How many people are Agnostics?
I'm 98% percent in favor of no "omniscent presences". I just can't get over the hump that there's some legitimate reason humans started that nonsense. Was it aliens? Are there entities here we don't understand? The great mystery I don't lose any sleep over!
There could be lots of reasons, but there is no reason to go for aliens etc.. Sometimes at night when I am sleeping have a dream in which my dead parents play ar part, its just they way the brain works and if you lived before neurology it was reason enough.
Richard Dawkins said he cannot offer 100 % proof that some form of any god does not exist. This is close to admitting he is agnostic. I don't like trying to fit people into categories or titles. The fact is either side can't offer 100% proof of their convictions.
i will add that there is no reason why we should. is it anyone's job to convince anyone else of anything? as long as there is separation of church and state, nonbelievers are not vilified or attacked and i am not blessed against my will too often, i really don't care whether i convince anyone that there are no gods. that's not my job. i don't know that it's anyone's job.
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@maturin1919 I always totally disagreed with that statement. If you are going to say that there is 100% that something does not exist you do indeed have to show proof. Think of it like this, if I was to walk in front of a bunch of astrophysicist and say that life does not exist anywhere else in the cosmos I would be asked how I drew that conclusion. Saying that something does not cannot exist is a positive statement not a negative one.
@genessa Totally agree, which is why I'm active in the original motto project and separation of church and state.
@Freespirit64 good and necessary stuff!
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I would consider my self an atheistic apatheist: I don't believe in gods and the debate about their existence or non-existence really doesn't interest me.
I do not believe in any gods and have been shown no proof that any exist. I have seen evidence of a lack of gods or supreme beings. So, I consider myself atheist. I don't require anyone to disprove the existence of gods any more than I need someone to disprove Santa. I don't require absolute certainty only absolute proof that a god exists.
I'm not really one for labels, The word "Atheist" is kind of pointless. It's like having a word for "non- bowler".
But if I have to, I usually go with Agnostic Atheist.
Atheist, because I in no way believe in any sort of "Deity" or what ever one wants to call it.
And Agnostic, because I, nor anyone, can 100% prove it either way.
But, I equate proving a Deity to proving leprechauns.
JMHO.
Exactly right.
As a % of population - that would be very difficult to verify accurately
Me. Atheist & agnostic.
I don’t think you can be both, can you?
@JordynnM Gnostic theist: I know there is a god, and I believe in him. Agnostic theist: I don't or can't know if there is a god, and I believe in him. Agnostic atheist: I don't or can't know if there is a god, and I don't believe in any. Gnostic atheist: I know there is no gods and I don't believe in any.
@JordynnM I do not believe and I do not know.
I believe in a lot of stuff...
I believe in equality, integrity, kindness and compassion,
I believe in bacon.
I also believe that there a Tesla orbiting Earth (at least for now).
I believe in Yahwey as much as I believe in the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy,
I believe that there is an equal probability that there exists a Flying Spaghetti Monster and that there is a teapot in orbit around Mars.
We can derive some good lessons from good literature (or shows or movies or whatever) and that's all well and fine. Good literature can be mind blowing, eye opening, educational, informative and enlightening, but that doesn't mean that Harry Potter, or Frodo & Sam, or Superman are real.
There is only one true "God" and it is "Cat"... all of them... or, ya know, at least according to them. meow.
Me. I really don't care which label non-believers use for themselves. I know that most people, esp. believers, are more familiar with the term atheist, and that term currently has a very negative stigma attached to it here in the US. Similar to being a Muslim post 9-11, or the term homosexual used to have decades ago.
I have been an atheist since age 13, when I realized the Bible is just a book of stories written by men.