Knowledge vs. Belief

When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it-this is knowledge. –Confucius

You do not believe; you only believe that you believe. –Samuel Taylor Coleridge

As suggested by Austin Cline, “agnosticism is not about belief in god but about knowledge.” In order to understand the difference between agnosticism and atheism, one must take into account the differences as well as similarities between belief and knowledge. It could be suggested that knowledge is a current belief or acceptance of truth that changes with time and new evidence and in that way, the two are related. Knowledge may also be seen as objective and limited to us because of our finite capabilities of comprehending such an objective truth.

A connotation often affiliated with atheists and theists alike is that they are close-minded and stubborn. Each group claims to know that God exists. Their evidence may vary from that based on reason to faith yet no matter how scientific or personal this evidence is, we have yet to prove or disprove the existence of God. A theist or atheist can strongly believe and even subjectively know that God exists or doesn’t exist, but he cannot know objectively either way.

Agnosticism can also be seen pejoratively. Many agnostics, although seen as open-minded, are afraid of commitment. They say they believe in God because it’s what they were taught as children when truly, they do not believe. Many of these people will claim to be agnostic so as to not offend their culture or family and to avoid standing behind and having to defend one belief. Others claim to believe in God because they fear the consequences (hell, judgement) or simply hold the hope that there has to be something more so close that it gives them a sense of worth and purpose rather than admitting what we see is all we have.

Ultimately, I believe that one’s beliefs should not be based on solely reason or evidence, and definitely not upon the influences of others. Fear shouldn’t play a part because claiming to believe would fool God and possibly be worse than not believing. Although our search for knowledge of any kind is inconclusive, religiously speaking the ultimate truth is even more unreachable. So when we ask what one believes, we must also ask what they know so that their beliefs may be justified by thing. Without knowledge, there can be no belief, and visa versa. Without belief, there would be no theists and perhaps the only search would be for what IS rather than what could be.