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Atheism is widely misunderstood. Contrary to popular usage, an atheist does not necessarily deny the existence of god but simply lacks a belief in god/s. Most atheists I know take this position.
* Agnosticism - from the greek root gnosis "to know" and the negative "a" (no knowledge)
* Atheism - from theism, the belief in god or gods and the negative "a" (no belief)
Gnosticism deals with knowledge not belief, so it is not a legitimate third position in between theism and atheism. There is no third position because you either have a belief or you don't. If you do, you're a theist, if you don't you're an atheist. It's that simple.
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