Agnosticism

It is a philosophical theory that argues that human intelligence cannot understand anything that cannot be learned through the senses. It rejects the search for truth outside the tangible world. It specifically rejects the search for God.

Agnosticism does not have an official view on the existence of God. It does not say that God exists or that He does not. Nevertheless, in practice, agnostics live as if God did not exist.

At first glance agnosticism may seem simply a theory, but the reality is that it has important practical consequences. In practice, it is atheism.

Positivist science admits only those things that can be perceived through the senses. From this point of view, agnosticism may appear scientific. In reality, existence is much wider than what is measurable. For example, you decided to read this article, and no scientific apparatus can detect what you are thinking; however, your intelligence and your will do in fact exist, even though they cannot be seen. Similarly, hatred cannot be detected by instruments, but it is so real that it can cause wars. To reduce what is reasonable to what is measurable is a limitation of reason.

God is a spiritual being, and so agnostics are right when they say that one cannot see or touch Him. However, God’s existence can be known through divine creation. By analyzing creation one can discover the Creator, just as when looking at the pyramids one can infer the existence of the Egyptian people.

Who organized the sun, the moon, or gravity? Who designed the finger with which you click the mouse? These things are so well thought out that it is impossible, truly impossible, for them to be the result of chance or coincidence. If you find a pen in the middle of a planet, no one thinks that it has just appeared there on its own. The news would spread around the world that there are rational beings on that planet. If you see a human being, it is reasonable to accept the existence of the Creator. We are not gods, but creatures.

Agnostics are right that human intelligence is limited and that we will never be able to understand God completely and fully. Nevertheless, it is possible to know something about God in different ways:

• Using reason alone, we can know that God does indeed exist, that there is only one God, that He is eternal, good, intelligent, creator of the world, etc. Every perfection of creatures derives from the Creator and can be found in its greatest splendor in Him.
• To this we can add what God has revealed through the teachings of Jesus Christ, and what the Lord shows us in prayer.
• Finally, in Heaven we will be given a special grace to know God more intimately.