RE: holy mackerel

Sean Draine (seandr@microsoft.com)
Fri, 16 Oct 1998 16:25:37 -0700

I'm a devout atheist. I'm also quite sensitive to the fact that when you get
right down to it, there's precious little that anyone can be 100% certain
about. Can I say with 100% confidence that there is no god? Of course not.
Can I be 100% sure that I'm not a disembodied brain in a vat that a team of
scientists have wired up to give illusory sensations? No, not 100%. Can I be
100% certain that the Republicans are not in fact on the right side of the
issues? Unfortunately, no. 

But in my estimation, all of these assertions seem incredibly unlikely to be
true. And when the likelihood get's low enough, I find it practical to take
a stand, to make a commitment. Why go on considering the infinite
possibilities that have infinitesmal probabilities of being true? 

So, technically, maybe I'm an agnostic. But I choose to wear the atheist
jersey.

-Sean

> I mean, just think about it.  The most rational position to 
> adopt outside
> of being an adherent to Any particular religion is to be an informed
> agnostic--even atheism requires a good deal of faith and is based upon
> propositions that are logically contradictory (look up the 
> fallacy of the universal negative proposition).