Comment Re:Athiest or Agnostic? (Score 1) 1224
BCGlorfindel, I don't disagree with you. I would like to use new terms. I think that's what the Wiki article is getting at with the terms weak and strong atheist.
Spazmania, what is this "God" you keep talking about? Please define the term. Somebody once said asking questions about God(s) is as intelligible as asking, "what color is Saturday"? Which leads to my favorite new term in this topic: "ignosticism"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignosticism
I don't think the term "agnostic" is a pejorative. At the deepest level I'm an agnostic about everything. I don't even know if you exist. (I might be a brain in a vat, etc.) Again it all depends on who's asking me about God and what they think it means. If some deep thinkers like Einstein or the Dalai Lama were asking me I would certainly be an agnostic with no shame regarding a lack of conviction. If a fundamentalist Christian, who believed Jesus was coming back in the body any moment now, was asking me about their God, I would certainly be an atheist. So as I said in the beginning I am both an atheist and an agnostic.
But you are right about the spin Spazmania. I don't see it as a bad thing though. Especially when the second definition of atheism in the American Heritage dictionary includes the word "immorality". So I think some positive or maybe philosophical spin is needed for a word used for a much reviled minority. (Some tried to make up a new word, "bright (n.)", but that didn't work out for obvious reasons.)
I find these topics fascinating, so if you want to continue the discussion feel free to e-mail me at my username at gmail.com
Spazmania, what is this "God" you keep talking about? Please define the term. Somebody once said asking questions about God(s) is as intelligible as asking, "what color is Saturday"? Which leads to my favorite new term in this topic: "ignosticism"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignosticism
I don't think the term "agnostic" is a pejorative. At the deepest level I'm an agnostic about everything. I don't even know if you exist. (I might be a brain in a vat, etc.) Again it all depends on who's asking me about God and what they think it means. If some deep thinkers like Einstein or the Dalai Lama were asking me I would certainly be an agnostic with no shame regarding a lack of conviction. If a fundamentalist Christian, who believed Jesus was coming back in the body any moment now, was asking me about their God, I would certainly be an atheist. So as I said in the beginning I am both an atheist and an agnostic.
But you are right about the spin Spazmania. I don't see it as a bad thing though. Especially when the second definition of atheism in the American Heritage dictionary includes the word "immorality". So I think some positive or maybe philosophical spin is needed for a word used for a much reviled minority. (Some tried to make up a new word, "bright (n.)", but that didn't work out for obvious reasons.)
I find these topics fascinating, so if you want to continue the discussion feel free to e-mail me at my username at gmail.com
