The Agnostic Discussion Thread

[Neutraligon]

I have a jar full of M&Ms. Someone claims that there are an even number of M&Ms.I say I do not believe them. That does not mean I believe there are an odd number of M&Ms. Same thing with a god. Someone claims there is a god,I say I do not believe them. That does not mean I think that a god does not exist. An atheist is someone in the position to say I do not believe you when you claim a god exists. Don't say exactly when I am disagreeing with you.

If someone claims that there are an even number of M&Ms, and you don’t believe them and they ask why. What is your response?

Because I have no reason to think there is an even number of M&Ms. Tell me why you think there is an even number of M&Ms and maybe you will convince me that there are an even number of M&Ms. Until you do convince me though, I have no reason to think the number is even (or odd).

[Holy Tedalonia]

If someone claims that there are an even number of M&Ms, and you don’t believe them and they ask why. What is your response?

Because I have no reason to think there is an even number of M&Ms. Tell me why you think there is an even number of M&Ms and maybe you will convince me that there are an even number of M&Ms. Until you do convince me though, I have no reason to think the number is even (or odd).

Sounds more strong agnostic to be honest. If you don’t believe either that god exists or that he doesnt, isn’t that agnosticism?

[Neutraligon]

Because I have no reason to think there is an even number of M&Ms. Tell me why you think there is an even number of M&Ms and maybe you will convince me that there are an even number of M&Ms. Until you do convince me though, I have no reason to think the number is even (or odd).

Sounds more strong agnostic to be honest. If you don’t believe either that god exists or that he doesnt, isn’t that agnosticism?

Agnosticism is about whether it is possible to determine if a god exists. I don't actively think there is no gods, but until evidence has been provided that a god exists I do not believe one does. Similarly for the M&Ms until evidence is provided that there are an even number of M&Ms I do not think there are an even number of M&Ms.

I will give another analogy. In courtroom, you are not determining the innocence of a person, rather you are determining their guilt. You can rule they are guilty if there is sufficient evidence, or not guilty if there is not sufficient evidence. A ruling of not guilty however is not the same as determining that the person is innocent, just that there was not sufficient evidence to say they are guilty.

Atheism looks at the "guilt" of existing. A theist claims that gods are "guilty" of existing. I say provide your evidence, and if there is sufficient good evidence I will believe that the god is "guilty" of existing. With insufficient evidence provided though, I have to rule "not guilty" of existing, although that does not mean I think the god is "innocent" of existing. Included in the not guilty of existing ruling though can be those who think a god is "innocent" of existing.

A more accurate label for me is either a weak agnostic atheist or maybe even an apathetic agnostic atheist.

[The Black Forrest]

Exactly a belief that believes there is no god.

I have a jar full of M&Ms. Someone claims that there are an even number of M&Ms.I say I do not believe them. That does not mean I believe there are an odd number of M&Ms. Same thing with a god. Someone claims there is a god,I say I do not believe them. That does not mean I think that a god does not exist. An atheist is someone in the position to say I do not believe you when you claim a god exists. Don't say exactly when I am disagreeing with you.

M&M counts are verifiable. The existence or lack there of a God is not.

[Neutraligon]

I have a jar full of M&Ms. Someone claims that there are an even number of M&Ms.I say I do not believe them. That does not mean I believe there are an odd number of M&Ms. Same thing with a god. Someone claims there is a god,I say I do not believe them. That does not mean I think that a god does not exist. An atheist is someone in the position to say I do not believe you when you claim a god exists. Don't say exactly when I am disagreeing with you.

M&M counts are verifiable. The existence or lack there of a God is not.

That would depend on the god.

[Kingdom of Azea]

When I came out to my mother as agnostic, not only did she respond that she'd accept and support me, She's also gonna buy me Why I am an agnostic by Robert G Ingersoll when I asked if she would get it for me.

Knowing how important my mom is to me, I have every reason in the world to be happy in purest form.

[The Archregimancy]

I'm really not sure what to make of this thread....

[Page]

I'm agnostic to the concept of a god or higher power as a whole. When it comes to specific gods of this world like the god of Abraham, I'm a strong atheist insofar as I feel as certain that god is an invention of man as much as Zeus and Thor. But I consider that there may be a being or entity beyond our understanding similar to what people call "God." What such a being or entity might be, who's to say? It could be an alien race far more advanced than us, an AI, a force we've yet to come across.

I figure we have still barely scratched the surface of understanding and that some knowledge is just beyond our brain capacity. We have a limited amount of space inside our skulls and we're limited by our senses too - you can't teach a dog nuclear physics nor can you make a dog perceive the color red no matter how intelligent the dog is. To what else is out there, the most brilliant humans to ever live may seem no smarter than a border collie. Or something might be so far beyond us that it does not even think humans are much different than ants.

It's a matter of probability that we are nowhere near close to understanding the whole of existence. If human knowledge was represented by a number line from 1 to one million, it may be that the discovery that the Earth is round and orbits around the sun was a 1 and all the laws of physics we know today amount to 2.

[Neutraligon]

I'm really not sure what to make of this thread....

It comes up every now and then and quickly disappears because there isn't really anything to talk about.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

I’m mostly an apathetic agnostic. I don’t know if there is or isn’t a deity/s out there. And if they are, they may be too occupied or uninterested in us to reveal themselves. Life is full enough for me that I don’t have time or desire to wonder about an afterlife or about gods. This is not to say that others are wasting their time if they do wonder about these. I just don’t myself.

[Uiiop]

I see that people are asserting their definition of atheism/agnosticism without any foundation.

Business as usual as one would assume.
It's fine to have an opinion but it kinda pointless to enforce your opinion on others if you have no proof of them.

At least regarding theism and such there's some form of excuse.

Anyway: Under the OP's schema i would be a "Moderate" agnostic.

[SD_Film Artists]

I see that people are asserting their definition of atheism/agnosticism without any foundation.

Business as usual as one would assume.
It's fine to have an opinion but it kinda pointless to enforce your opinion on others

It's almost as if this is a debate forum.

...if you have no proof of them.

Then you're basically denying that there should be any religious threads at all.

[Uiiop]

I see that people are asserting their definition of atheism/agnosticism without any foundation.

Business as usual as one would assume.
It's fine to have an opinion but it kinda pointless to enforce your opinion on others

It's almost as if this is a debate forum.

...if you have no proof of them.

Then you're basically denying that there should be any religious threads at all.

Tbf there's an impilct "or" there that's not shut up.

They could give any reasoning on why their definitions are correct other than "If i just show it to you you'll see it's correct."

Also you seem to have missed the part where i said any religious threads have better reasons to debate than say "All secular people are one!" "You're just trying to turn me anti-theist!" and "LOL You can't disprove god right! Your schema is just to give leeway for your doubts."

Those are just examples mind. Mind reading and generalization is at least something more than mere assertion of a claim but not by much.

[Hakinda Herseyi Duymak istiyorum]

I am glad that the agnostics are 50% weak

[Farnhamia]

I am glad that the agnostics are 50% weak

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