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Atheism's Definition - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
RE: Atheism's Definition - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(December 5, 2013 at 11:55 pm)Vincenzo "Vinny" G. Wrote: The question ought to be "Does God exist?"
Theist: Yes
Agnostic: I don't know
Atheist: No

"Do you 'believe in' God?"
Practicing theists: Yes
Non practicing theists: Depends
Agnostics, atheists, otherwise irreligious: No

Here I'm taking that "believe in" means something different from "believe in the existence of."
This looks reasonable, but it only includes absolute positions. What if for "Does God exist" you say "I don't think so" or "I think so". Does this mean that if you are only 99% sure god exists, you are not really a theist? For either answer, you are still agnostic (because you say 'think' instead of 'know'), but you are also either defending or attacking the position that god exists. If you say "I have no clue", then I would say you're pure agnostic, even if you were technically atheistic.
John Adams Wrote:The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.
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RE: Atheism's Definition - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - by Darkstar - December 6, 2013 at 12:44 pm

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