Atheist vs. agnostic vs. agnostic atheist

[bennyboy]

I think muddying the water by saying inanimate objects hold a position (eg atheism) is rather odd.

I mean, a rock could be a theist, whose to say?

I think it's quite easy to bracket out inanimate objects when it comes to defining an atheist as some who lacks a belief in deities, as I describe myself.

I think your point is that while inanimate objects may technically be atheist, it's pointless to talk about them in that way. Simlarly, saying everyone is a-unicornist is pointless, because so few people give a shit about the question of whether unicorns exist. So there's always that subtext, there: atheism is WORTH talking about because it's set against a context of religious idiocy. It shows a willingness to stand up against a moral majority based on a fairy tale.

The thing that annoys me about this debate is that it is settled, automatically, by the specific question being asked, and by the context in which the question is asked. There doesn't HAVE to be a definition of atheism that always applies. Agnosticism and atheism don't HAVE to be about different things. For example, if someone asks me, "Hey dude, do you believe some kind of God or gods exist?", I'll say I don't know, but I consider it perfectly possible. In that case, while atheists might want to crow on that I'm atheist by default since I haven't formulated an active belief system, I think that's really rude, because the agnostic label is sufficient in describing my position, and describes it more meaningfully. If you ask me, "Do you believe there is some mind in the universe that is so far beyond human comprehension that it would make sense to call it a god?" I'd answer yes, I not only feel it's possible, but it's very likely that somewhere in the universe such small-g gods exist. If someone asks me "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior? Do you believe in God?" I'll tell them that I don't believe in fairy tales, and they have five seconds before I release the hounds. In this case, I'm both atheist and antitheist.

Attempting to define me with the word atheism fails due to the fact that my answer varies depending on the context in which I have to identify myself. Until the context is established, I'm simultaneously BOTH atheist and theist. And in this case, where the context is not defined to my satisfaction, pure agnosticism is a more sensible position: I believe in gods under some definitions, and I disbelieve in others. I'm agnostic except in contexts where the word "God" is defined sufficiently well for me to identify whether that definition is part of my world view.