Thread: A poll

Originally Posted by Mario92

See, I would define this as "Weak Atheism." The word Agnostic does carry a connotation of more acceptance/consideration of other world religions. If, however, you're 99.99% confident that there is no God, I'd say "agnostic" doesn't quite fit as well as "weak atheist."

Again, a battle of semantics...meh, whatever.

"Agnostic" carries this connotation partly because it's been hijacked or misused partly for the purpose. Many seem to believe it refers to complete uncertainty, or that it is a mutually exclusive belief. Equally I'm sure plenty give such answers - especially in more religious states - because it appears non-threatening, particularly compared to the attitude towards atheism. Atheists are immoral scum, whereas agnostics, that's just a guy who doesn't know.

As I've said in the past, when the word is being used properly, it becomes almost useless because it says very little. Technically, everyone should be agnostic on anything that is not logically proven.

Originally Posted by Hidden

Sort of like saying that there's a purple narwhal civilization in the center of Jupiter. It's extremely unlikely, but seeing as no one has actually gone to the center of Jupiter to look, we can't really know 100% completely, can we?

Correct. You win a cookie!

Atheist

Originally Posted by Photolysis

Technically, everyone should be agnostic on anything that is not logically proven.

So, what, that would be everything in the universe, eh? Technically, we can't know for sure, but I'm gonna place a bit of confidence in my senses, as well as the dudes wearing lab coats. If I'm 99.999% sure there is no god, I'm going with atheist. I'm not giving God anywhere near equal status as other beliefs. I actually don't believe one exists.

Now, if you're using "agnostic" to define a particular school of thought, I'd be more inclined to agree with you. How do we really know what's going on?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism

Agnosticism can be subdivided into several categories. Recently suggested variations include:

Strong agnosticism (also called "hard," "closed," "strict," or "permanent agnosticism")
the view that the question of the existence or nonexistence of a deity or deities and the nature of ultimate reality is unknowable by reason of our natural inability to verify any experience with anything but another subjective experience. A strong agnostic would say, "I cannot know whether a deity exists or not, and neither can you."
Weak agnosticism (also called "soft," "open," "empirical," or "temporal agnosticism")
the view that the existence or nonexistence of any deities is currently unknown but is not necessarily unknowable, therefore one will withhold judgment until/if any evidence is available. A weak agnostic would say, "I don't know whether any deities exist or not, but maybe one day when there is evidence we can find something out."
Apathetic agnosticism (also called Pragmatic agnosticism)
the view that there is no proof of either the existence or nonexistence of any deity, but since any deity that may exist appears unconcerned for the universe or the welfare of its inhabitants, the question is largely academic.[citation needed]
Agnostic atheism
the view of those who do not claim to know of the existence of any deity, but do not believe in any.[15]
Agnostic theism (also called "spiritual agnosticism")
the view of those who do not claim to know of the existence of any deity, but still believe in such an existence.
Ignosticism
the view that a coherent definition of a deity must be put forward before the question of the existence of a deity can be meaningfully discussed. If the chosen definition isn't coherent, the ignostic holds the noncognitivist view that the existence of a deity is meaningless or empirically untestable. A.J. Ayer, Theodore Drange, and other philosophers see both atheism and agnosticism as incompatible with ignosticism on the grounds that atheism and agnosticism accept "a deity exists" as a meaningful proposition which can be argued for or against. An ignostic cannot even say whether he/she is a theist or a nontheist until a better definition of theism is put forth.

Seems the two are compatible after all.

And just to clear up any confusions about the word "believe..."

be·lieve
1. To accept as true or real: Do you believe the news stories?
2. To credit with veracity: I believe you.
3. To expect or suppose; think: I believe they will arrive shortly.
v.intr.
1. To have firm faith, especially religious faith.
2. To have faith, confidence, or trust: I believe in your ability to solve the problem.
3. To have confidence in the truth or value of something: We believe in free speech.
4. To have an opinion; think: They have already left, I believe.

When I say, "I don't believe in a god," I'm saying, "I don't accept it to be true." Not a single damn thing has ever come to light to support the notion of a god; why on earth should I believe?

Note that "believe" is different from "know," however. I don't actually know much in the way of anything at all. I do know that my senses observe things, or perceive to observe things, and that these five physical senses are all I have to gather information about the universe. Based on what we can and have observed, there is not a single iota of data to support the notion of a deity.

Well Xaq, I was actually tying to imply a joking side to that comment...I have many Christian family members as well as friends. Entirely ridding of the opposing view is not a good thing. I'm sorry

I find it interesting that no muslims have seen this thread so far. The buddhists and hindusts I assume are people who converted to it when they read about it in their teenage years. But no muslims, that's an interesting statistic.

Originally Posted by Marvo

I find it interesting that no muslims have seen this thread so far. The buddhists and hindusts I assume are people who converted to it when they read about it in their teenage years. But no muslims, that's an interesting statistic.

Muslims are interesting, and I haven't figured them out.


I once saw a muslim man saying he liked Richard Dawkins and the new atheism because it was bringing down the Christian God.

I was like:


...

Originally Posted by Abra

Muslims are interesting, and I haven't figured them out.


I once saw a muslim man saying he liked Richard Dawkins and the new atheism because it was bringing down the Christian God.

I was like:


...

and Now I'm like:

.....

Agnostic. I don't feel like writing a 10 000 word elaboration on my theoretical beliefs right now