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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
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 [b]I live my life on the assumption that he is not there[/b]"

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.[/quote]

Wanted to address this separately. As I noted above, Dawkins, does not define himself as a strict atheist, rather he says he is "agnostic" according to how he defines agnosticism.

But your quote brings us back to the difference between [b][i]belief [/i][/b](the 99% or 100% question) and [i]action [/i][b]("I live my life as though he is not there" and the quotes from the article I cited re "de facto atheism" or "temporary atheism in practice" or TAP).  I think it's totally consistent with what Dawkins is saying to distinguish between (1) one's take on the probability of god's existence, and (2) how you live your life/how you act.  Dawkins seems to do this himself: at the end of the day, he still says (1) he's agnostic because he's not 100% certain god doesn't exist, however he says (2) he acts as if God doesn't exist, ie. he acts as if he's atheist (what he calls TAP).

To bring this full circle, this is a bit of a sidetrack, although an interesting one, to the point that several of us have addressed to the Ranting Atheist. Our first point was about her hubris in claiming she's 100% certain, because even Dawkins doesn't do this. My other point was that her analogy about wearing a parka in July was flawed, because she seems to be implying that if you act a certain way (not wearing parkas, not praying), this is the same thing as being certain your beliefs are 100% true.  That's[b] [i]not[/i] [/b]what Dawkins is saying when he says "I think God is very improbable, but live my life as though he's not there."

Signed,
An Episcopalian
(Gotta go off to a party, sorry to sign off, this is interesting)[/quote]

Ooops, those attempts at bolding really didn't come out.  Hope it's still clear.

Re the point about "strong atheists," I can't recall anybody calling themselves one.

But there are several here who call themselves "atheists" instead of "agnostics." The Ranting Atheist is an obvious example. The point from the Dawkins post is there are a very small number of true atheists - and everybody else is actually probably mislabeling themselves. Not sure we needed to get into these weeds, but I blame the Ranting One.[/quote]

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