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Every weekday, Greta Christina is going post a short, pithy, Facebook-ready atheist meme... in the hopes that people will spread them, and that eventually, the ideas will get through. (She may make the same point in different ways on different days: partly because different people find different angles on an idea easier to understand, and partly because repetition is itself useful in getting ideas across.) If you want to play, please feel free to pass these on through your own Facebook page, or whatever forum or social networking site you like. Or if you don't like hers, she says, make some of your own. I am mostly quoting hers, with only slight alterations if I think some important point got left out for brevity.
Today's meme:
Atheism doesn't mean being 100% certain that God doesn't exist. It means being certain enough. It means thinking God is hypothetically possible, but unless we see some better evidence for him, we're going to assume he doesn't exist. The "a" in "atheism means only "without god", not "I'm certain there is no god". That's gnosticism. Pass it on.
For the record, I'm a Gnostic Atheist, which means I'm reasonably certain there is no god and that I live my life without belief in god. Agnostic means "I don't have knowledge" and Atheism means "I don't have belief". Lacking something does not equate having its opposite, so "lacking belief in god" does not mean "having belief in no-god". One can lack belief in god without *knowing* there is no god, that's Agnostic Atheism. One can have belief in god without *knowing* there is no god, that's Agnostic Theism. One can lack belief in god while *knowing* there is no god, that's Gnostic Atheism. One can have belief in god while "knowing" there is god, that's Gnostic Theism.
Atheism means "without god", not "with no-god", there is a significant grammatical difference. Saying that atheism is a religion is like saying not collecting stamps is a hobby. And comparing Agnostic vs. Atheism as an either/or is poor grammar.
Today's meme:
Atheism doesn't mean being 100% certain that God doesn't exist. It means being certain enough. It means thinking God is hypothetically possible, but unless we see some better evidence for him, we're going to assume he doesn't exist. The "a" in "atheism means only "without god", not "I'm certain there is no god". That's gnosticism. Pass it on.
For the record, I'm a Gnostic Atheist, which means I'm reasonably certain there is no god and that I live my life without belief in god. Agnostic means "I don't have knowledge" and Atheism means "I don't have belief". Lacking something does not equate having its opposite, so "lacking belief in god" does not mean "having belief in no-god". One can lack belief in god without *knowing* there is no god, that's Agnostic Atheism. One can have belief in god without *knowing* there is no god, that's Agnostic Theism. One can lack belief in god while *knowing* there is no god, that's Gnostic Atheism. One can have belief in god while "knowing" there is god, that's Gnostic Theism.
Atheism means "without god", not "with no-god", there is a significant grammatical difference. Saying that atheism is a religion is like saying not collecting stamps is a hobby. And comparing Agnostic vs. Atheism as an either/or is poor grammar.
