Religion Poll

[mgellan]

Originally Posted by Hasbinbad [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

@OP -
Bill Maher is an agnostic. Dawkins is actually an agnostic as well if you take him at his word on Maher's show. He said that the existence of God was truly a question beyond answering, and that he could not say for 100% sure that there is no higher power, and as such would be an agnostic. Obviously he feels like an atheist, because he went on to say that it was probably as likely as the existence of fairies, but the lack of concrete dogmatic rhetoric resounding with the hyperbole usually implemented by believers and atheists regarding whether or not there is a higher power firmly settles him in agnosticism by definition, no matter how he tries to distort definitions of technical terms.

More on topic, I'm glad to see so many agnostics.

Dawkins is a scientist, and holds to a scientific mindset typified in the following quote:

In science, fact can only mean confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent. I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms.
Stephen Jay Gould

Dawkins acknowledges there are no absolutes and if tomorrow someone showed up with proof for the existence of a diety, he would revise his opinion. But don't hold your breath [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] I don't believe this represents agnosticism, which is someone who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God. I think it's pretty clear there isn't any such thing, but then again if you prove the contrary, I'm forced to look at the evidence or I'm guilty of the same irrational dogmatism religious people are.

Here's what Wikipedia says re: Dawkins:

According to Richard Dawkins, a distinction between agnosticism and atheism is unwieldy and depends on how close to zero we are willing to rate the existence of any given god-like entity. Since in practice it is not worth contrasting a zero probability with a probability that is nearly indistinguishable from zero, he prefers to categorize himself as a "de facto atheist". He specifies his position by means of a scale of 1 to 7. On this scale, 1 indicates "100 per cent probability of God." A person ranking at 7 on the scale would be a person who says "I know there is no God..." Dawkins places himself at 6 on the scale, which he characterizes as "I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there", but leaning toward 7. About himself, Dawkins continues that "I am agnostic only to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden."

Personally, I tend to align with the Catholic Historian Hugh Ross Williamson who admires the committed religious believer and the committed atheist. He reserved his contempt for the wishy-washy boneless mediocrities who flapped around in the middle. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Regards,
Mg