GDR writes:
Or you can look over that chasm of ignorance and say that there is no god, (atheism), or opt out and say as there is insufficient evidence and and and as a result you can't choose either option, (agnostic).
If you are claiming to be an atheist you are choosing to disbelieve in any deity whether it is Zeus or the Christian God. Without an area of ignorance there is no place for atheism.
Why do the religious have so much trouble understanding this? It's been explained over and over, but somehow they have to equate it to their own beliefs.
An atheist does not believe that there is a god or gods. That's it, nothing at all else. They don't substitute that lack of belief with something else, not science, not ignorance not stamp collecting - nothing.
Think about what you believe about Father Christmas, a pleasant myth that excites children and gets families together at a particular time in a year. That's what an atheist thinks about your god.
Have you got that idea? Please accept it for what it is, a non belief in God. Don't put any other meaning on it and don't assume you can equate it to any way that you might think about your God. The next time you try to tell us what we think, think of how you feel about the tooth fairy or leprechauns. That way you won't keep making the mistake that you're making again and again. Atheists find your beliefs literally - that's literally - as absurd as a belief in fairies and do not have to go further with the idea than that.
Life, don't talk to me about life - Marvin the Paranoid Android
"Science adjusts it's views based on what's observed.
Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved."
- Tim Minchin, in his beat poem, Storm.