@MyFellowAtheists: How Big an Atheist Are You?

I get that part--but once again, that's looking for that phony symmetry. Atheist is an external label. Until this horseshit here online, i never defined myself in such terms.

I have a label for myself--post no bills.

That's a coatload!

I don't know Kung. As a way to mix religion with evolution, I like Chardin's system much better than 'intelligent design'. If I understand him correctly, according to Chardin, evolution makes God, rather than vice versa.

Kolyo's OP is touching on the lack of overall meaning of an atheist world view. The absurdity, the contingency of it, its lack of purpose and direction. I never felt anguished or depressed about that. Perhaps because I consider that question of the meaning of it all more like a mystery than like a certainty that it's zilch. So I guess I'm a soft atheist too.

I enjoy showing the chinks in theists' armor, but I wouldn't for a second declare that I knew with 100% certainty that there was/were no god(s). When the tables are turned and someone claims to know for a certainty that there is/are no god(s), I also enjoy exposing the chinks in their armor. It's intellectual exercise, mostly, but I do have to admit that faith healing, science denialism and so forth seem to pose a bigger threat than those who lack religious beliefs, so resisting them is a bit more of a priority for me. I cringe for all I'm worth when I see stories about parents who let their children die while they're praying their brains out.

My position on the subtext of your question, Kolyo, is:

I do not know if there is a GOD (gods); I do not know if there are no gods; I see no reason to suspect gods cannot exist; I see no reason that suggests gods are needed to explain existence; I do not see enough unambiguous evidence upon which to base a meaningful guess in either direction.

In an atheist site where I occasionally post...the regulars (I originally wrote that "inmates") INSIST that because of that description, I am an atheist. I do not consider myself to be an atheist.

I certainly do not consider questions about the ultimate REALITY (including questions about the possible existence of gods) to be uninteresting or unworthy of consideration...as so many apparently do. I recognize and acknowledge that there seems to be no way to ever actually answer them, but speculation about REALITY IS, to me, extremely interesting and worthy of discussion.

Anyway...if you are one of the atheists who think that because of my description of my position, I have to be an atheist...

...what do you think? I don't think I can be especially objective...I will insist I am not an atheist.

But I am interesting in hearing how much of an atheist you think I am.

How about "honorary atheist"?

But wouldn't that precipitate an acrimonious discussion about the word "oxymoron?"

<gasp>
We sure wouldn't want any acrimonious discussions here on A2K!

Why not, for a change?

I see your point and mostly agree.
On the other hand, we are both here posting.

We are different in that I was caught up, until my late teens, in very fervent religion, from which I wandered away, at first arguing theology bla bla, over years, and then suddenly, got the floor of belief to collapse.

That was when I was reading about the later Benedict and Kung arguing about a birth control matter.
Simply, my brain exploded, and I saw the silliness, and not just of that
argument by them.

Actually calling myself an atheist, sometime later, was kind of fun.

On the other hand, I think there may be a giant scarab pushing the sun around.

I see I misspelled star.

I still don't know who that guy is..

The guy with the atheist medals? That's me. I fought long and hard in the Atheist Wars and President Clinton awarded me those in a ceremony at the Lincoln Center. All but the one on the bottom. It was sent me by an admiring Bertrand Russell, in 1965.

It had better be EXACTLY the same giant scarab that I'm thinking of!

What color is yours?

You go first.

I've got lucky scarabs sewn on the inside of my dance costumes.

Am I pushing the sun around when I shimmy?

If you can dance like that, maybe so...

Mine is black, with a racing stripe and an STP sticker.

BUT...what color is the racing stripe????