Comments on: Putting the Misconception to Bed: Why Atheism and Agnosticism are Not Mutually Exclusive

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By: Kelly

Kelly — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:25:22 +0000

What a great essay–very clear and concise, and it includes humor! Nicely stated!

By: Tommy Blanchard

Tommy Blanchard — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:42:00 +0000

Bill Maher, in a recent interview on The Daily Show, said he “doesn’t like the certainty of atheism”. I was pretty upset by this – you don’t have to be certain of anything to be an atheist! Any reasonable atheist would say that they would be willing to begin believing if there was sufficient evidence to warrant belief.

I found it really upsetting that Maher, who has a movie critical of religion coming out soon, contributed to the misunderstanding about what atheism is.

By: freidenker85

freidenker85 — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:56:33 +0000

I agree… almost.

Well, your definition of agnosticism is perfect: to be an agnostic is to be as fair as possible. It IS impossible to know if god exists or not.

However, atheism, as it is in several (and unfortunately, not in all) dictionary and encyclopedia definitions, is not “the belief that god does not exist”. A definition like that is ridiculous. Believing that something does not exist is absolutely absurd. I can’t believe that something does not exist because in order to believe that, I have to know what that thing IS, and since it doesn’t, to my opinion, exist, then I cannot know what it is that I do not believe in.

As an atheist, what I am is a person who LACKS the belief in God and not because of a faith in his non-existence. I lack belief in God because there is no good reason, not even a wee-bit of evidence, to justify such belief.

Belief, to my opinion, is the middle-ground between knowledge that is absolute and that which has any extent of evidence for. Since God has no real-life evidence for its existence whatsoever, then my belief in this god is none-existent. That said, I can also say that, for example, since there’s mountains of evidence for the theory of gravitation, then I “believe in gravitation” and for a very good reason: this theory has withstood the test of reality. God does not.

So I oppose your definition of atheism as “the belief in the non-existence of God”. But I’m 100% behind you on the other definition you gave.

By: Peter Grant

Peter Grant — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 06:29:14 +0000

This is the most clear and well thought out description I have come across. Thanks. I have just written a sci-fi short story about atheism and would really appreciate you comments: http://scifiwriter.wordpress.com/2008/08/03/faith/