Update: Tristan has written a follow-up entitled Type II Cognitive Errors and Ignosticism: Why Belief in God is Meaningless.  It is also well worth the read!

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In the recent conversations I have been having about agnosticism, atheism, etc in the last week or so, I have left out a very potent idea.  Ignosticism.

Over at Tristan D. Vick’s Advocatus Atheist, an analysis of this idea was posted today, and after reading it I just don’t know what to say besides, well,  read it yourself!  I have to say that I’m a bit humbled in that I might be starting to re-think my view on the place of agnosticism in this issue, but I will have to think more about it.

In any case, the post defines ignosticism thusly:

Ignosticism is the theological position that every other theological position assumes too much about the concept of God.

Doesn’t sound like much, does it?  Well, follow the thread there and see what you think.  he immediately follows the above definition with this:

Ignosticism holds two interrelated views about God. They are as follows:

1) The view that a coherent definition of God must be presented before the question of the existence of god can be meaningfully discussed. [which I have been advocating in recent discussions]

2) If the definition provide is unfalsifiable, the ignostic takes the theological noncognitivist position that the question of the existence of God is meaningless.

Now, I had been on board with both of these points, but I have been insisting that despite this, uncertainty remains, and agnosticism is unavoidable.  Tristan discusses this as well, but in order to see how he surrounds this issue, I will insist that you read the rest yourself.

If this issue interests you, you will not regret doing so!