Whoever you're the thing is, people in the religion, especially radicals, never are able to make the difference. Kind of pathetic and sad

Your English is difficult to understand. But, if you meant that the religious are not accepting or opne-minded, I agree. I find many politically-minded people the same way, though. Human nature is scary and sad.

"People in religion, especially the radicals, are never able to differentiate between atheists and agnostics"



Perhaps it simply shows that they just want everyone to agree with them (or obey them).

BTW, if they were able to differentiate between atheists and agnostics, what would be better?

Well, I don't think you've thought this through as completely as you believe you did.

From the point of view of someone who is convinced that one must actively believe in and obey a god, and do so in certain specific ways, there IS no functional difference between an agnostic and an atheist. Because BOTH deny that they must follow whatever detailed attention to their god that they believe is fundamentally necessary.

Therefor it is entirely LOGICAL for them to view both kinds of people the same way.

Just as it is entirely logical for the rest of us who don't believe as they do, to make sure such people do NOT get to control the government, using those beliefs.

From what I can see from the exalted vantage of my age, atheism just seems like another religion. I maintain the existence of God (or gods even), what happens when you die, is intrinsically unknowable. Religions say you have to have faith, meaning believe without evidence. Lacking evidence, agnosticism seems the only reasonable position. Nobody knows and those who claim to are delusional.

I know it's an old thread but things aren't so hot here anyway.

Now you're lumping together two different sets of people - those that say that they know there are no gods and those that say "what is the question? and how do those guys claim to know the answer one way or the other?". And then you (agnostics in general, perhaps) claim to know that the answer is unknowable (how do you know that?). So the agnostics (or maybe only you) are doing the same thing that the thread starter says the "people in religion" are doing ...

Hi - I disagree Igor. The atheist disavows the existence of any god while the agnostic believes it's possible that there is a god. That's a big difference. It is funny to me though when the Mormons come visiting I have yet to have one define what an agnostic is.

You missed my point entirely.
To you and I, there is a big difference.

To someone who instead sorts the world into "people who believe as I do," and "people who don't, and are therefore wrong," there is no difference.

As an additional note, lots of people differ as to what "agnostic" means. Some think it means "don't have an opinion and don't care." Some think it means "waiting for acceptable proof." Some think it means "not a Gnostic."

Anything is scary if you don't understand it. There's very little about human "nature" that's shocking to me. Understanding the processes the mind takes to get specific outcomes takes away a lot of that fear. Doesn't make some of it any easier to stomach (which will vary by person), but it is what it is.