'An agnostic says "I don't know if there's a God or not".'

'Well, that's me', said David.

'OK', I said. 'What kind of agnostic are you?'

'Ah, an Anglican agnostic', he grinned. 'No, what kinds are there?'

'Hard agnostic or a moderate agnostic.'

'Hard or moderate? What?'

'A hard agnostic says you cannot know if there's a god. Actually, that's pretty arrogant. I mean, who else can say what someone can and cannot know? Plus that very statement contains a logical loop: either reality is not entirely knowable, in which case no-one can make statements about what we can and cannot know; or else reality is entirely knowable, in which case you can't say I can't know something.'

He got that the first time. 'Right. What's a moderate agnostic?'
I said, 'A moderate agnostic just says "I don't know if there's a god".'

'That's me', he chuckled. 'I'm a moderate agnostic.'

'OK', I said. 'So what kind of moderate agnostic are you?'

He groaned and laughed. 'What kinds are there?'

'Closed-minded or open-minded.'

His answer was predictable. 'I like to think I'm pretty open-minded…'