The Gnostic Atheist Manifesto - Gnosticism Explained!

Theism / Atheism address 'belief'.
Gnosticism / Agnosticism address 'knowledge'.
Where knowledge is a subset of belief.

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The Classical, tripartite definition of knowledge: justified true belief.

Agnostic atheism is a philosophical position on the existence of God. Gnosticism/Agnosticism address knowledge claims; while Theism/Atheism address belief claims. Agnostic atheists are atheistic because they do not hold a belief in the existence of any deity and agnostic because they claim that the existence of a deity is either unknowable in principle or currently unknown in fact.

The agnostic atheist may be contrasted with the agnostic theist, who believes that one or more deities exist but claims that the existence or nonexistence of such is unknown or cannot be known.

Theism and Gnosticism are not mutually exclusive; one can be both. There are four possible combinations:

1. Gnostic Theism - "I believe there is a god, and I know it."
2. Agnostic Theism - "I believe there is a god, but don't know it."
3. Gnostic Atheism - "I believe there is no god, and I know it."
4. Agnostic Atheism - "I do not believe there is a god, but don't know it."

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Strong and weak atheism explained!

Positive Atheism: I believe 'there is no god'.
Negative Atheism: I do not believe 'there is a god'.

Implicit atheism is defined as "the absence of theistic belief without a conscious rejection of it", while "explicit atheism" is "the absence of theistic belief due to a conscious rejection of it".

Explicit atheists have considered the idea of deities and have rejected belief that any exist. Implicit atheists, though they do not themselves maintain a belief in a god or gods, have not rejected the notion or have not considered it further.

Positive atheism is the explicit affirmation that gods do not exist. Negative atheism includes all other forms of non-theism. According to this categorization, anyone who is not a theist is either a negative or a positive atheist. Under this demarcation of atheism, most agnostics qualify as negative atheists.

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Which of these best describes your philosophical position?

1. Gnostic Theism
2. Agnostic Theism
3. Gnostic Atheism
3. Agnostic Atheism

Strong Atheism means asserting the non-existence of god. It is the position "I believe there is no god", rather than Weak Atheism ("I do not believe 'there is a god') ~ the rejection of the positive claim.

Either there is a god or there isn't.

One can either believe there is or there isn't not both and not neither.
One can either believe or disbelieve there is a god. The Law of Excluded Middle: Either A or NOT A: not neither; not both.

Example: I have a jar of dice. The number of dice is either even or odd. cannot be both. cannot be neither.

Claim 1. I believe there is an even number. - possible positions to take are belief or disbelief.
Claim 2. I believe there is an odd number. - possible positions to take are belief or disbelief.

I reject Claim 1.
This does not mean I am accepting Claim 2.

One can disbelieve both claims.

Similarly,

Claim 1. God exists.
Claim 2. God does not exist.

Rejecting Claim 1 is Weak Atheism.
Rejecting Claim 1 does not necessarily imply accepting Claim 2 (its logical opposite).
Accepting Claim 2 is Strong Atheism or Hard Atheism.

Gnostic Atheism is a claim on knowledge as well as a claim of disbelief in god's existence. "I know that god does not exist".

Agnostic Atheism is a claim of disbelief in god's existence. "I do not believe 'there is a god', but don't know it." Agnosticism means that knowledge of god's existence is yet unknown or unknowable.