Reply #129: Militant was the wrong word

[Andromeway]

Well, I'm coming from a different perspective. Nobody had to convince me that gods don't exist. I grew up in a mostly non-religious household, so that allowed me to start questioning the merits of numerous theological arguments from a fairly young age. I think my "aha!" moment came when I was twelve or thirteen. I began thinking in depth about the plausibility of souls and the afterlife and all these other things, and I essentially ruled each one out. So, from there, I concluded that if every other religious argument (and supernatural arguments, in general) falls apart when faced against facts and reason, why should gods be any different. Bear in mind, I didn't actively believe in a god at this point, but I was far closer to true agnosticism than I am today. I still don't actively DIS-believe in god, I simply put the notion out of my head.

Therein lies the biggest problem with the term atheist as used by most people. I classify myself as one for simplicity's sake. I'm still agnostic to a degree. I haven't completely ruled out the possibility that some being, be it alien or supernatural, created the universe. But whether or not such a being exists remains irrelevant to my life. I would change nothing of how I live or how I think if I knew an "all-powerful" being existed somewhere. At most, this being or force started the universe and let it run its course. It's certainly not involved in the everyday workings of our universe. Does such a thing deserve anyone's worship?

As far as the term militant, I didn't come up with it. I concede that it's probably a poor choice and I shouldn't have used it. I just wish Dawkins would spend the bulk of his time going in-depth about evolution rather than trying to convert the religious. The topic is fascinating, and like I said, Dawkins is a brilliant biologist with decades of experience in his field. He comes off as trite when he's rambling on about the non-existence of a god. But as I said, I don't need convincing, so perhaps my view is skewed.