(April 2, 2018 at 2:10 pm)rskovride Wrote:Neo-Scholastic Wrote: I don't understand why so may atheists are ashamed to say plainly that they don't believe in God. Instead, like Khem, they have to go into these long-winded explanations making all kinds of subtle distinctions, like gnostic versus agnostic atheists. Who cares?
Are you really attempting to dumb down and trivialize these distinctions? Who cares? Well everyone seems to care on this forum and the distinctions are used to give a more granular understanding of our position.
Yes, because those imaginary distinctions make atheism a trivial position. Nobody cares if you're 20% or 80% certain that no God exists. The issue isn't certainty. It's whether or not you are willing to commit to a stance despite the various uncertainties and vicissitudes of human existence.
If I tell my friend that I'll meet him for lunch. I just say whether or not I'll show or if I need to check my calendar.I don't say, well, I'm an agnostic scheduler so I assume I'll be there unless my car unexpectedly breaks down. Nor do I insist that I'm a gnostic scheduler because there is no circumstance under which I would miss lunch.
