Agnosticism

Agnosticism is a philosophical theory which holds that human knowledge cannot reach beyond what is perceptible by the senses. It renounces the search for truth outside the realm of sensible experience. In particular, agnosticism renounces the search for God.

Agnosticism takes no official stance regarding the existence of God. It neither asserts that He exists nor that He does not. In practice, however, agnostics live as though God did not exist.

On the surface, agnosticism appears to be merely an abstract theory; in reality, it carries momentous practical consequences. In daily life, it amounts to practical atheism.

The positive sciences (see positivism) admit only what can be observed through the physical senses. Under this narrow aspect, agnosticism may wear an air of being scientific. However, reality is far broader than what is measurable. For example, you chose to read this article, yet no scientific instrument can detect your thought; nevertheless, your intellect and will truly exist, even though they cannot be seen. Likewise, hatred cannot be measured by instruments, yet it is so intensely real that it causes wars. To restrict what is reasonable solely to what is measurable is an arbitrary limitation of reason itself.

God is a purely spiritual Being, so agnostics are correct in observing that He cannot be seen or touched. Nonetheless, the existence of God can be known by observing divine handiwork. In examining creation, one discovers the Creator, just as upon viewing the pyramids one rightly infers the existence of the ancient Egyptian civilization.

Who orchestrated the sun, the moon, and the laws of gravity? Who designed the very finger with which you click your mouse? These masterpieces of order are impossible—truly impossible—to have arisen by mere chance. If an astronaut discovered a fountain pen on an uninhabited planet, no one would believe it assembled itself; the news of rational beings having visited that planet would instantly flash across the globe. When we look at a human being, it is thoroughly reasonable to acknowledge the existence of his Creator. We are not gods, but creatures (see evolutionism).

Agnostics are right that the human intellect is finite and that we will never be able to comprehend God exhaustively. (Neither will we ever fully comprehend women, one friend will say; nor men, another will reply). Nevertheless, it is entirely possible to know certain truths about God in various ways:

• Using reason alone, we can know that God exists, that there is only one God, and that He is eternal, good, infinitely wise, and the Creator of the universe. Every perfection observed in creatures derives from the Creator and exists to the supreme degree in Him.
• To this natural knowledge is added what God Himself has revealed to us, preeminently through the teachings of Jesus Christ, as well as what the Lord discloses to the soul in personal prayer.
• Finally, in heaven, a special grace will be granted so that we may know God in the intimate beatific vision.