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I'm not sure, using the definitions that are here, that I can claim to be anything.
I CALL myself an atheist - and when I use the word about myself I mean that I do not beleive in god.
The word atheist comes from a-theist. As in NOT A THEIST. It does not require a belief that there is NOT God, it simply requires that there is NO belief IN God.
LACK OF BELIEF =|= BELIEF OF LACK
Belief is not a skill that can be learned or taught, it is an atribute. I can no more chose to believe than I can chose to be taller.
To me, the key issue is that there is no explanation involving theism that cannot be equally well explained by non-theist arguments.
My position is equivalent to Epicurus:
1. if God is willing but unable to prevent evil, he is not omnipotent
2. if God is able but not willing to prevent evil, he is not good
3. if God is willing and able to prevent evil, then why is there evil?
Although traditionally ascribed to Epicurus, it has been suggested that it may actually be the work of an early skeptic writer, possibly Carneades
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Overhead, the Albatross hangs motionless upon the air,
And deep beneath the rolling waves,
In labyrinths of Coral Caves,
The Echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand;
And everthing is Green and Submarine
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