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Why atheism over agnosticism?

Started by Contemporary Protestant, February 19, 2015, 08:01:48 PM

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Contemporary Protestant

It appears to me that more people are atheist, than there are agnostics. Which doesn't make sense to me, isn't atheism an assumption about something that cannot be known with certainty?
In all honestly, the only people who don't assume things are the nihilists who believe in absolutely nothing, not even the existence of things outside of their sphere of influence

Jason78

Why not both?

You can have gnostic atheists and agnostic atheists.

Winner of WitchSabrinas Best Advice Award 2012


We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real
tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. -Plato

Mermaid

A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticise work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life’s realities â€" all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, of superiority but of weakness. -TR

Contemporary Protestant

I didn't realize someone could be both, I thought being an atheist implied a disbelief in god, as if a person had made a decision on the topic, while an agnostic would say its impossible to know and so therefore I am neutral

kilodelta

I posted a version of this graphic first. Therefore, I get a beer. It's in the rules...

Faith: pretending to know things you don't know


Hijiri Byakuren

Confusion like this is why I identify as a secular humanist. It's harder to convey what I think when I define myself by what I don't believe.
Speak when you have something to say, not when you have to say something.

Sargon The Grape - My Youtube Channel


PickelledEggs

#8
Riddle me this, token theist:
Do you know for certain that god is real? If there is any doubt, you are at minimum an agnostic theist.

I do identify myself as "atheist" when the subject comes up, but I am an agnostic atheist. I go by the mindset of "something that can be claimed without evidence can be dismissed without evidence". I do not know for certain that there is no god at all, but I'm pretty sure of it. I am even more sure the judeo-christian god is nonexistent because of many reasons including bible contradictions and observable evidence that debunks claims made in the bible about god... but that isn't to say that there is no gods at all. I'd still like to know what a god even is. The first step in knowing if there is or isn't a god is figuring out what one is or consists of, which no one has been able to contribute an answer to. (at least to me or on this forum).

EDIT:Slightly unrelated, but...
I should also add that I usually make a point of leading a conversation that has to do with religion or spiritual B.S. to me being an atheist and skeptic. I'm lucky enough to live in an area where I won't piss off too many people... and in fact I have met and befriended many other atheists and skeptics in my area because of it.

It's amazing, I find, how many atheists don't even realize they are atheist. I was at a party talking to an atheist recently. I overheard him and my other friend talking about religion so I peeked my nose in and joined. I asked him if he was an atheist too (because my other friend is). He said "no, I'm agnostic." And I asked, "so do you believe in god?" and he answered: "I don't think there is a god, but I can't know for sure"
After explaining the graph kilodelta shared, he realized what an atheist is and that he was one.

Fuck. That was a tangent if I ever saw one. I should go to bed.

Hydra009


Contemporary Protestant

I am an agnostic theist, only by definition because I think there is no such thing as certainty, in regards tp humN knowledge

stromboli


Munch

This makes me thing of the weirdo on youtube the drunken peasants reported on singing his song "Why be an atheist". Its.. well its pretty much what Hijiri's signature made me feel like just listening to.

To answer it, being an atheist is the natural flow of how it went for me, and the fact it bothers you someone would choose to be is almost on a level of asking 'why be gay when theres all these women around', really, its an pretty slanted question to ask people.
'Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners' - George Carlin

Contemporary Protestant

im not bothered

i just wonder how someone could make an assumption, if they value evidence, so i question why gnostic atheism exists

i also dislike how you compare atheism and homosexuality

one is biology and the other is an idea

Munch

Of course it is, but the same rational sense wouldn't apply to other people, who would assume homosexuality is as much a thought process that can be changed.

My atheism is based on a continuous breakdown of everything religions have claimed to be true being proven falsifiable. While you can make the claim there are things we simply do not have the answers to, I take from the fact the people who claim what happens after we die, are the same nut jobs who claim the earth flooded, or their prophet flew to the moon on a flying horse, or that snakes talk.

Its pretty fucking hard to take seriously the notion of what they claim seriously of the complete unknown, when what is so easily refuted as rubbish in every other aspect. Snakes don't talk, seas do not part, the world didn't flood and drain off, people don't live to be 900 years old, so why should I take anything else they claim to be serious when they are obviously making shit up? not just that, but taking stories from people thousands of years before science proved them wrong.
'Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners' - George Carlin