Agnostic vs. Atheist

I once heard in explained to me as "an agnostic is an atheist who won't admit it." My own experience leads me to believe something more like "an agnostic really doesn't believe in God, while an atheist is angry at God." What's your view on the interplay between the two terms?

You can't be angry at something if you don't believe in it.

Are you angry at Father Christmas for instance or do you believe in him too?

Originally Said by antony

My own experience leads me to believe something more like "an agnostic really doesn't believe in God, while an atheist is angry at God." What's your view on the interplay between the two terms?

I think it's the other way around. Most agnostics I've ever spoken to believe there's something spiritual out there. Not necessarily God, or even a god, but something. Atheists believe they are masters of their own destiny. As GeoffBoulton pointed out - how can you be angry at something in which you have no belief? An agnostic, however, does have something spiritual to pin their anger on.

I wonder if Christians ever get angry at God, or do they just praise him for all the good stuff and blame someone else for all the bad stuff (Satan?). Would a Muslim get angry with Allah?....or a Buddhist with Buddha? I don't think that's what gods are for, even if you're agnostic.

Im agnostic athiest i.e i believe that a supreme being is unkowable and ultimately pointless to our existance.

I dont think theres too much difference between agnosticism and atheism, but i prefer a more agnostic side to people, because admitting that you dont really know is a good step.

Lets remember what Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort say though, we are all agnostic :P

Agnostic means you believe in the possibility of some divine being, you just don't know for sure. Atheist is where you don't believe in anything of the such.

Just for interest, not part of the argument

An agnostic does not deny the existence of God and heaven but holds that one cannot know for certain whether or not they exist. The term agnostic was fittingly coined by the 19th-century British scientist Thomas H. Huxley, who believed that only material phenomena were objects of exact knowledge. He made up the word from the prefix a–, meaning “without, not,” as in amoral, and the noun Gnostic. Gnostic is related to the Greek word gnōsis, “knowledge,” which was used by early Christian writers to mean “higher, esoteric knowledge of spiritual things”; hence, Gnostic referred to those with such knowledge. In coining the term agnostic, Huxley was considering as “Gnostics” a group of his fellow intellectuals—“ists,” as he called them—who had eagerly embraced various doctrines or theories that explained the world to their satisfaction. Because he was a “man without a rag of a label to cover himself with,” Huxley coined the term agnostic for himself, its first published use being in 1870.

http://www.answers.com/agnostic&r=67

Connotatively, Atheists are linked to being mad at Christians, not god.

It seems like the majority has a bone to pick with them, because they are so damn pushy, ignorant, etc.

Hit the nail on the head there nanashi

I'm more angry at them for dragging me to church hoping it would make me believe. Also for people like Jack Chick.

I believe in God because it's the only logical explanation for our existence. Even the big bang required something to strike the match or push the first domino.

It's religion I don't believe in... well until Googlism came along of course

So would that classify me as a theist or spiritualist?