Apathetic agnosticism: Encyclopedia - Apathetic agnosticism

Apathetic agnosticism

Apathetic Agnosticism, in its most widely acknowledged form, is a theological position put forward by John Tyrrell in 1965. Apathetic Agnosticism differs from Ignosticism, in that while Ignostics are apathetic about the question of God, Apathetic Agnostics are apathetic about the answer, since there is no way to satisfactorily answer the question. The position follows that, regardless of whether or not a god or gods exist, it does not affect us, or the human condition in general, ergo, the facetiously named Articles of Faith.

Apathetic agnosticism - Articles of Faith

1. The existence of a Supreme Being is unknown and unknowable.

To believe in the existence of a god is an act of faith. To believe in the nonexistence of a god is likewise an act of faith. There is no evidence that there is a Supreme Being nor is there evidence there is not a Supreme Being. Faith is not knowledge. We can only state with assurance that we do not know.

2. If there is a Supreme Being, then that being appears to act as if apathetic to events in our universe.

All events in our Universe, including its creation, can be explained with or without the existence of a Supreme Being. Thus, if there is indeed a God, then that god has had no more impact than no god at all. To all appearances, any purported Supreme Being is indifferent to our Universe and to its inhabitants.

3. We are apathetic to the existence or nonexistence of a Supreme Being.

If there is a God, and that God does not appear to care, then there is no reason to concern ourselves with whether or not a Supreme Being exists, nor should we have any interest in satisfying the purported needs of that Supreme Being. However, our apathy to the question of God's existence does not necessarily mean we are apathetic about promoting agnosticism.

Apathetic agnosticism - Organization

In 1996, Mr. Tyrrell founded the Universal Church Triumphant of the Apathetic Agnostic, or UCTAA, to share his ideas with the rest of the world. Its webpage can be found at http://apatheticagnostic.com/ There is also a separate member organisation.

Current church membership is slightly over 10.000 people, and growing fast. Ordination is available for those who wish to spread these ideas.

The church is a loose hierarchy-lower clergy are not under orders from higher-ranking members. The church "creed" is: "We don't know, and we don't care."

Category: Cleanup from October 2005

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Apathetic agnosticism", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki