Definitions (Evolution)

by George Jelliss , Crewe, Wednesday, April 09, 2008, 16:43 (6070 days ago) @ Peter P

Since Peter P asks: 1) George says he's not an atheist but a rationalist empiricist with atheist/agnostic views. An atheist is someone who believes there is no God. So it would be interesting to know a) if George does or doesnt believe there is no God, and b) in what way his views are agnostic. I will reply, though I've a feeling I've said all this before. - (1) I start out by being a rationalist empiricist, that is to say someone who bases their beliefs on logic and empirical knowledge, i.e. evidence, simply because I don't think there is any other reliable method. I accept current scientific knowledge as being soundly based on this method.
(2) I'm an agnostic only in the sense that nothing can be known with absolute certainty. So this doesn't mean much. It just allows me to keep an open and sceptical outlook where evidence may be inadequate, and keeps me from being overly dogmatic.
(3) I'm an atheist in the sense that I find the evidence for lack of supernatural input sufficiently overwhelming, and the theories developed in support of such ideas logically incoherent. But should evidence come to light of sufficient weight, I could change my mind. - In short I come from a pretty orthodox science background.