Caught on tape by an undercover CIA agent were Richard Meic's words:
  >> FR> By any definition, everyone is born not believing in gods and
  >> FR> goddesses. Ergo, everyone is born an atheist.
  >> I'll have to stand with Bob on this one.  Atheism is not
  >> agnostism. Atheism is the "non-acceptance" of any deity(s)
  >> existance.  Agnostism is simply the lack of knowledge of such.
 RM>  FR>> No, atheism is the lack of deity beliefs.  Everyone is born an
 RM>  FR>> atheist.
 RM> I am sorry, Bob but I have to take back what I said.  It seems that
 RM> both Rice and I were wrong about this.  Agnostics believe that god(s)
 RM> make no difference here in our lives and also that there is no chance
 RM> of understanding any of it.  Atheists, after gaining some knowledge of
 RM> religion/theism simply choose not to believe any of it.  So, I
 RM> conclude that we are all born as neither atheist, theist or agnostic.
    In a strict semantic sense, its roots mean a- (without) gnosis
 (knowledge).  A similar greek word is agnoia, which means ignorance.
 So, literally, babies are born ignorant, in agnoia, without knowledge,
 tabla rasa.  Later in life they might, with knowledge, come to the
 conclusion that we can have no knowledge of ultimate realities such as
 God or the soul, and therefore would fall under your description.  But
 I stick with my semantic interpretation.  Without knowledge is the
 correct definition of agnosticism to describe our state at birth.
 BS> Isn't it funny to see Fredric rant and rave about fundies, yet
 BS> refuse to recognize the one in his mirror?
 RM> I do not know him well enough to conclude either way.
    I admire your even-handed, steady patience and refusal to jump to
 conclusions.  But I feel that the myriad of Frederic's postings here
 and what I've seen on Holyjoke support my opinion.  With time, perhaps
 you will agree.
 RM> Sorry, but I give each new arrival the same chance to prove they are
 RM> honorable.
    Again, I admire your fair approach.  If I seem hasty in my
 judgements, it must be considered that I've seen his work elsewhere, in
 the Holyjoke echo and on his Skeptic Tank web site.  I try to give
 people the benefit of the doubt as well, because I hate prejudice.  But
 this isn't prejudice, it's post-judicial, if that's a word...  ;^)
 RM>  Dicere...
    Auscultare...
... Radix malorum est cupiditas.
--- PPoint 2.05
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