file.newsgroup.med.59597 Maven / Gradle / Ivy
From: [email protected] (Russell Turpin)
Subject: Meaning of atheism, agnosticism (was: Krillean Photography)
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In article <[email protected]> [email protected] (Grant Edwards) writes:
> As a self-proclaimed atheist my position is that I _believe_ that
> there is no god. I don't claim to have any proof. I interpret
> the agnostic position as having no beliefs about god's existence.
That's fine. These words have multiple meanings.
As a self-proclaimed atheist, I believe that *some* conceptions
of god are inconsistent or in conflict with fact, and I lack
belief in other conceptions of god merely because there is no
reason for me to believe in these. I usually use the word
agnostic to mean someone who believes that the existence of
a god is unknown inherently unknowable. Note that this is a
positive belief that is quite different from not believing in a
god; I do not believe in a god, but I also do not believe the
agnostic claim.
Russell