Quote:
Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf
thats my point
so why be an atheist instead of an agnostic
an atheist is explicitly saying there is no god, which is the same as a religious person saying there is a god
|
Atheist and agnostic aren't two ends of the same spectrum. One is a position of belief, the other is a statement of knowledge.
You can be an agnostic atheist, and agnostic theist, a gnostic theist, or a gnostic atheist.
Or in other terms, an atheist that says "I do not believe there is a god" is a weak atheist (which implies they do not know for sure but take the default position of nonexistence based on lack of evidence, and also stand as agnostic), whereas an atheist that says "there is no god" is a strong atheist, making the statement both as a belief and as knowledge.
ETA: Even Richard Dawkins won't state with 100% certainty "there is no god" with respect to a fuzzy undefined deistic type god.