What Do Atheists And Agnostics Believe?
5. Atheism vs. Agnosticism
Both of these terms may sound similar in meaning, but they carry a vast difference. Namely, Atheism believes in the non-existence of God or any deity. In this, either people will deny the presence of God or some may believe to a certain level. However, the dominant factor is that these people have no belief in God or some have the lack of belief in God existence. On the other hand, Agnosticism is related to other theories which are related to the existence of some sort if God, angels, or other supernatural spirits. They believe in getting surplus knowledge in the existence of a God in general instead of putting any specific belief in a particular deity.
4. Historical Role
Atheism is believed to have existed from a longer period of time as the term was used early in the 16th Century, and defined the non-existence of God through various facts and observations, which included those derived from scientific methods, ideological notions, or just in practical terms. The first civilizations which do not believe in the existence of God were the pygmy tribes who never carried any special ceremonies or worship deities. Whereas the Greek Civilization followed Agnosticism and there were philosophers who followed a skeptical approach towards the existence of God. Some authors also had the agnostic views regarding the existence of God and coined similar philosophies in the 18th Century as well.
3. Regional Trends
The regional trends on Atheism state that during the recent polls done across the globe, somewhere around 76% of the people were found to be the atheists and the countries they belong to are Asia and the Pacific region. It was also found during the studies that in some 230 countries, mostly 16% of the people are not related to any religion, but 84% still belong to some religion. On the other hand, if the cases of Agnostics people are taken, then they are also believed to have same regional trends as that of atheists because they also do not follow any particular religion. But with the recent studies, they are found to constitute 9.6% of the total world’s population, and they were mostly found in such countries as the United States of America, Italy, Spain, and France.
2. Effect on Culture Globally
Atheism has affected the Global Culture also as they constitute around 2.3% of the world’s population, and did not include the Buddhist population. It is also noticed that, with an increase in people started following some or the other religion, there is a huge decline in the population of the atheists. The Agnostics are also found to be culturally declining in many developed countries, as they are witnessed least existing between their pluralist cultural groups.
1. Future Prospects
Looking into the future prospects of those in both the Atheist and the Agnostic movements, it is observed that their population is declining in many countries despite the increase in the population. Their number is seen to be increasing only in developed countries like France and the United States of America at the present time. They are also stated to be declining in the Third World because of the decline of Communist influences their, though their non-belief theories are also stated to be on a decline in much of the First World as well.
