>Speaking of gibes, what is it with the devout, on both the
>left and the right, that feel this need to impute atheists
>with the accusation that their beliefs are 'religious'?
>I mean, really, it can only be said with the intention to
>insult, as it has no descriptive power and in fact serves to
>obscure the doubters' actual views.
I was under the impression that atheists views are based on internalized beliefs, just like theists. My understanding is that atheism denies the existence of a supreme being and agnosticism claims it is simply unknowable. My dictionary shares this same definition. I will be the first to admit I am rather ignorant on many theological topics. I give the concept of afterlife and the concept of a supreme being almost no thought since they are by definition unknowable. Such studies seem a misdirection of energy to me. While I would admit the probability of a supreme being creating the universe seems astronomically improbable, it is unknown. Unless there have been new studies disproving the existence of god recently that I missed.
John Thornton