[Thor]

Originally Posted by Red Slinger

I agree with afc wimbledon above. There's a difference between an atheist and simply a person who doesn't believe in 'God'. An Atheist is someone who categorically rejects a deity. Dawkin would clearly fall into this category.

Actually people often have varying degrees of defining the word atheism. Strong atheism, weak atheism, etc.. Dawkins specifically said he's confident there is no God but does not rule out the possibility, I think he said he's 6.9/7 on a scale of confidence.

I'll use the well worn example of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Why would I bother to go out of my way to reject FSM when the concept is clearly bogus to begin with? An atheist would reject FSM. However, by rejecting FSM you are giving some credence to FSM as a concept and in the process lending credibility to it.

That's a silly concept, so by this logic the best answer to religion is silence and to ignore it outright?

Dawkin and his ilk aren't actually arguing in a rational manner. They've engaged in a ridiculous debate. Calgaryborn is completely correct in this respect. Atheism is a parasite on religion.

I'll let photon politely tear this apart, but I'm not photon so wtf? All Dawkin's and his ilk are doing is arguing in a rational manner. They've engaged IN debate of something they feel is long overdue in the national and worldwide discourse as religion massively influences everything in our world today. It would be more apt to suggest religion is a parasite on atheism as we are all born atheists, but many become infected with religion as the grow older. See what I did there.

I'm not an atheist. I don't even engage in the concept just as I wouldn't seriously engage in debating the existence of Flying Spaghetti Monster. I think a lot of people fall into the same category as me rather than that of atheism or agnosticism.

I think very few people that don't believe in God don't fall under definitions (modern/traditional) of atheism or agnosticism.