It's a statistical correlation. So what? Does killing turkeys cause winter? There's correlated data to "prove" it. Every atheist I've ever met has a belief system that actively denies the existence of of god. An agonistic, on the other hand, has no opinion on the subject. Personally, I don't know if there's a god or not. So far, I don't see any convincing evidence, but that's not conclusive one way or the other. Is there a god? I don't know.
It's no more a belief system that denies god than a belief system that denies the tooth fairy. Is there a tooth fairy, you don't know that either. And yes the comparison is valid, both are extreme and ridiculous. I don't know how you can live in America and have any knowledge of what's going on around you without having an opinion on the subject. That would be the very rare individual indeed and you may be that one unique person without an opinion but most agnostics aren't in that group, they are in the atheist group.
So...if big zero is so smart and believers are so dumb. Why is it his threads get the same reception as one of ET's biggest believers?
I got you beat there, I'm on grandchildren now. But I do not talk religion with them not even the slightest hint of it. My son is a semi-fundamentalist and his exwife is also and his new wife is f*ing Crazy religious so I watch them brain wash the kids how they see fit and I focus on having fun and spending lots of quality time with the grand-kids.
Two completely different concepts. There is no evidence of a tooth fairy at work. There is evidence of what could be the work of a Creator. There is no science showing we evolved from non life by random chance. There is no showing showing our universe is the way it is by random chance. Creator is as good a bet or better than any of the other explanations that science can give.
"There is no evidence of a tooth fairy at work. There is evidence of what could be the work of a Creator. " There is evidence of "what could be" a tooth fairy at work: the coin under the pillow.
You're right jem I should of used a better example like Bigfoot or leprechauns or outer space beings living among us, all of which have eyewitnesses. And I disagree with your statement of evidence of a god. For me not knowing is only evidence of not knowing not that god did it. For me the Jesus and bible stories are as ridiculous as the tooth fairy story.