re: #34 JeffFX

Obviously, no one does and Frank’s position is unsupportable.

I also don’t get why Locker thought it was a great segment, but am thankful that I’ve been made aware that even someone I admire as much as Tyson misleads people for personal reasons.

I think whether someone who doesn’t believe in God calls themselves an atheist or agnostic is all about how they are positioning themselves. An ‘agnostic’ is basically saying “I don’t believe in God/s but I don’t want to make any trouble here with all you believers”.

I reckon Tyson thinks it’s ‘politically’ expedient for him to take that position given the audience he is trying to reach with his scientific message (God-fearing Americans). Unfortunately such a position validates a lot of whiny concern trolling about ‘nasty atheists’ so it always disappoints me to see it. I think it’s better to say “I’m an atheist because I don’t believe in God however that doesn’t mean I possess absolute knowledge of God’s non-existence and, contrary to what you may have read in the Daily Mail, I’m not going to eat your babies.”