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Does Atheism vs. Agnosticism = Dogmatism vs. Skepticism?

Aug 29th, 2007
by fadingad.

Running Naked

More ABOUT the debate…

Posted in: Agnosticism, Propaganda.

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No Comments

  1. palimpseszt says:
    August 29, 2007 at 11:18 pm

    I love it the cartoon. When they aren’t blaming Darwin, they blame atheists.

  2. Julie says:
    August 30, 2007 at 11:24 am

    It’s all just labels. Why must everything be labeled? Sure there are dogmatic atheists — but many I know are open minded.

  3. fadingad says:
    August 30, 2007 at 11:45 am

    Blame it on the heathens!

  4. fadingad says:
    August 30, 2007 at 5:20 pm

    Julie – And if one reads the articles I’ve linked to, one may draw the same conclusions as you. We categorize. It’s a human developmental trait.

  5. Art Clarke says:
    September 2, 2007 at 5:51 pm

    Hi folks,

    Bear in mind (and I hope it’s clear if you read the article rather than just view the graphic at top) that I’m much more on the Darwin side than on the crazy-talk of Intelligent Design side. My main point in that article is that dogmatic athiests have no more of a rational leg to stand on than dogmatic theiests, and that “athiesm” by definition implies a dogma of “there is no possibility for the existence of God(s)”.

    As for categorization, I agree with fadingad. We categorize as humans, and it is both helpful and unhelpful. It is a scaffolding around which we can build our belief systems of the world. Some categorizations are usually unhelpful (e.g. black versus white versus Asian), others are usually helpful (e.g. doctor versus teacher versus accountant versus mill worker). But all categories can be used for both good and evil. I try to be open to both the label and the context — but I can’t claim I’m anywhere near 100% successful on this.

    My actual blog is http://blog.abclarke.com/ and while I love the cross posting, it’d be great to see your feedback on that blog so other readers could give their thoughts as well.

    But love the comments, and thanks for the feedback.

  6. fadingad says:
    September 2, 2007 at 10:16 pm

    Art-

    Thank you so much for commenting on my blog. Love your article. Personally, I’m dogmatically against dogma. But seriously, as a skeptic my whole life, I was constantly turned off (literally) by religion – especially growing up gay. But when I started believing in science with the same convictions as a religious person, I started to wonder about my own dogma and stopped scoffing at faith.

    No one can scientifically prove or disprove the existence of a supreme being, whomever She may be- so why not just stay open to the endless and random possibilities. I don’t see the need for a creator in a universe that is so remarkably weird and beautiful and chaotic and ordered at the same time – but I honor others who do have this need – as long as it doesn’t impede on my own personal freedoms.

    As a child I called myself an atheist but when I met other atheists, they treated it like a religion (dreadful) and that turned me off. Agnostics always had a wishy-washy (flip-flop Presidential candidate) impression. But I am much more comfortable with that label since I don’t have a belief system built around it. The afterlife, ESP, UFOs- all have fallen under my category of the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus Science- while growing up. My current faith in science’s claims of parallel and infinite universes is also tinged with skepticism. Fundamentally, I’m anti-fundamentalist. Sorry. I can’t help joking.

    Best,
    Frank