As others have mentioned before, there's not a continuous spectrum of believer > agnostic > atheist. Atheism and agnosticism address two different issues:
Atheist: "I don't believe in a supernatural god or gods."
Agnostic: "I can't state with 100% certainty if a supernatural god or gods exists or not."
I consider myself both an atheist and an agnostic. I absolutely don't believe in the God of Abraham, Zeus, Thor, Shiva, Osiris, or any of the other man-made gods. Moreover, there is no compelling evidence that some kind of supernatural higher power (a "cosmic prime mover" entity or similar) exists, but such a thing may be beyond our detection with current technologies and scientific understanding.
Certainly I think the possibility of supernatural forces existing is very, very, VERY unlikely, but I don't rule it out completely. If compelling peer-reviewed scientific evidence was presented that demonstrated the existence of a supernatural power, I'd be inclined to accept it. That said, I live my life as if there are no supernatural gods or a spiritual afterlife since there is no rational, logical reason to believe these things exist.
|