Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
I find this sort of stereotypical characterization of all atheists as rational, critical thinkers in contrast to all theists as mindless zealots to be pompous, and a little offensive. The results of this poll completely refute your supposition: more than 20% of all respondants who consider themselves to be atheists also claim to be certain about it.
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I think you misunderstood my point. I wasn't saying that atheists are more or less likely to be certain about their positions than theists. An atheist who is 99% sure that he is right is no more nor less zealous than a theist who is 99% sure that he is right, so I'm not sure where you got the zealousness/rationality impression from my post.
I was simply giving my impression of how equally certain theists and atheists are likely to classify themselves. In my experience, an atheist who has a shadow of doubt is more likely to call himself agnostic than a theist who has that same shadow of doubt. The sample size is too small to draw any real conclusions, but, consistent with my supposition, this poll is showing a higher percentage of theists who consider themselves to be gnostic than the percentage of atheists who consider themselves to be gnostic.