Curiosity Killed The Cat
Trevor Farr
From: Trevor Farr
To: Positive Atheism <editor@positiveatheism.org>
Subject: curiosity killed the cat
Date: Thursday, May 01, 1997 3:35 AM
Hello,
I am a student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, I am curious to know if you might be able the help me little. I am currently doing a paper fo my philosphy class. As a topic, i have chosen the argument over the existance of god. I have read papers both trying to prove and disprove his existance. I am currently using papers written by St. Anselm and St. Thomas Aquinas. I have found both these papers to be a pathetic atempt at proving what cannot be proven. I consider myself to be an agnostic leaning towards atheism and notices a slight shortage of paper trying to prove that god does not exist. The one I have found was just as bad as the ones i mentioned previously. It would be very much aprecciated if you could direct me to some others writtings.
It seems my teacher has spent too much time philsophizing and not enough time realizing he has a class to teach. So I am forced to seek this knowlege elswhere.
I thank you for your time and await you reply.
Trevor Farr
An atheist is simply someone who has no god belief. This includes infants and children who have not the intelligence to understand theology.
An agnostic who thinks there is a god but who says we cannot know or describe this entity, is a theistic agnostic or an agnostic theist. An agnostic who does not know if there is a god, or who says it is impossible to know if there is a god is an atheistic agnostic or an agnostic atheist -- based on the fact that he or she has no god belief.
Atheism is not necessarily the outright denial of the existence of a god or gods, it is simply the absense of a god belief. When somebody makes a claim, such as, "a god exists," the responsibility falls on that person to make his or her case. An atheist need not say anything in response to the claims of a theist, because the burden of proof lies on the one making the claim -- not on the one listening to the claim.
Challenge any theist to prove that magic færies do not exist. You cannot do this; one who claims that they do exist must show reason for their belief or the discussion comes to an end. The same holds for any claim that a god exists.
That's the best I can give you at this time.
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