11-02-2003, 02:10 PM
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#14 (permalink)
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Pure Chewing Satisfaction
Location: can i use bbcode [i]here[/i]?
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ah-ha! I just found the article that got me thinking about it. Judge its credibility as you see fit: it's an interview by American Atheist of Douglas Adams, author of "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".
http://www.americanatheist.org/win98...silverman.html
Quote:
If you describe yourself as 'Atheist,' some people will say, "Don't you mean 'Agnostic'" I have to reply that I really do mean Atheist. I really do not believe that there is a god - in fact I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one. It's easier to say that I am a radical Atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it's an opinion I hold seriously. It's funny how many people are genuinely surprised to hear a view expressed so strongly. In England we seem to have drifted from vague wishy-washy Anglicanism to vague wishy-washy Agnosticism - both of which I think betoken a desire not to have to think about things too much.
People will then often say "But surely it's better to remain an Agnostic just in case" This, to me, suggests such a level of silliness and muddle that I usually edge out of the conversation rather than get sucked into it.
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Other people will ask how I can possibly claim to know? Isn't belief-that-there-is-not-a-god as irrational, arrogant, etc., as belief-that-there-is-a-god? To which I say no for several reasons. First of all I do not believe-that-there-is-not-a-god. I don't see what belief has got to do with it. I believe or don?t believe my four-year old daughter when she tells me that she didn?t make that mess on the floor. I believe in justice and fair play (though I don't know exactly how we achieve them, other than by continually trying against all possible odds of success). I also believe that England should enter the European Monetary Union. I am not remotely enough of an economist to argue the issue vigorously with someone who is, but what little I do know, reinforced with a hefty dollop of gut feeling, strongly suggests to me that it's the right course. I could very easily turn out to be wrong, and I know that. These seem to me to be legitimate uses for the word believe. As a carapace for the protection of irrational notions from legitimate questions, however, I think that the word has a lot of mischief to answer for. So, I do not believe-that-there-is-no-god. I am, however, convinced that there is no god
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