It seems to me ignostics are going to miss all the fun, waiting for a comprehensive definition of God… 
I wouldn’t mind a definition but while we wait (an eternity I suspect) and all.
Atheism is fundamentalism. I also believe it may be a reaction to the absurdity of religion.
Agnosticism is the future! Lets embrace uncertainty, have open and honest discussions and all get along!
No it isn’t. Fundamentalism means belief in the literal truth of scripture, which is the exact opposite of atheism.
Quite so.
'Luthon64
Fair enough - I stand corrected.
Answer this then; how can one be a skeptic and an atheist?
(Atheism requires absolute certainty, yes?)
No.
No. It just requires sufficient doubt. I regard myself as an atheist, but don’t absolutely rule out the possible existence of a god; but the odds for the existence of a god are about the same as those for the existence of Bertrand Russel’s famous teapot, i.e. not high. It therefore seems reasonable to conduct my life in a manner that is compatible with the non-existence of gods, ignoring the extremely slim possibility of there actually being one.
We are all agnostic - theist and atheist alike. Even theists that think they know.
This is because of the untestable nature of the God hypothesis.
Rigil
Yes, but the term agnostic has the connotation that one has no opinion as to whether or not a god exists. Therefore I could not descibe myself as agnostic because I do have an opinion, as described in my previous post. I therefore describe myself as an atheist.
Various definitions for agnosticism:
-
A religious orientation of doubt; a denial of ultimate knowledge of the existence of God
-
One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God.
-
One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism.
-
Person who claims, with respect to any particular question, that the answer cannot be known with certainty
-
A person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god
A great article on the issue can be found at:
Simply put, it seems that theism and atheism are beliefs while agnosticism is a method.
Therefore, perhaps I should describe myself as an atheist agnostic - meaning that I don’t believe uin a god and that I believe that knowledge thereof is unobtainable.
I’m an agnostic atheist.
I don’t believe in God(s).
I don’t know whether God(s) exist or not. I am not sure if we can ever know. Well presumably we can actualy one day prove the existence of God(s) but I acknowledge that proving the opposite may be impossible.
The problem with these definitions is that they are so broad they render the term ‘agnostic’ useless. By these definitions everyone apart, possibly, from the nincompope and the archparasite of Canterbury is agnostic. ‘Atheist’, on the other hand, lets everyone know where you stand.
what would you call someone who simply doesnt give a shit?
my s/o grew up in a non-religious house. he has never had any opinion about it. his response to religious debate would be ‘meh’.
he went to school, and skipped between xtian and jewish classes as it suited him (jewish allowing more time to do homework for other classes).
when i dragged him along to SITP, he was bored out of his bracket.
he simply couldnt care.
Lucky.
lol
All religionists are atheists at some level: e.g. denying the existence of Zeus…
Our contemporary understanding of atheism is the denial of the existence of a specific god, i.e. Yahweh and his derivatives (Jesus et al) and if you’re of Muslim origins. Al’Lah.