investigate the question, seeing it as irrelevant. The largest number of Apatheists are Atheist Buddhists, since the Buddha was himself an Apatheist according to his own writings. Apatheists often have a spiritualist philosophy and will point to a philosopher or theologian in the Eastern tradition (a guru, Buddha, Lao-Tzu, etc.) as their source of ethics or moral principles. Since most of these people are not alive anymore, their leadership is emotional or articulated, not current.

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