Gnostic Atheism? WTF?

[Mister Agenda]

"One of these things is not like the others. And why should I treat gods differently from other paranormal claims. Ideology?" --Mister Agenda

You shouldn't. That's kind of my point.

Most agnostic atheists, I think, have no problem saying "there's no such thing as unicorns".

That's not been my experience. Unicorns are far more probable than most versions of God of which I've heard.

But when presented with the god hypothesis, they weaken their position and say "I'm agnostic on the issue. It's unknowable, but I don't actively believe in the existence of gods."

You haven't established that they have a stronger position regarding other purported paranormal beings, you've just assumed it.

Why should we treat the god claim any different from the unicorn or leprechaun or superman claim?

I can't speak for everyone, but I don't, and I don't know anyone who does. I often hear other people claiming it about agnostic atheists, but I've never seen any indication they're correct in their analysis.

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You can make such a claim, but you would be logically incorrect. Not because there is a god, but because you can't know for sure that there is NOT a god. Also, you do like most people and misinterpret God entirely. God is not simply allowing people to be tortured forever and ever. Hell, according to Judeo-Christian teaching, is this:

God is the source of all good. Anything good in this world is from God. Anything evil is the result of man's separation from God through sin.

So the serpent in the Garden of Eden was good, because it preceded man's separation from God through sin? Something is not adding up. The Bible explicitly states that both evil and good come from God, which is much consistent.

In the end, there are two places. Heaven, where God resides, and Hell, where God is not. Obviously, if that place is entirely cut off from God, there will be no good there. The reason that people wind up in hell is because they held onto there evil nature. Evil is like antimatter, good is like matter. God has so much good in him, it will completely destroy any evil with which it comes into contact. This is why people in the bible weren't allowed to look at the Face of God, because they would die. It's not that God is trying to kill or torture anyone. If they would just get rid of their evil nature they would be able to dwell with Him, instead of apart from Him.

So he decided that the right thing to do to avoid destroying our souls was to torture them forever?

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You shouldn't. That's kind of my point.

Superman, unicorns and leprechauns are physical beings that should leave evidence of their existence, even if they were hiding.

Because we've discovered all physical beings that really exist? I'll grant you Superman, largely because his provenance is a matter of record and his reputed deeds would be impossible to miss. I dismiss the God of Abraham on similar grounds. Unicorns, oth, are merely highly unlikely.

An undefined mind behind the Big Bang is, IMHO, another matter. We don't yet know enough to rule out that there is any kind of conscious thought behind the universe the way we can with these other beings.

True that. Although I consider the odds of such a being fitting any reasonable description of a God to be infinetesimal--what are the odds we would have a God who created exactly the universe we find ourselves in (I know that's bad logic, just having fun turning fine tuning over)? But some science geek pressing the 'create universe' button on his super-cyclotron? Not quite as unlikely.

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religions always have sects in them that are literal. This atheist one is no different.

What text do atheist literalists try to interpret literally?

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I've yet to see a truly unfalsifiable god claim btw, I've mused on this before.

I'm very interested in hearing how you would falsify the God proposed by deists.