(December 3, 2011 at 11:04 am)Ace Otana Wrote:(December 3, 2011 at 11:01 am)lucent Wrote: Sigh. Okay, let's rephrase this.
You either believe in X = X exists
Don't know if X is real = X may or may not exist
Don't believe in X = X doesn't exist
It is not a lack of belief. It is the belief that X doesn't not exist, is not real, etc.
Quote:If a man has failed to find any good reason for believing that there is a God, it is perfectly natural and rational that he should not believe that there is a God; and if so, he is an atheist... if he goes farther, and, after an investigation into the nature and reach of human knowledge, ending in the conclusion that the existence of God is incapable of proof, cease to believe in it on the ground that he cannot know it to be true, he is an agnostic and also an atheist – an agnostic-atheist – an atheist because an agnostic... while, then, it is erroneous to identify agnosticism and atheism, it is equally erroneous so to separate them as if the one were exclusive of the other...
Nuff said.
False. If he ceases to believe that God exists because he cannot know it to be true, he must also cease to disbelieve it, because he also cannot know it to be untrue.
Atheism is belief that God does not exist. Agnosticism is the belief that we cannot know if God exists or not. They are contradictory beliefs and mutually exclusive.
