Yeah, I know what you mean. I am an atheist, but not what I call a "militant atheist", or a "Dawkins / Hitchens acolyte". I believe (or dis-believe) what I believe, but I'm not worried about getting in other people's faces and contesting things with them. The only time I care what other people believe is when you get into situations where people try to use the hammer that is government, to force their religious beliefs on people who don't share those beliefs.
I consider myself to be an agnostic at the moment mostly due to a lack of options. I don't consider it to be a "weasel term".
Yeah, I could have worded that better. I'd say it was a "weasel term" for me to call myself agnostic, as I really was an atheist all along. I just wasn't quite confident enough to really state it firmly, and also I think I thought that saying "agnostic" instead of "atheist" was less likely to provoke conflict (again, living in the Bible Belt, with lots of friends and family who are very religious).
I have nothing against the term agnostic in general, I just realized I was using it to avoid the issue.
http://reason.com/archives/2012/03/27/believers-atheists-wor...
As for Pascal's Wager, what if God rewards atheists and sends believers to Hell?
Culturally speaking, leprechauns, unicorns and Darth Vader have no relation to "Why is there something instead of nothing?" and other such deep questions. I really think that's all it is.
It's because those things would by definition be within our universe and thus probably testable. However a deity that controls our universe may be outside it, thus leaving us with no way to test for him, despite his control.
In hacker analogy, would a Sim character in a VM be able to be completely sure that you (god) don't exist?
To "not believe in god" is rational based on available evidence. To "believe there is no god" is an act of faith in itself because it (very likely) cannot be tested.
At least IMHO.
God rewards atheists who are good and do good things.
Other forms of Christianity may disagree with that.
Please don't!
I certainly don't view agnosticism as a weasel term either. I cannot be certain there is no god any more than I could be certain there is one (and note by god I'm not referring to the man with the beard and the pearly gates and all that.... something that I think can easily get lost in conversation on this topic). I think it's honest to just say "I don't know".
I have a friend who's in the process of discovering his own atheism and while atheism is not a religion, I can clearly see the similarity in passion. I was likely the same back when I was exploring it at first.
Have heard lots about The Selfish Gene but never actually sat down and read it.... should really do so. Is there a more modern version to read these days, or is TSG timelessly applicable?
The question begs another though and I think this is what you're really trying to ask: Why is belief in God given special consideration apart from beliefs in things like Thor, Santa, Unicorns, FSM, other works of fiction?
Am I right in this assertion?
EDIT: If this is the case, my answer is similar to one I gave above: Religion is 'special' because it was woven into society long before we developed the scientific understandings that we have now.
We are/were both raised in, and still live in, the "Bible Belt" as well. I've studied most world religions, have read quite a bit in that arena from the esoteric like "A Course in Miracles", "The Book of Urantia", Meister Eckhart, much of Jiddu Krishnamurti, the Tao Te Ching, etc etc to formalized things like William James's the variety of religious experience.
I've had my own, I would say spiritual rather than religious, experiences that are deeply personal and beyond the rationale of atheists. I have seen firsthand how introspection and quiet-minded observation can provide insight and intuition.
However, I also I went to science magnet schools starting in pre-school, work in IT, and am quite a rational pragmatic individual.
I consider myself to be an agnostic at the moment mostly due to a lack of options. I don't consider it to be a "weasel term". Uncertainty is ubiquitous in life. How is this topic any different? There's always Pascal's Wager ;)