SULPHUR

This person puts it alittle more elegantly

www.inquiria.com/russel/agnostic.html

SULPHUR

www.inquiria.com



then russel What is an agnostic {1953]

John Page

Than wot? Me?

Seriously, I am presently more fascinated by why people believe/disbelieve than the content of the belief itself. It seems to me that it is sometimes beneficial to believe one's imagination - Why believe?

Cheers, John

SULPHUR

I'll take bertrand russell anytime

Good luck John

John Page

Sure, but don't take the poisonous antinomy antimony (reacts with sulphur)!

Wiploc

Before citing the OED as on your side, you should actually read what it says.
crc

SULPHUR

Sulphur is used to react with mercury to clean up spills. It is a very underated element. DNA wouldn't be the same without it

SULPHUR

I suggest you read the article by Russel which I gave above The OED can be interpreted in various ways.

Wiploc

The OED can be "interpreted" in various ways because it has multiple definitions. If you like one definition and call it true to the exclusion of another, then you're making a mistake, at least if you claim to be basing your opinion on the OED.

As to Russel, I prefer his treatment of the words where he says he calls himself an agnostic when he addresses professional audiences, since they will understand that he means that since anything can be true (since all of human "knowledge" may be mistaken) even god can be true; but before a lay audience he calls himself an atheist so that they won't think he thinks Jehovah is more likely than the Invisible Pink Unicorn (actually, I think he used somebody like Thor as his example rather than the IPU.)

In any case,
1. Since the OED defines atheist to include both those who believe there is a god and those who believe there is no god, it cannot be used to impeach one of those meanings in favor of the other.
2. My post was impolite in tone. I appologise.

The way I see it (and this is my preferred usage, not the "right" usage) agnosticism is the admission that you can't prove whether there's a god, and atheism is the admission that you really believe there isn't. There's no conflict between them.
crc

tribalbeeyatch

Ummm...? What is a question of faith? To call yourself an agnostic is to avoid the question of theism/atheism. As I said before, there is no middle ground between them.