Comment by Brian Pansky on September 17, 2011 at 12:19am

like, has anyone heard of agnosticism, for instance?

Comment by Artor on September 17, 2011 at 12:57am

@ Joseph B.

Isn't he? It's nice to see people concerned about all the captive big cats in zoos. All they ever get fed is dead animals. Providing them with some live game now & then keeps their reflexes honed.

Comment by Isaac on September 17, 2011 at 12:44pm

When one is saying "I believe x," it can be interpreted to mean "x is true. If someone says "I believe not x, they are saying, "not x is true," or "x is false." When someone says "I don't believe x," it also means "x is false." Now, does this imply that "I don't believe x" and "I believe not x" are equivalent? Not necessarily. To do that, one would have to go backwards and show that "x is false" implies both "I don't believe x" and "I believe not x." I don't feel like doing that.

 

I do have to say that I find it annoying how lots of atheists get their panties all wrapped in a bunch over the difference over "I don't believe in god" vs "I believe there is no god." Semantically, yes, there might be a slight difference, but for all practical purposes, they essentially mean the same thing. I'll agree that "I don't believe in god" is more general, but really, it's a pointless semantic debate that nobody really gives a shit about.

 

Here's some shit that PZ Myers says about it:

The "I believe in no gods/I lack belief in gods" debate. I have heard this so often, the hair-splitting grammatical distinctions some atheists think so seriously important in defining themselves. All you're doing is defining yourselves as anal retentive freaks, people! Get over it. Either way, you're an atheist — and that goes for the over-philosophized fussbudgets who insist that they're agnostics, not atheists, because they aren't 100% positive there aren't any gods, only 99 44/100ths positive. Atheism is such a general club, and it's so easy to fall into the definition, that it's silly to sit around arguing about how close to the fence you're sitting.

I don't care. Tell me what virtues you bring, what experiences brought you here, why your values matter to society. The fine-grained shuffling about to define yourself so precisely is simply narcissistic masturbation.

Comment by Nathan Hevenstone on September 17, 2011 at 4:42pm

it's a pointless semantic debate that nobody really gives a shit about.

Except, of course, for the theists who insist on stereotyping us as a faith-based religion to make it easier for them to attack. I argue over the distinction because I do NOT have faith, I do NOT belong to a religion, and I absolutely HATE it when someone tries to tell me otherwise.

Comment by Gloria Stevens on September 17, 2011 at 9:44pm

@Eoganacht - Yeah, I was just having fun with this since I have studied mathematics and language and find them totally seperate. I couldn't help point out the disconnect.

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