Why atheism over agnosticism?

[Mermaid]

eh protestants are really divided on issues but its always been told to me that all sin is deadly

I am really not trying to be a pedant here. I just do not understand this. Have you just accepted that without understanding it?

[Contemporary Protestant]

i do understand it, i am just assuming it is specific to my branch which would explain why not everyone has

all sin is deadly because they all constitute some sort of short fall and have consequences

[trdsf]

I know that I have the burden of proof, I recognize that stating there is something greater is an extradinary claim, and i admit i lack sufficient intellectual justification.

What would be enough proof for you? the answer to that question is different for various people

That's a fair question, and the answer is, I don't know.  I haven't determined a way to differentiate between a deity, and a sufficiently advanced (but otherwise natural) alien.  Think of it as a a variant on Clarke's Law: not only is any sufficiently advanced technology indistinguishable from magic, but any sufficiently advanced alien is indistinguishable from a deity -- and when you come down to it, there is no difference between 'magic' and 'divine power', unless you want to quibble about source and scale.

Even on our own planet, we see examples of that actually happening: I recommend looking up cargo cults.  My own favorite is the one that's decided Prince Philip of the United Kingdom is a god.  Now imagine something as much more advanced than Western civilization as Western civilization is over those islanders appearing to us.  Is it likely that many people will mistake advanced technology for magic/divine power?  I think it's not only likely, it's inevitable.

In the main, I would generally plump for alienhood over godhood, on the basis that an alien is still the product of the natural processes of the universe and not outside them.

[Contemporary Protestant]

fair point, and thanks for being straightforward

[SkyChief]

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?

Nope. 

Atheism makes no assumptions or claims.

It is simply the lack of belief in gods.   Period.

Don't feel bad...   There's a lot of folks who share your misconception about the definition of atheism.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

"Atheist" was a term invented by the Greeks to describe someone who didn't believe in Theos (Zeus). Everyone in modern times is an atheist.

[leo]

CP why you are protestant anyway ? Any specific reason ?

[Contemporary Protestant]

distrust of major institutions such as the catholic church

for the record, i dont trust joel olsteen either