Someone who calls themselves an agnostic atheist may mean that they lack belief in a god and also make no claim to know whether any gods exist. A survey can use the same words differently. It may offer atheist and agnostic as separate choices in a question about religious identity. The difference between a person’s explanation and a survey category matters when reading statistics about belief. Pew Research Center’s 2024 report and methodology · our article on atheism and agnosticism · our account of how r/atheism uses these terms
Two questions that one person can answer separately
Consider someone who says, “I don’t believe in a god, and I don’t know whether any gods exist.” The first part reports their belief. The second reports what they claim to know. In a vocabulary that uses atheist for lack of belief and agnostic for the absence of a claim to knowledge, the two words can describe that same person. Someone else might believe in God and still say that they do not know whether that belief is true. our article on atheism and agnosticism · our account of how r/atheism uses these terms
Usage varies. Some philosophical authors use atheism for the view that there are no gods and use agnosticism for suspending judgement about the claim. In that vocabulary, the distinction is between taking a position and withholding judgement. The wording people use to explain their view tells a reader more than the label by itself. our article on atheism and agnosticism
What Pew measured in a U.S. survey
Pew Research Center groups people who identify as atheist, agnostic or as having no particular religion under the heading religiously unaffiliated. Its report published in January 2024 drew much of its analysis from an American Trends Panel survey in July and August 2023. That survey included 658 respondents identified as atheists and 678 identified as agnostics. Those are counts in the survey sample. They describe the categories used in the analysis. Pew Research Center’s 2024 report and methodology
Pew also asked about belief. Among the people categorised as agnostic, 67% said they believed in God or some kind of higher power. Among the people categorised as atheist, 22% said they believed in another higher power or spiritual force, while almost none said they believed in God as described in the Bible. The 67% figure combines two kinds of belief and the 22% figure refers to the second kind. The results show why readers need to look at the question behind a percentage. Pew’s findings on belief among unaffiliated adults
Conclusion
The phrase agnostic atheist can report a person’s position on belief and knowledge at the same time. Pew’s affiliation categories serve a different purpose. They group respondents before separate questions about belief are analysed. The report therefore shows what people in each survey category said about God or a higher power. It gives no count of people who would use the combined phrase to describe themselves.
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