re: #37 Jimmah

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.”

Depends on where and when you learned the language. I would never call myself an atheist because in the America of the 1950s, atheism was Madlyn Murray O’Hare. I would as soon be associated with Aimee Semple McPherson.