I have some questions for the posters here.

[Frank Apisa]

Consider this proposition, Frank.

There is a 9 foot tall invisible bunny rabbit in your front yard. But not only is it invisible, normal matter passes through it. There is virtually no way for science to detect it.

But it is my belief that this bunny nevertheless exists. Why? Because when I think about your front yard, I'm filled with all kinds of sensations of clover-eating and Easter baskets.

Now, the agnostic position is simply this: it cannot be known. If anyone is going to reject my personal criterion for knowledge (fuzzy feelings) they may say the fact that science not being able to detect the bunny is good reason to think it can't be known whether it exists or not.

So let's say you accept the agnostic argument and agree that it can't be known (or at the very least YOU DON'T KNOW).

One question can still be asked:

Do you believe the bunny exists?

It's a yes or no question, one that agnostics about the bunny can provide an answer to; and we could construct two distinct categories (bunnyist, abunnyist) depending on which answer people give. Simple as that.

Ultimately, I suppose that we could choose other names for such things, and the fact we've chosen these specific names simply boils down to convention. But even if THAT is your position, you still must recognize that the underlying questions (and the answers that accompany them) are still the same. And THAT is the substantive part of the issue, for gods and bunnies alike.

Your hypothetical pretty much solidifies my objection to using "atheist" as "someone without a belief in a god.

You atheists want "atheist" to mean "a" (without) + "theist" (a believer in a god) = WITHOUT A BELIEF IN A GOD.

BUT IT DOESN'T.

Atheist is an older word in the English language than theist. It did not come from "theist." It came from "theos" a god...and means "a" (without) + "theos" (a god) = WITHOUT A GOD.

IT DOES NOT MEAN WITHOUT A BELIEF IN A GOD...IT MEANS WITHOUT A GOD.

If there is a god (one of two possibilities) one IS STILL WITH A GOD...even if he/she does not "believe" the god exists.

Yeah, it is used the way the atheists here are insisting...and if used that way, all agnostics (which actually includes all theists also) are atheists.

Really stupid.

New born infants and toddlers who do not "believe" in any gods are not atheists by default. Acknowledged agnostics are not atheists by default. I am not an atheist by default.

Be sensible. Get off the bullshit. Stop insisting that it is binary...and that people like me are de facto atheists because of a mistaken etymology.