The Seven Milestones of Religion/Irreligion
In his book The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins puts forth seven milestones in terms of belief. They are as follows:
1. Strong theist. 100 per cent probability of God. In the words of C.G. Jung, "I do not believe, I know."
2. Very high probability but short of 100 per cent. De facto theist. "I cannot know for certain, but I strongly believe in God and live my life on the assumption that he is there."
3. Higher than 50 per cent but not very high. Technically agnostic but leaning towards theism. "I am very uncertain, but I am inclined to believe in God."
4. Exactly 50 per cent. Completely impartial agnostic. "God's existence and non-existence are exactly equi-probable."
5. Lower than 50 per cent but not very low. Technically agnostic but leaning towards atheism. "I don't know whether God exists but I'm inclined to be sceptical."
6. Very low probability, but short of zero. De facto atheist. "I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there."
7. Strong atheist. "I know there is no God, with the same conviction as Jung "knows" there is one."
Now most atheists you come across (Including myself) will be at #6. I just wanted to present this to the general public and find out where they stood on it.
If there is anyone at number four, I would like to point out that God's existence is not at the same probability as his nonexistence. There is an extreme amount of evidence to explain things that religion attempts to explain, for example evolution. I want to encourage everyone to really consider the facts and the evidence. Also, I recommend The God Delusion for nonbelievers and believers alike.
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