Why I Call Myself an Atheist Instead of an Agnostic

There is much debate in the non-religious community about the word atheist. Is it too strong? Does it do harm? Can anyone really be sure enough to be atheist vs. being agnostic? Etc.

I think I have a very simple way of describing why atheism is the right word for not believing in god, and why agnosticism is the wrong word. Let’s start with three basic statements.

Atheist means a lack of belief, not certainty against a belief.
Agnosticism is the belief that the existence or non-existence of God is unknowable.
Agnosticism, in a scientific context, means you don’t yet have enough information, and that you’re waiting to make up your mind when that time comes. For example, one might be agnostic about what precise event killed the dinosaurs.

Consider these three together and ask yourself a simple question:

Are you agnostic about leprechauns?

Seriously. If someone were to ask you if leprechauns existed would you be tempted to say:

Well, who’s to say? Who really knows? Nobody can be 100% certain, so I guess I’m agnostic on them.

No. Smart people aren’t agnostic about leprechauns; they’re leprechaun atheists.

The reason for this is that they heard the claim that leprechauns existed and rejected it due to insufficient evidence. You should do the same for a man from Nazareth who’s the son of God, who’s also God, who died for your sins, but isn’t actually dead.

Leprechauns and God both have equally bad evidence for them.

Agnostics know this, and that’s why they aren’t religious. But they’ve failed to see that it’s ok to just reject such ideas instead of respecting them like scientific knowledge we don’t have yet.

It also quite interesting that the world doesn’t mind being an atheist towards Osiris, Thor, Zeus, and tens of thousands of other gods that were worshiped for millennia.

In short, if you’re not agnostic about Leprechauns, you shouldn’t be agnostic about God either.

It’s ok to reject claims that have no evidence. You don’t have to be agnostic about every silly thing that someone dreams up. And that’s what all gods have been—including the last remaining few that people still believe in.

Have the intellectual courage to take the last step.

Notes


This piece is written for agnostics, not for believers. I believe it’s fine to be an obnoxious atheist in your 20’s but it’s plain rude to be one in your 30’s or beyond. I have no interest, and don’t see the benefit of, trying to change the minds of mind-your-own-business believers. This post is for people who already don’t believe but just haven’t taken the final step.

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