Biblical illiteracy

[Jacob(smooth)]

So - where is the proof outside of the bible?

Silly question is silly.

Proof of what. The existence of Jesus Christ? I think that there is reasonable solid historical evidence from outside of the bible, I know tacticus mentioned him, that he was crucified by pontius pilate and that he was the focus of a religion (a source outside of the bible, with no vested interest which dovetails with scripture). This was somewhat after his death but still within living memory. There are other contemporary accounts which mention him as well. Spin forward a few hundred years and you have evidence for early christianity which is as strong as any we have for anything of the period (the edict of milan etc).

If you're talking about proof of the supernatural, that is both absent and impossible. The only means of recording anything was to write it down and anything written down is only as reliable as the person writing it.

If you're talking about proof of the events of the late Old testament, for the most part, so far as I know, there is not very much. For the early Old testament, none, and the events within contradict things we think we know to be true (like the age of the earth).

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I'm not sure it is safe to include people who believe in "nothing in particular" with Atheists. I'd probably class them with Agnostics - but even there if they are of the "I think there is something up there" group then they would probably be class-able as non-specific theists.

If you are going to talk about Atheists then its probably safer to go with those that specifically identify themselves as such.

I'm sure that muddied the waters further - sorry.

Not at all. That's the problem with this sort of thing. Everyone has their own definition.

If we are trying to be objective, The oxford English (vis best ) defines atheist as

a person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods

upon which bases I would argue that someone who believes in nothing in particular clearly "lacks belief in the existence of god". However words do take on additional and colloquial meaning as the mere existence of this website demonstrates. There are no forums made specifically for people who lack belief that I have a cat in my house. Hence to most people an Atheist (with an uppercase A) tends to be someone who identifies themselves by what they DON'T believe in. It makes perfect sense that someone who specifically identifies themselves as not believing in something would develop a better knowledge than someone who was merely unaware or indifferent to it.