I teach professing atheists everyday...

FJ

ELLEN JOHNSON is the President of American Atheists, a nationwide movement founded by Madalyn Murray O'Hair which defends the civil rights of nonbelievers, works for the separation of church and state, and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.

Try more than Living She is one of the people that was recently the most outspoken and involved with removing the 10 Commandments from public buildings and her predecessor was involved in such debates as taking prayer out of public schools ....

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Technically speaking, an atheist is simply someone who lacks a belief in God.....which is different from the positive claim "God does not exist". As such, proof isn't requisite for their position. They simply don't find the evidence of God's existance compelling enough to believe in Him.

Can't one prove a negative? Yes, they can...not through the cause, but rather by reduction...

Does an agnostic have a belief in God?

Does an agnostic have a belief in God?

As wrong as he may be, you are misrepresnting him.

Can't one prove a negative? Yes, they can...not through the cause, but rather by reduction...

agnostic - a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and prob. unknowable; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a God.


So, you may ask, what's the difference between an agnostic and a weak atheist?

An agnostic believes it to be unknowable. He believes it to be outside of the ability of the human mind. The weak atheist simply lacks belief. It's possible for someone to be a member of both groups, but being a member of one doesn't necessitate membership in another. (I wish there were some way to draw Venn diagrams here, but you get the gist.)

And the agnostic is even more interesting. Does an agnostic hold the unknowable view AND lack a commitment? If so, this makes all agnostics weak athiests.

If an agnostic holds only the lack of commitment, then he is also a weak athiest.

Look at it this way. An agnostic is making a claim about the limits of epistemology. He feels any knowledge lies outside of our grasp. The weak atheist doesn't make the same claim....he holds that perhaps it IS within our realm of possibility to have knowledge of the existance of God, he simply lacks such a belief.

If you were to ask an agnostic if he lacks a belief in God, he might scratch his head in puzzlement. The question would seem absurd to him.....as might the very concept of God. It'd be the same as asking me whether or not I lack a belief in the planet Zebulon 5 in the outer reaches of Toejam Nebula.

This leaves the door open for an agnostic to believe in God.

I see four categories.

Knowable/no God
Knowable/God
Unknowable/No God
Unknowable/God

Yes. That is correct.

It sounds counterintuitive for someone to say "I am an agnostic Christian", but that is certainly a possibility.

Yes. That is correct.

It sounds counterintuitive for someone to say "I am an agnostic Christian", but that is certainly a possibility.

edit: Except I would have a fifth category of "Unknowable/No conception"

And possibly a sixth category:
Huh?/Huh?

Yes. That is correct.

It sounds counterintuitive for someone to say "I am an agnostic Christian", but that is certainly a possibility.

edit: Except I would have a fifth category of "Unknowable/No conception"

Please explain.

Reductios....for one

Then there is Bocardo, Celarent, Baroco...Celarent being first figure this should be obvious!

A is said of no B
B is said of all C
---------------------
A is said of no C

Forgive me, I haven't been in a philosophy class in 10 years so these advanced terms confuse me.

Please explain the reductio method for this example.