Honest question.
I've been reading this subreddit since I joined reddit and I like it a lot. Always great to see how ignorant people can be. But there's one question on my mind the whole time.
It's "Why atheism and not agnosticism?" It's not a troll question. I'm genuinely curious.
To me implying you can prove there is no god is just as ignorant as implying you can prove there is one. I personally like to say:"I just don't know if there's a god, there's no scientific evidence that points either way". Why do some of you choose to say exactly the opposite of theists?
Please enlighten me.
Posted Jan 22, 2011, 6:16 PM UTC
339
You'll get a lot of answers from people who point you to our definitions as per the FAQ. In brief, not believing in gods doesn't depend on evidence, and is independent of the question of whether we're able to know about the existence of god(s) or not. There's also the distinction between "lack of belief in gods," which is atheism's base proposition or "weak atheism," and "positive belief that there are no gods," which is sometimes called "positive atheism" or "strong atheism."
Here's another view:
As per Russell and his teapot, it's impossible to provide a positive logical proof that no gods exist at all. It is, however, reasonably easy to prove, at least to "court of law" standards, that individual certain and well-specified gods do not exist: The one of the Bible, for one, and the pantheon of the Hindus and so forth. Each of those proposed gods has problems with historicity, with self-contradictions and with similarities to other, meanwhile debunked supernatural entities.
If one continues this exercise and manages to prove that all known past and present deities are works of fiction created by humans... it becomes a pretty safe bet that there are no gods that form an exception to this rule.
In theory, the remaining gap could be filled with one or more gods that no human has never heard of and who leave us alone. But if there are such gods, are they relevant?
Our atheism is a "for practical purposes" atheism.
I'm glad to hear this. I was under the impression that a lot of people that post here are die-hard atheist that use the definition: "rejecting any belief in gods"etc.
I do believe science has been able to prove things like the bible wrong but I don't think that makes it safe to assume that there are no gods. It makes them improbable, not impossible because we haven't found any law of nature that rules out a supernatural being.
According to my poll, about half of us are indeed "strong atheists." Personally, I find that purported gods do not explain anything that needs explaining, so why bother making shit up?
I've spent about 25 years now entertaining the fiction that Claudia Schiffer and I would meet some day, that she would realize I am the ideal lover for her, and that we would shack up together and have amazing sex every night. Unlike the billions of people who believe in gods, though, I am well aware that this is nothing but a fanciful thought I've created for my own entertainment.
Interesting poll. I'm don't fully agree with your story though. I think it is indeed a fanciful though created for your entertainment but that doesn't change the fact it is also a possibility(albeit a small one).
It would be silly of you if you'd spend a lot of time for this 'fanciful thought' but it would also be pretty silly to throw it away as impossible wouldn't it?
If I can't separate you from your invisible childhood friend, then so be it.
I agree, the Nukey should keep hoping for claudia schiffer to shack up with im!
Exactly the right terms. 99.99% vs 100%
"but i don't think that makes it safe to assume that there are no gods." Ok so what makes it unsafe? Pascal's wager anyone? I am an atheist, possibly a little antitheist. There is no evidence to support the belief in any god or gods. Atheism, even in the strongest sense is not a positive position that we have to prove. If man never created god, there would be no need for the distinction. Because man created god, people who do not believe in god assert themselves as atheist not to get lumped in with the lot of delusional people talking to the sky. TL;DR: Cogito ergo sum atheos
Hold up. Agnostic atheists do "reject any belief in gods"--quite by definition--and many agnostic atheists can be quite "die-hard" in their rejection-of-belief. To further clarify what NTP said: agnostic atheists simply do not claim to know the truth value of propositions that deal with the existence of god. Thus, a/theism references a belief/disbelief in the existence of god/s, and a/gnosticism references the knowledge/non-knowledge of the truth-value of the proposition: "god/s exist."
That said, while a/theism and a/gnosticism are related, they are still distinct concepts that are not necessarily exclusive or inclusive of each other.