What is with this Atheist/Agnostic divide stuff lately. It sounds like Catholic/Protestant, Sunni/Shia, orthodox/reform.
Do atheists or agnostics really care what the other camp call themselves?
Lots of talk here about divisiveness caused by religion but this debate always smacks of my non-god is bigger than your non-god.
I may be wrong and if so please correct me but from an observer’s viewpoint looks like the same duck that went to the mosque, then the synagogue then the cathedral! I.e. if it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck...
I don't think the differentiation between agnosticism and atheism needs to be divisive. The only difference so that as I can see is that agnostics will say either 1 'you can't prove the existence of god either way' or 2 'I am not aware of the evidence, therefore I think its only fair to remain agnostic until I feel better educated'. The atheists will say either 1' There is overwhelming amounts of evidence proving that god doesn't exist, or 2 'while it isn't possible to prove it by 100%, all the evidence suggests that no god exists'.
I think that there is no reason not to have this conversation. Its important to encourage conversation that involves critical thinking, and to be able to take criticism in the correct way. The only thing that is wrong to do here is to shut the conversation down.
No doubt a lot of overlap exists Atheist/Agnostic divide. I have heard people define their atheism in the same terms as I have defined my agnosticism. I also understand that there are theistic agnostics but nothing similar for atheists. For me, I am in the camp that believes that God, if such an entity exists, is an unknowable or definable entity. Any entity with greater abilities than we can currently understand may appear to be a God, but may in fact be an entity with faults and foibles (not a God). We could be easily fooled by these aspects of greater ability and still not be a God.
We choose our own labels. Haven't observed any animosity between then two here.
I’ve observed frequent jibes between two ideas.
@Geoffrey51 People in ANY group will never agree with all the others 100% of the time. Four of us haven't noted it so I don't think it is at all pervasive here.