Quote:
Originally Posted by Strange Famous
My contention is that all atheists wish that God exists, but the fear of "vanishing" overwhelms their desire to believe
|
Of course, living in a world with an omniscient omnipotent ghost uncle (to riff on the Christian mythos) who will reward us with a really long party sounds pretty cool. So does Santa Claus...how cool would that be? Also, do you ever wish you had a genie? Does the fear of not having wishes granted overwhelm your desire to rub lamps? Does fear of not getting presents keep you from being a santa clausist?
I won't jack will's thread, but I will say this: I have not encountered anything personally in my life, or reliable scientific reports of anything in this universe, that I feel requires the existence of anything supernatural (that is, outside the known laws of science), and definitely nothing that requires a personal deity the likes of which major monotheistic religions believe in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Manic_Skafe
I suppose what I don't understand is the line of reasoning that allows you to consider yourself an atheist when you recognize that theism, while extremely unlikely, can not be entirely refuted. Highly improbable but not impossible.
As per wikipedia:
Atheism can be either the rejection of theism,[1] or the position that deities do not exist.[2] In the broadest sense, it is the absence of belief in the existence of deities.
I'm assuming your beliefs align with the first definition. What I don't understand is how this is anything more than a cop-out as it seems to me that your beliefs are founded not in anything in particular but rather in the negation of another belief.
Simply put, if you're an atheist who accepts the possibility of god's existence then how are you not an agnostic?
|
You present a false dillema. I am an agnostic atheist, and, based on Will's statements, I would assume he is as well. gnostic/agnostic refers to 'knowing', whereas theist/atheist refers to 'believing'.
The difference here is that a gnostic atheist would not change their beliefs when presented by credible proof of a god, as they believe they know it is impossible, whereas an agnostic atheist, if you were able to prove the existence of the supernatural, would expand their world view to contain it.