I personally can simplistically sum up my recent approach to knowledge, post Islam to be precise, as leaning towards empiricism (and materialism is not always entailed here because of the merits of observation in such an approach) but I don't think in such general, grand terms most or all the time.
For example, I do not think that there's such a thing as "the soul" but at the same time, I view the mind or consciousness as rising from the brain in an interdependence of this apparent duality in a state of midway. Simply put, I just do not know enough to decide.
Thus, I remain agnostic about the idea of a god or gods but, for practical reasons, I lead an atheistic life because the concept of God or gods for me at worst is unknowable and at best is unknown until further notice and or incontrovertible evidence which I am yet to be presented with.
But that is not to say that it is irrational to believe in a supernational being or beings that created our universe.
I agree with the conclusions of the excellent Prof. Richard Dawkins'
The God Delusion but not his method as other non-believing philosophers, such as Stephen Law, would point to, and subsequently get dismissed by Dawkins because he does not take philosophy seriously enough as he sees science to having taken over philosophy in the same way alchemy gave way to chemistry and astrology to astronomy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3fGJq04rUcAs such, I follow Nabokov in putting the term 'reality' permanently in inverted commas as it does not mean anything to me otherwise, because of solipsistic reasons (read, if you will, his wonderful
Transparent Things). However, most of the time, I do not think that anything experientially exists beyond my immediate sensory 'reality' even though rationality detests this fairly easily.
So, it's not a question of which one is better, as you seem to be trying to frame these epistemological matters. I do not have answers. Maybe, once you, again to pull a yeezevee, watched the position of Dr Arif Ahmed in the debate below, that you'd come closer to my ongoing position and maybe not.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGtSjqnzZHo