https://secularhumanism.org/2022/10/letters-to-the-editor-october-november-2022/
Here is a Letter to the Editor I had in the most recent Free Inquiry magazine, October/November 2022.
On Agnosticism
Jack May’s article (“On Agnosticism,” FI, June/July 2022) seems to imply that we are too arrogant when we call ourselves atheists, instead of agnostics. I used to call myself an agnostic because, as a mathematician, I could not logically prove whether there was a god, though I thought it highly improbable. When I learned that an atheist is simply without a belief in any god, I became an atheist.
My "conversion" from agnosticism to atheism was definitional rather than theological. Depending on how terms are defined and their context, I can call myself an atheist, agnostic, humanist, secular humanist, freethinker, skeptic, rationalist, infidel, and more.
As with atheists, agnostics almost never give equal merit to belief and disbelief. For instance, I can neither prove nor disprove the following claims:
Claim 1: The universe was created 30 minutes ago and the creator planted false memories in all of us.
Claim 2: Infidels who don’t believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster are condemned to burn for eternity in a vat of hot pasta sauce.
I assume we are all “agnostic” about these two hypotheses, but I’d also call myself an atheist with respect to such claims.
When Christians insist that I’m an agnostic, not really an atheist because I can’t demonstrate with absolute certainty that there is no God, I ask it they can demonstrate with absolute certainty that Jesus is Lord. If not, then I tell them that they are agnostics, not really Christians. I’m willing to call myself an agnostic atheist if they’ll call themselves agnostic Christians.
Here’s an interesting distinction between Christians and Freethinkers: Christians have the same unifying word, but fight over theology whereas Freethinkers have the same unifying theology, but fight over words. At least our wars are only rhetorical.
https://secularhumanism.org/2022/10/letters-to-the-editor-october-november-2022/
Here is a Letter to the Editor I had in the most recent Free Inquiry magazine, October/November 2022.
On Agnosticism
Jack May’s article (“On Agnosticism,” FI, June/July 2022) seems to imply that we are too arrogant when we call ourselves atheists, instead of agnostics. I used to call myself an agnostic because, as a mathematician, I could not logically prove whether there was a god, though I thought it highly improbable. When I learned that an atheist is simply without a belief in any god, I became an atheist.
My "conversion" from agnosticism to atheism was definitional rather than theological. Depending on how terms are defined and their context, I can call myself an atheist, agnostic, humanist, secular humanist, freethinker, skeptic, rationalist, infidel, and more.
As with atheists, agnostics almost never give equal merit to belief and disbelief. For instance, I can neither prove nor disprove the following claims:
Claim 1: The universe was created 30 minutes ago and the creator planted false memories in all of us.
Claim 2: Infidels who don’t believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster are condemned to burn for eternity in a vat of hot pasta sauce.
I assume we are all “agnostic” about these two hypotheses, but I’d also call myself an atheist with respect to such claims.
When Christians insist that I’m an agnostic, not really an atheist because I can’t demonstrate with absolute certainty that there is no God, I ask it they can demonstrate with absolute certainty that Jesus is Lord. If not, then I tell them that they are agnostics, not really Christians. I’m willing to call myself an agnostic atheist if they’ll call themselves agnostic Christians.
Here’s an interesting distinction between Christians and Freethinkers: Christians have the same unifying word, but fight over theology whereas Freethinkers have the same unifying theology, but fight over words. At least our wars are only rhetorical.
