[Dragaera] agnosticism (no flame) (was, long ago: (no spoilers) The 17 [Great Weapons])

[Frank Mayhar]

On Tue, 2007-05-22 at 15:16 -0400, Kenneth Gorelick wrote:
> Theism is a belief in god. Atheism is a belief in no god. Both are  
> beliefs. It is sophistry to say that atheism is "no belief" because  
> in fact it is the denial of an unprovable, and therefore equally  
> unprovable.

Like I said, "flawed dictionary definitions written by theists
notwithstanding."  Your definition of atheism as "a belief in no god" is
simply wrong.  There are atheists that believe in no god and there are
atheists, such as myself, who simply lack belief in a god or gods.  I
don't disbelieve, I simply don't believe.  Your definition, by the way,
is the one that most theists _want_ to use, for one thing since it gives
credence to their own beliefs.  In my case, though, if there's nothing
to believe, why is there any need to _disbelieve_?

Also bear in mind that saying "I don't believe you," or even "I believe
you are mistaken" (where "you" is anyone claiming the existence of god
or the supernatural) is _not_ the same as saying that "I believe that
god or the supernatural do not exist."

(Further, agnosticism is orthogonal to the belief<->disbelief axis, but
that's another subject.)
-- 
Frank Mayhar frank at exit.com     http://www.exit.com/
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