Scott Raun said:
> On Wed, Nov 27, 2002 at 12:05:36PM -0500, Peter H. Granzeau wrote:
>> I went hunting once for a word to describe lack of belief in any Deity
>> (including active non-belief in a Deith) and failed miserably. I
>> always wondered if "infidel" fit? It's got a lot of baggage,
>> unfortunately. We need something that not only says "there is no
>> God", but says, "and I don't care if there is one or not".
>
> How about agnostic?
>
> Trimming from the www.dictionary.com definition:
>
> : One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a :
> God.
> :
> : One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess :
> true atheism.
>
> My favorite definition of agnostic is 'I don't know and I don't care'.
These are two different meanings, and do not track.
One is a merely logical statement:
I do not and cannot with existing evidence know if there is
a being matching current agreed-upon definitions of God.
The other is making a value judgement:
If there were a being matching God, I would not care about it.
Not the same, and though the second may be an opinion of SOME
agnostics, it is NOT part of the definition of agnostic.
I am agnostic, but I'll tell you now that if the available
evidence DID change, and it could be PROVEN that there is a
being matching one of the many descriptions of God, I would
be VERY interested to learn more about it, and ask a hell of
a lot of questions.
I might get squashed for my impudence, but I'd certainly TRY
to get some answers to some interesting questions. :)
I don't know many well-balanced atheists that wouldn't swallow
their pride and assess new evidence, not to mention at least
be curious about such a being... even if only to attempt to
disprove it.
To not care, in my opinion, is something I'd call childish,
but that'd be incorrect. Even a child would be curious.
-Rick