If someone doesn't know what caused the universe, they are not an atheist. They may hold onto the label, but in truth they are "agnostic." Etymology: "Greek agnōstos unknown, unknowable, from a- + gnōstos known, from gignōskein to know — more to know."
The dictionary says the same thing. Agnostic: "a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable."
You say that you believe "that the cause of that beginning is unknown and probably unknowable, but that there is no particular reason to believe it possessed intelligence and purpose (i.e., that it was God)."
So you are not an atheist. You are an "agnostic," and you therefore can't speak on behalf of the true atheists, who, like Richard Dawkins, believe that nothing created everything. He is a true atheist, and his belief is unscientific. Agnostics plead ignorance. They don't know.
Never forget that the word "agnostic" is from the Greek word gignōskein which means there is "more to know." That which is designed must have a Designer. So keep an open mind when it comes to God.
Closed and ignorant minds tend to become a prison to those that have them.
Monday, April 5, 2010
