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[quote=FruminousBandersnatch][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm personally agnostic.  I do lean more toward not believing in a higher power than believing.  But I am unable to make the full leap.  To me there is currently no way to prove or disprove the existence of a higher power.

My question for the true Atheist; How are you absolutely certain there is no higher power?

[/quote]

Not the OP, but another atheist. I am not "absolutely certain there is no higher power." Logically, it's very difficult to prove a negative, and to quote Voltaire, "While doubt is an uncomfortable position, certainty is a ridiculous one."

However, I do not affirmatively believe in a "higher power," and, in the absence of evidence demonstrating the existence of such an entity, I see no reason to conduct my life as if one exists. If someone provides scientifically testable evidence that a "higher power" exists, or if I end up in some kind of afterlife, I'll have to modify my belief structure.

There's no difference between my outlook on the monotheistic deity(ies) (as well as all other deities) and the way Christians act towards the Egyptian/Norse/Greek/Roman/pick an ancient culture of your choice pantheons. [/quote]
OP here, I guess it's just a difference in how we define agnostic and atheist.  The difference to me between atheism and agnosticism is atheism involves what a person does or does not believe and agnosticism involves what a person does or does not know.  My life is driven by what I know rather than what I believe.  And my thirst for knowledge is driven by what I don't know.[/quote]

Well, now you're getting into the 2x2 matrix of belief and knowledge. Technically, it is possible to be both agnostic and atheist, precisely because of the belief/knowledge separation you're talking about.

On that scale, I (and most other atheists) would be classified as an agnostic atheist, because I don't know whether or not there is a deity, but I have no belief in one. I doubt that you'll find many atheists who fall into the category of someone who [b]knows[/b] with certainty that there is no deity. That level of certainty is typically reserved for theists. Technically, it's also possible to be an agnostic theist - ie someone who believes in a deity but doesn't know that there is one, but I don't know any.

I would argue that most people who classify themselves as "agnostic" are actually agnostic atheists, but they're choosing to emphasize the "agnostic" part because it's more socially acceptable. If you're sitting there saying, "I don't know for sure whether there's a deity or not." then you don't have a lot of faith in that deity, either.

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