Thinking that we can establish a word's meaning by looking at its roots is a fallacy: to be precise, the etymological fallacy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymological_fallacy
Atheism means whatever the majority wants it to mean. Most atheists mean it as simple lack of belief. So that's that. If we want to add claims of the impossibility, or improbabilty, of God's existence, then we can (as I do). So agnosticism, as it's commonly defined (a position of uncertainty), is an atheistic position.
Wikipedia Wrote:The etymological fallacy holds, erroneously, that the original or historical meaning of a word or phrase is necessarily similar to its actual present-day meaning. This is a linguistic misconception, mistakenly identifying a word's current semantic field with its etymology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymological_fallacy
Atheism means whatever the majority wants it to mean. Most atheists mean it as simple lack of belief. So that's that. If we want to add claims of the impossibility, or improbabilty, of God's existence, then we can (as I do). So agnosticism, as it's commonly defined (a position of uncertainty), is an atheistic position.
'We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.' H.L. Mencken
'False religion' is the ultimate tautology.
'It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.' Mark Twain
'I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.' Abraham Lincoln
'False religion' is the ultimate tautology.
'It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.' Mark Twain
'I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.' Abraham Lincoln
