This argument needs to die

From some idiot on Facebook via Internet Infidels:

In a nutshell, if you’re an atheist, you have more faith than me - a follower of Christ. Here’s why:
Do you think that we have even one percent of all the knowledge in the universe? Probably not. The universe is so huge and so much is unknown, that it would be ridiculous to assume we knew enough to claim the non-existence of God.

Facebook Idiot, what we have here is a failure to communicate. We have a failure to communicate because you and I have a very different definition of “atheist”. You have chosen to define “atheist” as “arrogant bastard who thinks he knows everything and claims categorically that there is no god, neener neener”, no doubt because it’s much easier to ridicule a strawman than actually play fair and use your brain.

“Atheist”, dear Facebook Idiot, comes from the Greek roots “a”, meaning “without”, and “theos”, meaning “god”. An atheist, then, is a person without a belief in any gods. Got that? I am an atheist the same way you are an a-unicornist. You don’t have to claim infinite knowledge of the universe to be unconvinced that there are magical horny horses roaming around your local forest preserve.

“What about agnosticism?”, I hear you whine. “Agnostic” comes from the Greek roots “a” (you can scroll up for that one) and “gnosis”, meaning “knowledge”. An agnostic is someone who does not believe that they can know whether there is a god. I’m about to blow your tiny little mind: Most atheists are also agnostics. So are many theists, if they’re honest with themselves.

So, can we please put this tired, piece of shit excuse for an argument out of its misery? Because if I see it one more time, I will… well, I’ll get pissed off and rant about it some more. But it will be really unpleasant!

Tags: Atheism