I’ve heard it described that being atheist means you are absolutely, 100% certain there is no god and all religions are false. This means an atheist has the same irrational certainty that a religious person has, they have “faith” that no such “god-like” entity exists and that what can observed in the natural world is all there is.
We live in a universe that has suspicious elements*, such that a valid possible explanation for it’s existence is that the universe is in fact either artificial or even a form of simulation. (note that I say possible, there are many theories that match the observed data)
So I thought agnostics were people who simply acknowledge the lack of evidence. We don’t have evidence that explains how the universe was created, a “god-like” supernatural entity creating it is a valid explanation among many. The scientifically correct answer to “what created the universe” or “why am I here” are “I don’t know” to both. Same with answers to most other questions.
I thought atheism became widespread as a religion forced upon the people by Communist governments. The State has a motive to teach people to believe that there is nothing but the teachings of the State, and a true believer in the State believes this…
- Suspicious elements such as the universe apparently spawning itself from absolute nothingness in the Big Bang, and quantum mechanics seemingly causing situations that would allow the universe, if it were a simulation, to treat a group of entangled particles as one entity rather than separately. This would save memory, if the universe were not real. Also, quantum tunneling would occur if the universe were a simulation and there were floating point errors in collision checks…