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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.

Atheists do not assert that there is 100 percent certainty that god does not exist.  What we say is that, absent any evidence to support it, there is no reason to retain the hypothesis.[/quote]

I'm not sure I get the distinction involved in "no reason to retain the hypothesis."  You seem to be saying there may be a <1% chance there's a God (in other words, as you said above, you are not 100% certain there is NO god).  You don't find this 1% worth pursuing or "retaining."  Which is fine with me.  However, in the absence of 100% certainty, this still means you're an agnostic rather than an atheist.[/quote]

I am not that poster but you do not seem to get that in everyday life we all disbelieve in things even though the reason is lack of evidence. Do you carry a winter coat in the summertime because you are agnostic on whether it will snow?  No, you say you do not believe it will snow even though in that case there is some historical evidence that it could. [/quote]

But you do not seem to get that 99% certainty is not the same as 100% certainty. Yet the first means you're agnostic and the second means you're atheist.

As for your analogy involving winter coats and snow, what it's saying is that you [b]act[/b] as though you think there's no god. Which, as I said, is absolutely fine with me. Also, [b]acting[/b] as though you don't believe in god makes complete sense in your situation, because you believe there's <1% chance there's a god. But [b]acting[/b] as though there's no god is totally [b]different from being 100% certain[/b] there is no god. Belief and action are like apples and oranges, you can't muddle them like this. And since you're not 100% certain, it *doesn't matter how you act* because you're an agnostic by definition.

Perhaps you don't like how the word "agnostic" implies that you have even a 1% doubt. Perhaps you worry that it implies you have a 50% doubt, and you're insulted by this implication.  But I'm here to tell you that by the strict definitions of the words "atheist" and "agnostic," you're an agnostic. Don't blame any of us, we didn't create these definitions. Also, as another PP pointed out, the 100% surety required for atheism implies an egotism that even that master self-promoter, Dawkins, won't cop to. And if it helps, I and probably lots of others here take "agnostic" to mean 1% doubt, not 50% doubt.

(Also, the summer snow analogy doesn't work for me on a different level, but rather than unpack the reasons why, I'll just leave it alone.)[/quote]

No, you are choosing a definition of atheism that lets you invalidate it. The favorite whipping boy of theists is Richard Dawkins, and his definition of atheism is as follows:  ""I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there"

You can tell him he's wrong for calling himself an atheist, but then if this is the definition that atheists use to describe their position, how do you get to tell them they are wrong?  It's like telling Hindus they are not really Hindus because your preacher described the religion to you, and they don't seem to practice it.

In contrast, agnosticism is actually a term invented by one man in the 1800's, TH Huxley.  He had a specific philosophical concern, namely that God is not only unknown but may be unknowable.  In this context agnosticism could make sense as a separate distinction, independent of the probabilities you assign to the God question.

FWIW I am a Catholic.  I see it as dishonest to allow people to define a belief system for another group and then correct them for not complying with it.[/quote]

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