"Isn't "agnostic atheist" an oxymoron??  "

"It's interesting enough, apparently, to make several contributions to the discussion. How uninteresting does a topic have to be to drive you to ignore it and floss your teeth or rearrange your sock drawer. In other words, I don't think you…"

"Eric, why do people have beliefs about things they can't be certain about? Why can't someone be an atheist based on what they believe. I believe that no one has taken my refrigerator out of my apartment even though I'm visiting a…"

"Every true statement states a certainty. You just can't be sure which ones are certain and which ones aren't. Feeling certain = believing, and it isn't the same thing as certainty and doesn't bestow any actuality on what one…"

"But, John, you can appreciate that just because a question isn't terribly interesting to you doesn't mean that it's irrelevant, right? I mean, we're talking about what we can know, whether and what we believe, the nature of…"

"You're splitting hairs John. The relevant distinction is that on the god question there is both the belief and knowledge aspects that need to be answered. This isn't the case with evolution. If someone said to you "Do you have belief…"

"Yea the revision was already semi covered. What i want to know is why does that distinction mean anything to you and in what context."

"Which is not a terribly interesting question to me. I understand you disagree with me, Nelson. Does anyone else around here, particularly Eric? "

"I think you give short shrift to creationists in the issue of evolution. Creationists most certainly do not think that evolutionists have "accept[ed] the evidence for evolution," and of course reject the premise of that statement (i.e.,…"

"Because it goes to whether someone is willing to claim absolutely that god's don't exist as opposed to saying that they're agnostic on the question."

"Well, if it's your opinion that other issues aren't interesting then, OK. I can certainly respect that. But the fact remains, atheism is a position on belief while agnosticism is a not mutually exclusive position on knowledge. That means…"

"Eric, at least for me, your question as revised is still not interesting. You mean "absolute certainty when it comes to gods is not possible ..." Okay, fine. But it seems that absolute certainty about anything -- science, politics,…"

"Eric! There we go! Thanks for the clarification. You should edit your main post so that anyone else visiting the thread will see what you meant. :)"

"Nelson, it depends on why someone thinks the simple statement "I'm an atheist" needs some sort of qualifier. The original question started: "If absolute certainty is impossible ..." It suggests we take that as a given.…"

"I'm sincerely sorry for not being specific with my question. I meant absolute certainty when it comes to gods is not possible, therefore, why are you an atheist rather than an agnostic atheist. "