Jonathan H. B. Lobl

To my understanding -- behind all that willful ignorance and Bible pounding fervor -- there is fear. Limitless, horror. It's all about belief and faith. Crack it just a little bit, and the whole structure crumbles to dust. Think of the terror. Hell and Damnation and all the rest. You know. The angry God. The righteous Judge. The Lake of Fire. They believe all that crap. I can be sympathetic, while holding them in contempt. There is much there to be pitied. Minds in bondage, can not stand to see others in Freedom.

We can be nice. Creationists are stuck.

Probably. I've been on this board for a long time, and I can be inconsistent. To clarify. I am an Atheist, because I don't believe. I am an Agnostic, because I don't actually know. I am an Apatheist, because I no longer care. Lately, I have been focusing on the Agnostic label. We have no objective, verifiable facts about God. None at all. Nothing. If such evidence existed, the pious would be rubbing my face in it. Nothing. I'm done with arguments. It's evidence based facts or nothing. In the absence of objective, verifiable facts -- I am left with -- So what? A god which can not be demonstrated to exist, is irrelevant and meaningless. So -- So what? Generally, when I use the Agnostic label, I get into fewer stupid arguments. The Atheist label, even now, provokes stupid arguments about evolution, cosmology, first cause, unmoved mover, Pascal's Wager, objective morality, etc. I can't do it any more. I'm tired and bored with it. And it's always the same stupid arguments, as though for the first time. I have also encountered way to many dim bulbs -- that's me being nice -- who can't tell the difference between an Atheist, a Communist or a Democrat. The Agnostic label is not free of grief. I'm so tired of -- "What would it take for you to make up your mind?" I'm also tired of the would be philosopher, who wants to argue about what is known and knowable. For all that, I prefer a rational discussion about what I know -- or think I know -- instead of what I believe. Belief boils down to -- strong opinion not based on evidence. It's futile. I rather like Apatheist as a label. The majority of people have never heard of it -- and when I explain it -- the pious still manage to twist simple meaning. One final issue, which has helped inspire this thread. I'm getting really tired of YouTube Atheist snark. In the end, we only have this one tiny world. We have to find ways of living with each other.

Every group has the same problem. Extremist members. Atheists are no exception. Let's face it. A lot of Atheists have a real bug up their ass. A few years back, I joined several Atheist groups on Facebook. The same thing happened in each group. The question was raised. If you had to join a religion, which one would it be? The usual answers would pop up. The Flying Spaghetti Monster; Jedi; Buddhist; Satanist; Invisible Pink Unicorn, etc. I wanted to give a different answer. Something funny. So I told them Agnostic. Besides which -- I actually was ordained as an Agnostic minister. What does it take to make a religion? Clergy. From the severity of the response, you would have thought I had walked into a church and pissed on the altar. No sense of humor at all. In the end, I had to leave all of them. I can post a few Apatheist videos. Stand by.

Atheist vs. Agnostic