Atheist or really Agnostic

[pocaracas]

Oh... goodie!!! A new chew toy!
And this one has poe®™ written all over!

To truly be an atheist is to claim that there in no God.

You'll never win!
The first sentence, man... the very first sentence?!?!
It's wrong, look here:

atheist
1570s, from Fr. athéiste (16c.), from Gk. atheos "to deny the gods, godless," from a- "without" + theos "a god" (see Thea). A slightly earlier form is represented by atheonism (1530s) which is perhaps from It. atheo "atheist."

Dictionaries help with definitions of words, you know?

But that very claim is to pose an absolute negation about a supreme being. It would be extremely hard to prove such an absolute negation.

It is... that's why we don't usually do it...

Even if you could look throughout the entire universe, which you cannot, and found no God, that still would not prove that God does not exist. It would at best prove that God could not be seen.

Or was "out" of the Universe itself!
Anything goes for a god, right?

Because of this, it is impossible to absolutely claim that there is no God.

No shit, Sherlock?!
Did you know that it is also impossible to absolutely claim that there is no:
- Fairy
- Leprechaun
- Mermaid
- Unicorn
- Pegasus
- Dragon
- Santa Claus
- Easter bunny


And yet, we don't attach an a- and an -ist to these words because it is common knowledge that these entities are fictional.
I can't fathom why that memo never reached the god myth...

A person could be fairly convinced of their position, but they could not prove it.

Such is the burden of those who actively believe that Santa exists...

In essence they would logically have to be an agnostic, with a personal belief that to the best of their knowledge, there is no God. But then logically they are agnostic. They really do not know.

Aye... I really do not know if there is a Santa Claus... maybe... but I do know who buys my kids' presents... And it's no fat guy in a red suit.

Since logically they are agnostic, they must allow for the possibility that God may exist, if they are to be true to a logical position.

But I know, first hand, that if I don't buy presents for my kids, Santa will not make bring them. I tried that.... should I try again, until Santa delivers? Should I make my kids go through that A/S/K ordeal?

They certainly can keep their personal belief of no God, unless they could be shown that God does exist. But an honest agnostic must allow for the possibility that God exists.

Aye.... I allow the possibility of Santa... but I operate under the assumption he doesn't exist. That's why I buy my kids' presents.
Do you go with Santa? How often have your kids been left presentless, because of that?

Those that claim that they will always be an atheist, may be showing that it is not logical to absolutely claim that there is no God, but a bias to not even consider the evidence.

There is no photo of the sleigh.
There is no photo of the fat bearded guy in a red suit... well, at least not of the true one... many posers, there are.
Apart from movies, cartoons, books, etc... there is no documented account of a Santa visit.
Until then, if you believe Santa exists, then you leave your kids waiting for him to deliver christmas presents. I will continue to take care of those presents myself and keep them a bit happy on christmas morning.