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[quote=RantingAtheist][quote=Anonymous]By any definition, if you think there's even the slightest possibility God exists, even 1%, then you're agnostic, not atheist. Dawkins says he can't totally rule out God. Go back and re-read. He does NOT, as you claim, say he's "sure" God doesn't exist. Therefore, because he allows for a 1% possibility of God, he's agnostic, not atheist.

As a corollary, he, and both of us, are technically agnostic about the Flying Spaghetti monster. Unless you are willing to state you believe with 100% certainty that the FSM and Poseidon don't exist.

The discussion should end there. I'd respect Dawkins more if it did end there.

Instead, because he's uncomfortable with a wishy-washy label like "agnostic" or something, Dawkins drags us into these semantic games about "de facto" vs. "de jure/strict" atheists and "temporary agnostic practioner" or whatever that was. He says that as a "de facto" atheist he *acts* as if God and the FSM don't exist.

But *acting* as if they don't exist does nothing, NOTHING, to eliminate that 1% possibility of God from his mind. Even though he says he acts in a "de facto atheist" sort of way (and he acts like there's no FSM), he's still thinks there's a 1% probability of God (or the FSM). So he's agnostic about God (or the FSM).[/quote]

Yes, but conversely, theists are agnostic about FSM, Poseidon, and fairies to the exact same extent that non-theists are agnostic about all these phenomena.

And the probability isn't 1%.  There is a probability that the random movement of oxygen molecules in a room will lead them to cluster in a corner, leaving you to die of asphyxiation. It's a very, very, very low probability, but it's possible. That's the probability that any given religion's deity--or the Flying Spaghetti Monster--exists.[/quote]

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