Hey guys!

This is why I never can pick between atheism and agnosticism =)

 

you are on the ''annoying'' list too

 

Haha.. I feel you.

I guess I'm probably an atheist, but I don't have a problem with the idea of some kind of god out there. I don't personally think there is, but I wouldn't really be surprised.

I think the idea of god is valid. And I'm not saying fundamentalist Christianity or Scientology are false, because I don't know. What I do know, is that the beliefs of those religions are as laughable as the doctrine of the flying spaghetti monster. So, I don't think I'm an obnoxious asshole, (some disagree) just because I think it's utterly insane that millions of people flock to a building topped with an ancient touchure device every Sunday and perform a 2000 year old rite during which they symbolically cannibalize a Jew who lived 2000 years ago, and believe that if they telepathically ask this Jew to remove an evil force from their body (which is there because at the beginning of time a talking snake convinced a naked chick to eat from a magic tree) they will live forever.

 

I consider myself agnostic in thought but atheist in belief.

 

Well said.

Humans are too arrogant and/or afraid to admit they have no freaking idea what happens after we die.

God=A stuffed animal for adults.

 

So then; what would atheism be?

Purposely avoiding stuffed animals? =P

 

I am terrified of beanie babies.....

 

so is this uncertainity any better than the 'arrogance' of theist?

I mean I think most Christians for instance question their faith at one point or another. I do think they often find a way to justify it and make sense of it though. Whether or not thats false justification is really a whole other issue. Like I've heard some Christians refer to it as a relationship. If we take that comparison relationships are certainly not always easy and it takes alot of time, patience and effort. The ultimate aspect of any worthy relationship is trust though.

So I think many theists would look at you flip flippers and say you just haven't found 'it' yet. You are still developing.

I am actually a flip flipper to though but I think vulnerable uncertainity is often a hard road to maintain but it also leaves room for varying possibilities and ideas that maybe can't be utilized by those with a devout or firm faith. I don't necessarily think being a theist necessarily makes you arrogant tho.

 

We're arguing about semantics here. It would be arrogant, in my opinion, to say: I'm right and you're wrong. If an atheist said: there definitely is no god, so people who think there is one are deluded fools, I'd feel justified in calling that person arrogant. A believer who presented his/her views in the same way would also be arrogant. If they re-phrased to say this is what I happen to believe, but I could be wrong and you could be right, I'd have no problem.

And I think a person can be both an atheist and an agnostic at the same time. Dan Barker claims to be both: "the two words serve different concepts and are not mutually exclusive. Agnosticism addresses knowledge; atheism addresses belief. The agnostic says "I don't have knowldege that God exists." The atheist says "I don't have a belief that God exists. You can say both things at the same time. Some agnostics are atheistic and some are theistic." (I'm one of the theistic kind).

 

actually, many atheists are only saying that yahweh, the primary god of the old testament, does not exist

from that, one can assume that the atheist does not believe in the divinity of jesus, some early christians grappled with that as well

one can also assume that the atheist does not believe in the prophet status of mohammed or joseph smith

some atheists go further than that, but it is not necessary to be labled as such

 

if i don't believe in brahma, vishnu, or shiva, am i an atheist?

 

"We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in.
Some of us just go one god further."
-Richard Dawkins

 

exactly