Agnosis comes from the Greek. gnosis means knowledge. The prefix a means "without". Agnosis means you simply do not KNOW if a God or Supreme Power exists. Faith requires "belief". Belief is about not having proof.

*********** previous answer below ***************

Pretty much by definition, being agnostic is not a faith. Many humanist societies have developed humanist funeral and wedding ceremonies.

An agnostic might indeed attend church, or they might not - it's up to them.

Agnostics are simply people who don't believe deities can be proved or disproved. This is not to be confused with atheism, wherein a person does not believe any god exists. The two are independent and not mutually exclusive.

An agnostic then has the options of "maybe there is, so I'll worship anyway" or "maybe there isn't, so why bother?".

In the first case, a person will attend church because they can and want to; in the second, a person does not attend because they don't want to.

Persons who might otherwise be in the second group are also sometimes forced to attend, for example by parents or by society.

I am agnostic. I go to church. Now, the reason as to why I go to church is not necessarily the same reason as a Christian. I go to church not because I choose to worship God (although I do sing the hymns etc.; why not: it's not often you get the opportunity to sing when not in the shower), but because I aim to stop being Agnostic. It is better to have certainty than it is to have uncertainty.

Rather than giving up and saying "It is not possible to know." I say "I don't know." This means that I have a certain desire to find out the truth which propels me to go to church and to read into other religions, such that I may understand their ways. I personally find Buddhism fascinating.

If we are to understand Agnostic beliefs, we must understand the terminology. Agnostic means 'without knowledge', and therefore I define Agnostics two ways:

• Definitive: "It is not possible to know whether there is or is not a God." or even "It is not possible to know whether anything exists or is true." The latter being an utter lack of faith in the world as a whole. This type of person, I would say, is the type who commits suicide.
• Uncertain: "I do not know whether God does or does not exist due to a lack of evidence (or some other reason)." This is where I am.

and

• Agnostic Theists: "I believe that God exists but am not certain of it."
• Agnostic Atheists: "I believe that God most likely does not exist but there is still the possibility that one does."

A definitive agnostic would not bother to attend church as it is not worthwhile since it is impossible, in his opinion, to know God. He doesn't bother to read into religion, but instead busies himself with other things. The uncertain one most probably goes to church. He is not trying to know if he does not. He reads into other religions actively. The theist attends church, though with no great enthusiasm, barely clinging to his faith. The atheist reads into it, though most likely gets nowhere through empty research, and most likely does not attend church because he believes that God is unlikely. Therefore, Agnosticism is more complicated, I believe, than some people would take it to be.

The reason for attending church can never be the same as a Christian, but one can still hope to gain spiritually from the teaching.

Therefore, I would say to any Agnostic to decide from the above where you are at and on that basis make your choice as to whether you go to church or not.

No. If your child has red hair when he/she is born then most likely it will change, but if it doesn't then you have a baby that has red hair. It is a gentic malformation, it isn't because your child is cursed. Don't worry, you don't have a devil child.

Answer 1

An agnostic believes there is not enough evidence to decide the existence of God, an atheist believes there is no god or gods. In practice, philosophers describe 5 levels:

strong theist - certain there is a god

weak theist - an agnostic who believes there's not enough evidence to prove existence, nevertheless, believes there is a god.

agnostic - believes there is not enough evidence to decide the existence of God and has no opinion one way or another.

weak atheist - an agnostic who nevertheless believes there is no god.

strong atheist - certain there is no god.

Answer 2

Agnostic comes from the Greek "A" - meaning "no/against" and "Gnosis" - meaning "knowing". Agnostic, therefore, is someone who does not know whether or not a God or many gods exist. Atheist means someone who either does not believe that God/god-claims have met their burden of proof OR actively disbelieves in all God/god-claims. A person can be both an Agnostic and an Atheist at the same time.

In colloquial usage, though, people refer to themselves as Agnostics if they are unsure whether or not to believe religious claims and Atheists if they do not believe them, even though this is an incorrect use of the terms.

It seems to me that you meant "sites," not "sights." The following links may serve as a starting-point.

Is there evidence for Creation?

More detailed evidence of Creation

Can you show that God exists?

God's wisdom seen in His creations

More about God's wisdom

The facts

Discovering Creation

Understanding Creation

No. If they were, they wouldn't have a different name. An agnostic is someone who believes that humankind's knowledge of the observable world and universe is not adequate to make a logical determination regarding the existence, or non-existence of God. An atheist on the other hand, while they wouldn't deny the statistical possibility of a existing God, believes that mankind's knowledge of the observable world and universe is adequate enough to determine that the existence of God is an extreme statistical improbability. Regarding the religious texts of the monotheistic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), atheists note that the God described in these texts is not congenial to the reality of the world and universe, as well as the human species. They also point out that the metaphysical claims of the Abrahamic texts have been factually refuted by scientific evidence for several hundred years. Atheism is often confused with Anti-theism, the gravitas of its case being the principled opposition to religion on moral grounds. * No, it is not, an agnostic is someone that would be willing to believe in any given religion, if significant proof were given. The agnostic does believe in a higher power, but until proven, does not choose a specific one god. An atheist on the other hand is a person that does not believe in any higher power, or, more simply put: a god. An agnostic is a person who has not come to a personal conclusion about the existence of a higher power, they have decided to wait until they find evidence from either side of the argument to make their decision. They have not denied the possibility that there is a God, but they don't follow a religion.

Answer In his book "The God Delusion", Richard Dawkins invents a scale from 1 to 7, 1 being people who claim to "know" there is no God and 7 being those skeptics who claim to "know" there is no God. Dawkins himself is a 6, claiming that while it is highly unlikely that there is a God, he does not believe in one. While it is possible to have formed no opinion on the issue, I believe it is possible to be an "agnostic atheist", this is not only prudent but necessary because if God were to clinch the argument by revealing himself, naturally any scientific minded person would adjust their beliefs accordingly. Agnosticism in and of itself is the refusual to come to any kind of conclusion about the nature of the Universe rather than the active denial of the claims of religion. Answer Yes, most people who call themselves agnostics or atheists share the position that there is not enough evidence for any of the gods that are proposed by the religions. The term agnostic was coined so that the unbelivers would have an socialy easier accepted name and position. If one looks at the difintions and statements from both agnostics and atheists, they are virtually undistinguable.

According to ancient tradition the world over, the answer is no. Archaeologists, even secular ones, admit that no ancient society has ever been found that did not believe in some form of existence after death. See also:

What Judaism says on this