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Semantics, words and meanings.

Grammar Nazis are nice people sometimes, These folks will point out all your basic grammatical errors, spelling errors and misuse of words. Poetic license goes wooshing by when grammar nazis are in the room. Grammar and spelling can impact your message dramatically. Their, They're and there can get people scrabbling for dictionaries and thesauruses. We had our friendly neighbourhood grammar fiend rebuke us for saying that everybody is an atheist, we should know better he opined.

Sometimes the message is strengthened by using language some do not approve of, sometimes using one word instead of another makes the message stronger, Shocking isn't it that the f word, the c word and others can make people reach for their smelling salts and butt creams. I am but an uneducated yob that never finished high school but have read my way into an education of sorts.

I thought today we can discuss semantics and words. Atheists are not Agnostics, Agnostics are not Atheists. There is a symptom of humanity that wants us to pigeon hole everything. We categorise, sub categorise and categorise even further. We now have agnostic atheists, and agnostic theists, well maybe all theists are agnostic because they don't really have a clue do they. Atheists may be Scientists, but not all Atheists are Scientists, Scientists may be Atheist but not all Scientists are Atheists.

Atheism is not Science, Evolution is not an Atheistic viewpoint, It is a scientific one, as is the big bang theory, by the way one of those is a hypothesis and the other a theory, A gold star to any of the religious people reading this that can tell me the difference. I am Atheist, not a Scientist, my knowledge of Science is embarrassing to some because basically a little knowledge is dangerous. You won't find me involved in deep Scientific discussions but I do read and take notes, but a couldn't tell the difference between a quark and a black hole. I am not that interested in Astronomy and quantum physics, I know my limitations.

I used to be a Christian as much as it horrifies some, I was born again, baptised and studied the Bible, went to prayer meetings, many many services and even considered the calling. I became agnostic after a few things were illuminated to me in my study of the Bible. I started studying other texts, (reading is more accurate) I am no expert on Eastern religions, or in fact anything but Christianity, when I say expert, I could become a lay preacher but I don't like lying to people. I moved into being an Atheist after searching very hard for any trace of the god. I wanted him to be real, I really did.

In my opinion Agnosticism is a way station to Atheism or a return to religion. Lets's think about this for a minute. Agnostics say I don't know, therefore it is possible, Absence of Evidence is not evidence for absence and other equally trite excuses for their whimsy and lack of reason. This next line is important, It has been repeated many times, An Atheist is someone that does not believe in the existence of deities. There are no half way measures, Atheists do not believe, they are not people that are not sure, They don't believe in gods period. If you have any doubt whether gods exist or not, you are not an atheist. This is not the only way to be, There are many default positions depending on various factors.

Agnosticism is the position that you take that you don't know, nobody knows and it cannot be decisive. This is a perfectly valid viewpoint if you are a fence sitter. Pascal was a fence sitter, He believed in God just in case, Agnostics will not deny God just in case.

Lets look at that oft repeated cliché, Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. This can be used to justify a belief in just about anything, The famous example being Russell's teapot, or the invisible pink unicorn. If you cannot disprove them they might exist. I for one am calling bull on this very stupid idea.

By this logic we have to believe that Harry Potter and Captain Hook may be real, We cannot know they are not real because there is no evidence to support that proposition. We know they are made up characters in a fairy tale, but are they, maybe the authors were writing about their secret lives that we cannot prove or disprove. If there was any evidence for Peter Pan and Pinnochio being real we would not be adding them to this discussion.

It is my opinion that if any gods existed there would be a trail of evidence to follow to support that, If there is no trail of evidence we can say that there are no unicorns, there is no tea pot in orbit and there are no Gods, It is rational and logical to assume if there are no footsteps, no one has been there. Why is it less rational to assume that God does not exist if there are no godsteps?

If I were wandering around the bush and found pawprints from a lion, I would know that a lion has passed their recently. If I found none I would know that no lion has passed that way. Because I know that the bush I am in is lion territory, and that lions exist I would be in error to assume there were no lions, but if I found hoof prints I would not postulate that it was a unicorn because I know no unicorns have been seen there ever, When you see hoof prints think horses not zebras unless you are in zebra territory, then thinking horses is foolish.

For every supposition there is a logical explanation. The most logical explanation is the correct one. If you find hoof prints that look like a cows on a cattle farm, it will belong to a cow, but in the middle of the Kruger park I'd be very wary of buffalo and Gnu. I wouldn't be worrying about a big Afrikaner bull.

Another set of words that have been bandied about is Anti Theist. Anti Theists could be agnostic, but not many agnostics have it in them to deny the holy spirit and even worse consider that religion is evil. Most Anti Theists are what Atheists have been referring to as militant or evangelical Atheists for some years. There is a need to debate, bring into the open, argue against superstitious nonsense and some of us are willing to bring that discussion into the open where it belongs.

When a black cat crosses your path it is going somewhere, If you walk under a ladder nothing will happen unless someone on the ladder drops something.

If you insist on labelling me let's make this easy. I am a militant evangelical Atheist , reader, lover, husband, father, small business owner, and easily bored so this has to stop.


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