(October 2, 2015 at 2:39 pm)Whateverist the White Wrote:(October 2, 2015 at 1:41 pm)KevinM1 Wrote: I kinda like 'apostate' since I did consider myself Catholic for a time.
That won't work for me. Reminds me of a problematic part of my anatomy.
But there are other categories to be considered besides "do you believe in god(s)" - atheism and "are you certain that gods do or don't exist. In addition to being atheist and agnostic, I am also ignostic since I find the 'god(s)' in question poorly defined. I'll also cop to being apatheist since the questions concerning whatever these god things may be doesn't really interest me. (That said, I can admit to finding the question "why has god belief been so prevalent for so long" very interesting.)
So there are at least four god questions the answers to which can help to classify atheists. They are:
Do you believe in god(s)?
Are you certain whether they exist?
Do you know what we are even talking about when the G word comes up?
Do you care whether or not gods exist?
Since it is now the fashion in this thread to answer your questions:
No.
It depends on which one we are talking about. For many, yes. As certain as I am of anything. More certain than I am that China exists. And I am pretty sure China exists.
Sometimes. Sometimes, though, the person is just speaking gibberish.
Yes. Frankly, I question whether anyone really does not. Do you not care if there is a being who might torture you for eternity? Of course you do! So I do not believe those who say they do not care. I don't think they have thought the matter through adequately.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
