I think you are making a good argument, and I think we are getting a little bit into an edge case of faith here. So here’s a scenario: say you met a priest that tells you “Oh I am not sure if God exists, not at all. I just assume God exists and behave accordingly because that benefits me. Since I will get into Heaven when I die if I do so.”
Will you call this priest an atheist/agnostic? I don’t think either answer is right or wrong, just curious where people draw the line.
Many people use the terms on two different axes. Theist/atheist refers to belief and gnostic/agnostic refers to knowledge. Or at least, belief that you know it is absolutely true.
In many cases, people who call themselves atheists and agnostics are both just agnostic atheists that choose their label for whatever reasons they have (that could include disagreeing with my definitions here, lol).
I think you are making a good argument, and I think we are getting a little bit into an edge case of faith here. So here’s a scenario: say you met a priest that tells you “Oh I am not sure if God exists, not at all. I just assume God exists and behave accordingly because that benefits me. Since I will get into Heaven when I die if I do so.”
Will you call this priest an atheist/agnostic? I don’t think either answer is right or wrong, just curious where people draw the line.
I would call that person an agnostic theist.
Many people use the terms on two different axes. Theist/atheist refers to belief and gnostic/agnostic refers to knowledge. Or at least, belief that you know it is absolutely true.
In many cases, people who call themselves atheists and agnostics are both just agnostic atheists that choose their label for whatever reasons they have (that could include disagreeing with my definitions here, lol).