Class Thirty-Two Agnosticism: An Atheist Perspective
Books Recommended For each class May be found On AtheistScholar.org This lecture will attempt to engage the topic of agnosticism, its definition, its history...

By: AtheistScholar.org

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Class Thirty-Two Agnosticism: An Atheist Perspective - Video

The Presbyterianism of the Scotland of yesteryear has long been enmeshed in secularism, agnosticism and even atheism, writes Gamal Nkrumah. Nationalism has replaced religious zealotry as the animating factor in Scottish politics. It is even said that membership of the staunchly pro-independence Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) and other like-minded Scottish parties has surged since last Thursdays referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom.

Unity is the best policy, or so the clich goes. And the United States of America is the perfect example. Yes, the American Civil War threatened to rip the nation apart in the 1860s. Fortunately for America, the Yankees fighting for the territorial integrity of the US prevailed, and the Southern Confederate states conceded that theirs was a lost cause.

In the Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia (contemporary Iraq) and the Levant (modern Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine), national boundaries were demarcated when with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire Britain and France decided to carve up the region into respective spheres of influence after the signing of the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement. Predominantly Sunni Syria, eventually governed by a Shia Muslim in the shape of Syrian president Bashar Al-Assads Alawi sect, came under French rule.

Iraq, overwhelmingly Shia Muslim (like Iran), in sharp contrast since independence from Britain in 1932 was run by successive Sunni Muslim leaders, the last of whom was former president Saddam Hussein. The proverbial colonial divide-and-rule policy was implemented with clinical precision, and the seeds of contention were sowed.

Following a twisted logic, Scotlands first minister Alex Salmond who led the campaign to vote yes for Scottish independence in last weeks referendum on independence, could be regarded as something of an amalgam of Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi and Islamic State leader and self-styled caliph of Sunni Muslims Abu-Bakr Al-Baghdadi.

Like Al-Abadi, Salmond was democratically elected, in his case as first minister by the Scottish parliament in May 2007. Al-Abadi was likewise democratically elected by the Iraqi parliament. Al-Baghdadi was never elected. However, even though no surveys have been conducted it is thought that a large segment of the Sunni Muslim population of Iraq and the Levant sympathises to differing degrees with al-Baghdadi, just as 45 per cent of Scots voted yes to Scottish independence.

Like Salmond in Scotland, Al-Baghdadi also commands a considerable following in the region. Yet the fundamental difference between Salmond and Al-Baghdadi is that as a staunch believer in democracy Salmond conceded defeat in last weeks referendum. He accepted the democratic verdict of the people and stepped down.

Al-Baghdadi, by contrast, has no intention of listening to the voices of those who detest his militant ideological orientation. He beheads his adversaries. He foments religious strife. His brutish barbarity has more in common with mediaeval savagery than with modern moderation.

Admittedly, more concrete causes of dissatisfaction with the status quo are to be found in Iraq and the Levant than in Scotland. In the latter there are public services, especially healthcare and education, whereas healthcare is virtually non-existent in the remote backwaters of eastern Syria and northwestern Iraq, the areas where IS is most active.

Whatever educational facilities existed in the area before the upsurge in ISs military conquests and its subjugation of the people in northeastern Syria and northwestern Iraq were destroyed by the violence and protracted warfare the group adopted. Al-Baghdadis very concept of education differs radically from that of the largely secularist Iraqi educational establishment, itself in shambles.

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Al-Baghdadi is no Salmond

This article originally appeared on AlterNet.

Catholic, born-again, Reformed, Jew, Muslim, Shiite, Sunni, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhistreligions give people labels. The downside can be tribalism, an assumption that insiders are better than outsiders, that they merit more compassion, integrity and generosity or even that violence toward infidels is acceptable. But the upside is that religious or spiritual labels offer a way of defining who we are. They remind adherents that our moral sense and quest for meaning are core parts of what it means to be human. They make it easier to convey a subset of our deepest values to other people, and even to ourselves.

For those who have lost their religion or never had one, finding a label can feel important. It can be part of a healing process or, alternately, a way of declaring resistance to a dominant and oppressive paradigm. Finding the right combination of words can be a challenge though. For a label to fit it needs to resonate personally and also communicate what you want to say to the world. Words have definitions, connotations and history, and how people respond to your label will be affected by all three. What does it mean? What emotions does it evoke? Who are you identifying as your intellectual and spiritual forebears and your community? The differences may be subtle but they are important.

If, one way or another, youve left religion behind, and if youve been unsure what to call yourself, you might try on one of these:

1. Atheist.The termatheistcan be defined literally as lacking a humanoid god concept, but historically it means one of two things.Positive atheismasserts that a personal supreme being does not exist.Negative atheismsimply asserts a lack of belief in such a deity. It is possible be a positive atheist about the Christian God, for example, while maintaining a stance of negative atheism or even uncertainty on the question of a more abstract deity like a prime mover. In the United States, it is important to know that atheist may be the most reviled label for a godless person. Devout believers use it as a slur and many assume an atheist has no moral core. Until recently calling oneself an atheist was an act of defiance. That appears to be changing. With the rise of the New Atheists and the recent atheist visibility movement, the term is losing its edge.

2. Anti-theist.Whenatheistconsistently evoked images of Madalyn Murray OHair, hostility toward religion was assumed. Now that it may evoke a white-haired grandmother at the Unitarian church or the gay kid on Glee, some people want a term that more clearly conveys their opposition to the whole religious enterprise. The termanti-theistsays, I think religion is harmful. It also implies some form of activism that goes beyond merely advocating church-state separation or science education. Anti-theism challenges the legitimacy of faith as a moral authority or way of knowing. Anti-theists often work to expose harms caused in the name of God like stonings, gay baiting, religious child maltreatment, genital mutilation, unwanted childbearing or black-collar crime. The New Atheist writers including Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins might better be described as anti-theists.

3. Agnostic.Some atheists think ofagnosticas a weenie term, because it gets used by people who lack a god-concept but dont want to offend family members or colleagues. Agnosticdoesnt convey the same sense of confrontation or defiance that atheist can, and so it gets used as a bridge. But in reality, the term agnostic represents a range of intellectual positions that have important substance in their own right and can be independent of atheism.Strong agnosticismviews Gods existence as unknowable, permanently and to all people.Weak agnosticismcan mean simply I dont know if there is a God, or We collectively dont know if there is a God but we might find out in the future. Alternately, the term agnosticism can be used to describe an approach to knowledge, somewhat like skepticism (which comes next in this list). Philosopher Thomas Huxley illustrates this position:

Agnosticism is not a creed but a method, the essence of which lies in the vigorous application of a single principle Positively the principle may be expressed as in matters of intellect, do not pretend conclusions are certain that are not demonstrated or demonstrable.

These three definitions of agnosticism, though different, all focus on what we do or can know, rather than on whether God exists. This means it is possible to be both atheist and agnostic. Author Phillip Pullman hasdescribedhimself as both.

The question of what term to use is a difficult one, in strict terms I suppose Im an agnostic because of course the circle of the things I do know is vastly smaller than the things I dont know about out there in the darkness somewhere maybe there is a God. But among all the things I do know in this world I see no evidence of a God whatsoever and everybody who claims to know there is a God seems to use that as an excuse for exercising power over other people, and historically as we know from looking at the history in Europe alone thats involved persecution, massacre, slaughter on an industrial scale, its a shocking prospect.

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7 different types of non-believers

Pittsburgh, PA (PRWEB) September 24, 2014

Distinguished audiovisual professional, David Vargo CTS-D, Principal Consultant of BrightTree Studios, recently shared his modern views on technology consulting for the year 2014 and beyond.

Im rebelling against the current message. The modern method for audiovisual consulting and design is not independence, its agnosticism.

Based on demands from prominent corporations and institutes of higher education across the country, David and his team branded a new company wing, BrightTree Studios, specializing in agnostic technology consulting and design. In his latest blog titled The Modern Method of Audiovisual Consulting, David takes a bold stance in separating his design views from that of his colleagues.

As a professional in the field, your instinct is to design systems with products that you are comfortable with and know will not only function as the client would like, but will stand up against the test of time, says David. Working in an organization that contains a design wing situated within an integration environment, allows our employees to get hands on experience with a wider variety of products live and in the field. We then can take that knowledge and apply it to our client designs.

David's blog centers in on the belief that the best method of developing the sophistication and practicality of designs is hands-on problem-solving, coupled with independent research and industry training.

ABOUT BRIGHTTREE STUDIOS BrightTree Studios is a full service, audiovisual consulting and design firm that partners with architects, owners, and end users to create state-of-the-art environments used to inspire individuals to learn, create, work, and collaborate.

ABOUT DAVID VARGO With over a decade of experience in the audiovisual industry, David Vargo comes from a line of prestigious companies. He has experience designing and installing systems on over 200 projects for clients across the spectrum, including corporate, higher education, healthcare, telemedicine, and broadcast.

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BrightTree Studios Creates the Modern Method of Audiovisual Consulting