Both theism AND atheism are faith-based?

Question

Why choose agnosticism? Because:

Truth = We have no evidence a creator god exists. We have no evidence a creator god does not exist.

Theists: Believe that a creator god exists

Atheists: Believe that a creator god does NOT exist

Agnostics: Admit that this is an unknowable metaphysical question

This is where the atheists will come in with the "why don't you believe in Santa Claus or fairies then?" argument.

Because the theory of a creator god applies to the origin of the universe, and is a plausible explanation. The universe is finite, thus at a certain point in history did not exist. Something that had always been eternal HAD to have initiated the universe.

This something COULD be a creator entity, but could equally be something else. But the creator god theory still holds weight, atheists.

Answer 1

Agnostics make the claim that god is unknowable and therefore making a positive claim on the characteristic of god. How the h**l do they know this?

I don't have any evidence to believe in god or entertain the god concept, so therefore I simply don't believe.

You are simply wrong in implying that my lack of belief is faith based

Answer 2

Sure, there could be a creator.  It just can't be any of the gods that have been disproven, like: all of them.

Until I see a new one, I will continue to call myself an atheist.

(And your definition of atheist, as usual, is completely wrong)

And if you think back on physics class, you might remember that energy, which the universe is, cannot be CREATED or destroyed.  I'm amazed at how many religious people, who supposedly believe in "eternal" life, can't comprehend the meaning of "infinity".

Answer 3

Fact!

* I sip coffee while I wait for thumbs down.*

Answer 4

Atheism is the lack of belief that any deities exist.

It differs from strong atheism, which is the belief that no deities exist.

It is possible to be an atheist and an agnostic at the same time.

Your argument applies to some gods such as the deist god and the pantheistic god, but it doesn't apply to the gods described most mainstream religions such as Yahweh.

Most gods described in mainstream religions either have creation stories which contradict scientific evidence (the world was not created in 6 days, and it's older than 6000 years), or they answer prayers, and all experiments have proved that prayers don't work, or they perform miracles or otherwise interfere with the world in ways which would break the laws of physics and require an overhaul of basic science.

____

Answer 5

<<--agnostic atheist...

Go read up on agnosticism before making yourself look stupid...

Answer 6

False premise.

Atheism is rational. It is irrational to believe things exist in the absence of evidence. You do not believe, I presume, that the tooth fairy exists. Or santa claus. Or a small pink magin pigmy orbiting mars that created the entire universe and a few others when bored one afternoon. Or Eric the invisible newt who makes us dream. Or..

You get the picture - lack of evidence is NOT a reason to believe something is a realistic possibility, unless you accnount equal possibility to every unobervable notion (ie an infinite number).

Answer 7

Your opening assumption is false.

We don't pretend to know, but we do know that's there's no evidence for any of the gods we've ever created (Zeus; Ra; Thor; etal).  Are you claiming that we need to live our lives as though Zeus and those others are real?  We've created over 2000 gods throughout the ages and I for one don't have the time or the inclination to find out how everyone of them thinks I should behave.

I'm not about to concede that it's possible for Russell's teapot to be orbiting the sun half way between the Earth and Mars.  Are you?

Answer 8

Yes everything is faith based and free will. You can have faith in science as well.Science is constantly updating itself but The Bible remains true eternally. God Bless!!

Answer 9

Wrong. Atheists don't believe that there is no God or that God does not exist. Atheists don't have a belief in God.

Answer 10

Great question, and great point. We all have to rely on faith. Whether you believe in big bang/evolution or god. None of us were there, none of us have perfect knowledge of this world.

Therefore, we all have to have faith. Put your faith in God, you can't lose! If you were wrong to believe in God, you lose nothing (and probably live longer & have an overall happier life). If you believe in God and are right, you get everything.

Don't believe in God, you could lose big if you are wrong. Don't believe in God, and He really didn't exist, and what did you really gain? You can do whatever you want in life? Not so fun!

Doing what you want in life has consequences anyways...Sleep with lots of people, get kids or STD's; Steal, go to jail; Do drugs, it is expensive & you will probably die young, etc.

Answer 11

No, the god theory does not hold weight.

Answer 12

So you'll be agnostic about dragons, goblins and leprechauns, then?

Plausible to whom? What was wrong with it being turtles all the way down? Why is that any less plausible?

Answer 13

You make many assunptions in your statement.

You also assume there is a god or gods. Why?

The answer is because you have no other rational explanation for things (yet).

Belief in the gods is a stop-gap until science discovers the facts which is happening all the time. The gods are now becoming the gods of the gaps. And there are fewer gaps to fill as time goes on. Eventually there will be no gaps for your gods to fill. You will then realize that man has no reason to invent anymore gods.

Answer 14

I answer my questions all the time with a similar belief, Atheism along with Theism is a belief, say what you will it's the truth.

Unfortunately you did not ask a question and this "question" will probably be removed for ranting. Probably best to just express your thoughts in answers to stupid questions where people condemn each other, I hate those so I like to teach 'em they're wrong.

That's what I do! =D

Answer 15

Something COULD be a creator entity holds as much weight as NOTHING COULD be a creator. This statement shows the fact we do not know. Now, here is where Theism, Atheism and Agnosticism comes in.

Theism = A state of belief, theists are agnostic about the existence of a creator, but believed that a creator exists, prove not required to believe, only faith does.

Atheism = A state of belief, atheists are agnostic about the existence of a creator, thus disbelieved a creator exists unless proven otherwise, prove is required to believe, faith holds no water.

Agnosticism = A state of knowledge, the above statement comes it. It had nothing to do with the state of belief. In short, theists / atheists without balls.

By the way, your views is the view of a theistic agnostic, meaning a agnostic whom already decided he / she believe in a creator but too afraid to tell others. A Deist would be a agnostic theist, a theist who believed a creator existed but do no think they would know who or what is that like. (I.E. The creator created the universe, but just does not care about it).

By the way, your views has a flaw, if something has to create the universe, then what created that something? If that thing is infinite and does no need creation, it does need a beginning as well, doesn't it? If it does not need a beginning, then there is no beginning to anything, because everything has to begin somewhere. If you can believe it just pop out of nowhere, then you cannot comprehend that the universe can pop out of nowhere?

The part "The universe if finite" is flawed too, how do you know the universe is finite? Because you think so? Scientist might come up with an age to the universe now, but then this is what we can find right now, it might not be the absolute truth. So your theistic agnostic view is flawed.

Answer 16

God is not a theory. There is no evidence for it to be a theory.

edit: BLAM! is obviously right.

Answer 17

Agnostics are atheists who aren't fully willing to come out of the closet.  

Atheism is in no way based on faith.  You don't need to have faith that gravity pulls things down.  You down need to have faith to know that up is the opposite of down.  Science requires no faith; that's what makes it science.  it is based on evidence and observation.

Answer 18

you are correct...an honest person knows that by logic we are agnostic...i choose to be a Christian...

Answer 19

This is the first time I've seen someone preach agnosticism.

I guess you weren't aware atheism is a LACK of belief, or that one can be an agnostic atheist or an agnostic theist.

"The universe is finite, thus at a certain point in history did not exist"

- I do not understand why.  I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'd like to know why you think so.

The creator god theory is just an argument from incredulity.  While it could be true, there is no real evidence of it.

Answer 20

we don't have proof for god's existence but you cling on to the possibility of one?

sure... that makes sense until you include unicorns.

Answer 21

"Because the theory of a creator god applies to the origin of the universe, and is a plausible explanation."

It's absolutely implausible.

"The universe is finite, thus at a certain point in history did not exist."

And you know this how?

Are you employing your finite logic and reason?

"Something that had always been eternal HAD to have initiated the universe."

Just cos you don't understand the simplicity of the universe does NOT mean isn't so.

The universe has been expanding and contracting since always.

How do I know this?

It's the only LOGICAL assumption.

To believe there's some brand/breed of invisible sky critter at the wheel is just silly.

The whole invisible-sky-critter scam is childish nonsense not too dissimilar to bogeymen under the bed; it was invented as a management tool to scare and or control peasants and small children.

Theism is a crutch for people who don't understand science.

[edit]

"Eric the invisible newt who makes us dream."

Hahahahaha

~

Answer 22

Yup.

But agnosticism is also faith-based because we lack any facts.

So is every other religion and belief system.

We simply don't know, so we're all guessing.

Answer 23

With the line of argument, you do fit into one class of atheist and another of agnostic.

But this definition allows God (the creator in your narrative) to be something extremely small with very limited scope of action.  A potentially supernatural creator that doesn't do anything else, isn't in my opinion close enough to common definitions of God to qualify.

Answer 24

"Something that had always been eternal HAD to have initiated the universe."

Only according to your current lack of knowledge. Flies used to HAVE to spontaneously generate in dung.  

Answer 25

why don't you believe in Santa Claus or fairies then?

"Because the theory of a creator god applies to the origin of the universe, and is a plausible explanation."

That is your opinion, not a fact buddy.  The fact of the matter is, you can not prove that Santa does not exist, nor the Flying Spaghetti Monster either.

"Something that had always been eternal HAD to have initiated the universe."

Not true at all really, nothing had to initiate anything, the Universe could transform from state to state for all we know.  You are making assumptions, maybe the Universe is eternal but the current state it is in is not?  Energy and matter are constantly changing states, maybe the same holds true for the universe.