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Old 09-24-2006, 07:05 AM   #103 (permalink)
Gilda
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Location: Out on a wire.
Keep in mind that not believing God exists is not the same as believing God does not exist. It's a common logical mistake to assume that "not A" = -A" when this is not the case.

The agnostic and athiest beliefs are both "not A" in this instance, but only atheism is "-A". Both exist in the area of not believing there is a god, but only the latter makes the extra claim that none exists. As belief in God is an affirmative belief, anything "not A" is encapsuled by the "no" response. Which is to say, if you are agnostic, "no" is accurate, and does not imply an active belief that there is a God.

There are some belief systems that would be tricky to put in this. My sister is very religious and is also an agnostic. My wife is religious and believes in the existence of essenses separate from our physical bodies, but not necessarily in a single supreme being. The answer for both of them would be "no", in that neither Buddhism nor Shinto adhere to the Western idea of monotheism, and both are based in the idea of developing one's personal spiritual essense to its highest level.

Do I believe in God? Yes, though I'm not sure by what means or to what extend God is involved in the every day lives of humans. It's not something I'm capable of knowing, nor do I assume I'll gain that knowledge with death or what will happen to my essense when I die, so I tend to focus on developing myself as best I can for this life and let what happens afterwards take care of itself.

Gilda
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