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Whether we can "know" something or not depends on what we mean by "know"; it can't mean 100% certainty, since we rely on physical senses and ability to understand, and these can differ from individual to individual. For me, it means that which is highly likely to be true, stands a very good chance of being true, comes from a trusted source that has been shown to be accurate, is plausible, has overwhelming evidence, or makes so much sense (whatever that is) that it would seem wrong to think otherwise.

I was religious from childhood, and have always been interested in religions, mythology and science; I was a devout, practising Catholic; I read the Bible, both Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha, several times; and was taught about it in school.

After studying and thinking deeply about faith, I realised in mid-teenage that faith was based upon nothing but itself, that science explained nature satisfactorily without needing supernatural beings, and that religious beliefs were no different to those of ancient beliefs in gods and goddesses.

When I first had doubts about my faith I thought that maybe this was a test of it, which was an idea planted in my mind by those teaching us about our faith. So I made the effort to accept it even more so. But the doubts came again, and I wondered what would happen if we took faith out of the equation; the world and nature still made sense, so I saw no reason to get back into it. And my understanding is that there's no theoretical or mathematical need for a god or gods, and there's no valid evidence of it or them; so there's no reason to believe. At the time this was difficult intellectually and emotionally (I was a teenager, after all).

That was over 45 years ago, and my escape from faith has freed me to embrace what science has to offer, which I consider far more plausible than belief in the supernatural, and is the nearest we can get to the truth about how nature and the universe work. I've felt a sense of freedom ever since, and am happy and at peace with this. And I've found the humility to admit that I don't know everything, rather than masking this by invoking a deity.

I still have an interest in religions, mythology, folklore and related matters, and am fascinated that people still believe in things that to me are clearly just not true.

I don't need to prove my lack of belief in in gods to be true. God(s) are negatives like Santa Claus, and the burden of proof is on the claimant. I'm not saying god doesn't exist; I'm simply rejecting the theist's claim that it does exist because there is no evidence to support their position.

So, my evidence that god doesn't exist is the theists lack of evidence. Absence of evidence is evidence of absence. If there is no evidence to support something, then there is no reason to believe it. You apply that principal to space gnomes, leprechauns, and god.

You say you're an agnostic, but an agnostic is either an agnostic atheist or an agnostic theist. I'm an agnostic atheist, by the way. If someone asks you, "Does god exist?" there's three answers to that: yes, no, or I don't know. I'll say I don't know, and so would you. That's agnosticism. It's about knowledge, not belief.

However, if someone asks you, "Do you believe in god?" there's only two answers to that: yes, or no. In this case, "I don't know" is the same thing as no. I don't believe in god, so I would say no. I'm not sure whether you're an agnostic atheist or an agnostic theist, so. Atheism is a lack of belief in god(s). That doesn't mean you know something doesn't exist; it simply means you reject the claim that that something does exist because there is no evidence to support it.

Again, I'm not saying I know god doesn't exist, but the Christian, Muslim, etc. gods are logically impossible due to the contradictory aspects within their particular religion alone. God isn't Adam and Eve. It's not god made two people that had kids, and they all committed incest, and we all came from them. That is silly goddamn nonsense.

Apparently you don't know the definition of atheism OR agnosticism.

Most atheists ARE agnostic. Agnosticism is a position on KNOWLEDGE, not belief- it is the position that it is impossible to prove for certain whether or not a god exists or that the idea is inherently unknowable. It has nothing to do with what you BELIEVE.

Atheism is simply the lack of belief in gods. Most atheists are also agnostic in that we recognize it is impossible to PROVE. 9 out of every 10 atheists is NOT in fact "certain no gods exist". We simply see no reason to believe in one unless there is evidence.

If you yourself don't expressly believe in a god, you are ALSO an atheist. If you do, you are a theist. Those are the positions on belief. From your description, you are actually an agnostic theist or deist, not just "agnostic".

What are you talking about? Religion was created 2500 years ago and the world has been in existence for millions and millions of years. Why is like that? Why everything was documented only after the birth of Christianity? It is all B/S. Why do I have to believe in religion? Look at China. 30 years ago there was no religion in China. The Communist Party of China didn't allow it. look at China today. World's number 2 economy . China has risen up without the help of any Gods but Chairman Mao. Realistically speaking, do we really need religion to live our lives? Religion to me is to control the masses to make free money. Nothing else! If people stop donating , religion will come to an end.

If you can answer the following question with a "no," then you are an atheist:

Do you believe a god of any kind exists?

Notice that I used the word "believe" rather than "know." Atheists don't necessarily profess to know that a god doesn't exist. To go along with your argument, I don't believe the flying spaghetti monster exists, and you probably don't either. Therefore, I'm also atheistic about the flying spaghetti monster, although I don't know that he doesn't exist. You've confused the notions of knowledge and belief. Knowledge about there being no god is a tough thing to obtain, but it isn't needed to be an atheist.

Btw, agnosticism is the view that knowledge about such things CAN'T be obtained, not merely a position where one doesn't have knowledge of such things. "I'm not sure" is not agnosticism....agnosticism is "We can never know."

You are making the tired old mistake of considering atheism a belief system in its own right, and it is NOT.

Atheism is NOT a rejection of God. Atheism is a LACK of belief. I do not believe in that which has no evidence. I do not believe that Santa Claus exists, does that mean that I'm making an extreme comment? I think not.

Why would you 'tend to think a god exists'? Why? You have no evidence of it, so it's purely a hope or a dream, right? I have no such dream, it exists in hard reality. Present me with some hard evidence that God exists, and i will accept that. But until that happens, I wont even consider the idea worth my time.

There are millions of innocent children living in areas infected with a particular worm. That worm will burrow into the child's eye, causing intense pain, and eventual loss of sight. The worm has no choice of doing this, it has merely been 'designed' to do exactly that, just as the child has been 'destined' to live in an area that neither has access to or can afford treatment.

Any god that would produce that is no god at all.

I am not an atheist and I have never not believed in God. I see way too many incredible things in creation to not believe.

There was a time though when I was in the dark and did not understand why we were on earth and where mankind was headed. That is when I started a complete research. I wanted to know what was in the Bible and once I saw the truth, it was like a veil was lifted from my eyes.

No one should concentrate on religion because that can cause one to be bias. On the other hand it makes sense that the Almighty Creator would use ones to explain his word....I hope you will do the same investigation as millions have done. Please go to this article and consider the context. http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200004627?q=Cr...

It is cool to be a atheist , and so what that science screams a Intelligent Designer , if there is a higher power my slf righteousness and emotions trump even the evidence of God ,,, and besides the world is here from nothing for no reason other than time and chance so nothing is right or nothing is wrong and good and evil does not exist and we are all doing just fine everyone gets along and besides it is called survival of the fitest so relax and please join our religion and become very carnally religious like us

Now you're just generalizing. I am an atheist, but the word atheism is just non-belief in God. I don't really talk about my atheism as much as I talk about my hate for religion.