In the end, it serves only to give hope to the religionists while simultaneously deceiving one's self. And naturally enough, that is how it is defined. What we have done here is demonstrate the world of difference between belief and knowledge. Let us consider for a moment the case of a declared Agnostic. Imagine now a perplexed stare.
Elaboration is called for.
It has to do with apples, all right, but doesn't tell me how many there are. The question is appropriate because it hasn't been addressed, of course, as lack of knowledge doesn't stop some people from believing in flying saucers, Santa Claus, and Angels, similarly lack of knowledge doesn't stop other people from dis believing that the earth could be hundreds of millions of years old. The subject of the question either has a belief in a god or gods, or they do not. If they do not have a belief, they are an atheist, like it or no. Getting an answer to the question is not so easy, because in order to do so, you must confront the declared Agnostic with the idea that they have not, as they previously assumed, deferred the question of theism or atheism indefinitely.