[ExI] Fw: Re: atheists declare religions as scams.

[Adrian Tymes]

Technically, what you speak of is agnosticism.

Agnostic = absence of belief

Atheist = belief of absence

That's the difference between the terms.

On Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 6:16 AM, Ben Zaiboc <bbenzai at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Atheism means a *lack* of belief in the 'strong' sense of the word, in other words, the sense used by religious people, where the belief doesn't have any supporting evidence.  I still believe the sun will rise tomorrow though, which is the 'weak' sense of the word, and is evidence-based.  I don't think this can be called an 'atheistic belief' though.
>
> Many religious types try to (mis)characterise atheism as a Belief (strong sense) that there are no gods, but this is not true.  That would be called anti-theism, I suppose, and would require just as much 'blind faith' as any religion. Well, nearly as much. I'm not talking about an assumption here, but a Belief.
>
> Atheism makes a reasonable assumption, based on the available evidence (both the logical absurdities and the lack of physical evidence).  That's not a Belief.
>
> I think this is a very important point, and atheists should watch out for this misconception wherever it occurs (including in themselves), and try to correct it.
>
> Absence of belief != Belief of absence.
>
> Ben Zaiboc
>
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>
>
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