But how often do you do the same for Islam? Or for the Greek myths?

Seems a pretty big leap to assume that I don’t. In fact, I think many of the old-school polytheistic beliefs make more sense than the Christian god, and therefore might be more likely to be right.

If I say that I truly believe that it is impossible to prove whether or not there is a god until we are in a position to meet it (after death, or otherwise), can’t I say that therefore, all religions have an equal chance of being “true” - and therefore, none should be considered inherently “better” than any other?

I wish I could find it, but there was an absolutely excellent description of one person’s agnosticism (it was in the comments for the post illustrated by the mostly-naked jesus statues).

Really? Ask some of my Jewish and Catholic friends sometime about how much they hate conversing religion around me. Particularly the part where I repeatedly ask them to define God in a manner that does not use the impossibility of a definition as a trump card. But then, I supposed I could say I’m the asshole agnostic. The guy who really wants to find a valid answer but also knows that the question was horseshit in the first place.

“A-gnostic” = “without knowledge”. I don’t know, and I am aware that I am ignorant. Further, I do not know that the heuristics we use in normal circumstances (such as Occam’s Razor) apply for this question - I am aware of my own ignorance here, which others don’t seem to appreciate fully.

It doesn’t encourage a conversational intolerance to nonsense.

Not at all. Any claim beyond “I don’t know” is a truth claim that can be assessed; I’ve spent long and enjoyable hours tormenting people who believed in revealed religion without considering the contradictions in their claims (omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent - choose any two…)

“I am intellectually a sceptical agnostic. I am functionally an atheist.”

If you function as an atheist, then you’re an atheist.

Nope - only functionally so. Consider me in the position of someone voting for a Democrat when they’d really prefer a Green candidate.

You are without the requisite belief to be a theist.. that’s as simple as it is!

You are without knowledge as much as me; does that make you agnostic?

Sorry, but agnosticism is a respectable third position to theism and atheism, despite the smug claims that we’re wishy-washy. Some might be; I’m agnostic because I’ve considered it and come to the conclusion that the “existence of God”, while not likely, is something that can’t be assessed by our normal experience, and thus I am confronted with the simple fact of my continuing ignorance. I must remain true to myself.

Which isn’t to say that I’m glad he died, or think that his life wasn’t anything but tragic and his decisions somewhat honorable.

It stands well next to the newly-revealed Mother Theresa diaries revealing that she was hardly certain about her beliefs. Its astonishing to see how attitudes on universally-lauded heroes change after discovering they refused to accept religious claims as reality.

On perhaps the dark side of it, becoming any kind of Protestant was unthinkable for me; in rejecting Catholic dogma I rejected Christianity itself, and that’s where matters rest for me now

I think Joyce’s Stephen Dedalus summed that one up:

–Then, said Cranly, you do not intend to become a protestant?

–I said that I had lost the faith, Stephen answered, but not that I
had lost self-respect. What kind of liberation would that be to forsake
an absurdity which is logical and coherent and to embrace one which is
illogical and incoherent?

The Pat Tillman memorial service, carried live on ESPN, came close. Rich Tillman went off-script: “Just make no mistake, he’d want me to say this: He’s not with God. He’s fucking dead. He’s not religious. So, thanks for your thoughts, but he’s fucking dead.”

Well, okay technically, I am agnostically apthetic, with a pagan lemon twist.

In other words, I don’t know, I don’t care, but it sure is fun dancing around a bonfire and finding a partner to “act out” folkloric Beltane rituals come springtime.

And, now that I think about it, agnostically apathetic with a pagan twist needs to be made into a drink, to be sipped while watching religious dicussions.

I’ll let you know what I come with, perhaps a recipe or two will be posted next time religion comes up.

“Agnostic” has a mood of indifference to it. It doesn’t encourage a conversational intolerance to nonsense.

You even admitted:

I am intellectually a sceptical agnostic. I am functionally an atheist.

If you function as an atheist, then you’re an atheist. You are without the requisite belief to be a theist.. that’s as simple as it is!

MNF has made some truly inspired bad choices over the years, including Dennis Miller, and now the “which is the big football night- Sunday or Monday?” debacle.

Gonna go with listening to Coach Madden, every time.

Instead we’re fighting about shades of unbelief. Why, I believe that spending any amount of time listening to Lee Corso (Who, as to the theology of a just universe, was once hit in the head with a full plastic cup of beer when doing gameday live from East Lansing) can unite aroudn dislike for him?

The VA Tech passion play this Saturday was crap. And it wasn’t crap for sports fans. King Kaufman makes this point very often, which is that ESPN and Fox don’t cater to people who really like sports and are going to watch the games. They’re catering to the people who’ll tune in if somethign other than a football game is going on. When the networks openly angle for those viewers, it always sucks. Jim Rome doesn’t want to talk about zone defense, he wants to blather, whine impotently, get his ass rimmed by his callers and pretend to be a tough guy. Monday night football spent last year bringing bored celebrities into the booth to talk over the game.