agnostic -n. person who believes that the existence of God is not
provable. -adj. of agnosticism. agnosticism n. [from *a-, *gnostic]
> Atheism and theism have to do with belief.
>
atheism n. belief that there is no God. atheist n. atheistic adj.
[Greek a- not, theos god]
> What
> is the difference between a lack of belief in god and belief
> there is no god?
>
Well that's obvious, isn't it? In one case there's a belief
about something, in the other there isn't. The believer in
no god is an atheist, while an agnostic believes only that
it can't be proven.
Like <consciousness>, <god> is the kind of meme that does
not refer to something "out there", but nevertheless the word
is not meaningless. I don't think, for these kinds of thing,
that the question as to whether they exist means anything.
To say that something does not exist is, in a sense, as
positive as to say that it does. Neither god nor
consciousness is such that you can do either, in my opinion,
which is why I'm an agnostic.
As for David's claim that all atheists are agnostics, I'm
still thinking about that.
(Quotes from the Oxford Pocket Dictionary.)
Robin