The man best known to history as “Doubting Thomas” might seem an unlikely choice for the title of agnostic. And yet, there’s little in his story to suggest that he wasn’t. But to explain that, it’s necessary to clear up a common misconception about agnosticism. The classic idea of the agnostic is of a...
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Posts Tagged ‘ doubt ’
St Thomas the Apostle – proto-agnostic?
Review: “The Twilight of Atheism” by Alister McGrath
As the title suggests, it doesn’t have a lot to do with agnosticism – although it does treat doubt with more courtesy and respect than Dawkins seems capable of. It’s a fascinating read, too, which again scores it above “The God Delusion” – and it has some interesting ideas about both faith and doubt,...
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The Agnostic Chapel
So after yesterday’s Blessay, I got to wondering what a chapel designed for the use of agnostics would be like. Here’s what I came up with:
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98% Middle
There’s a number of common misconception about many systems of polar opposites. The most prominent of these is to conceive of all pairs of opposites as purely binary, a philosophical hangover dating back at least as far as Aristotle, and still absurdly prevalent in our culture today – see any discussion of US politics,...
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Belief and Assumption
It’s been pointed out to me that last week, I failed entirely to actually clarify what I thought the difference was between beliefs and assumptions. So this week, I’m backing up a little to define my terms. Like I should have done in the first place.
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In Doubt We Trust
Or at least, I do. I think most agnostics would probably agree on that point – indeed, I daresay that not a few of us would add that those four words are pretty much the basis of the scientific method. But doubt can leave one with little in the way of reliable facts. And...
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Believing, Disbelieving, and Not Believing
Okay, so last week, I covered how I got here. But I know I didn’t really say where here is. Understand, I can’t really say what all agnostics believe (or don’t believe) – I can only say what I hold to be true. On the plus side, this isn’t very much, so this will...
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Militant Agnostic
Although I have a whole lot of plans for this particular column, I find that starting it is the hardest part. Funny, huh? So I figured I’d just start at the beginning. This is the beginning for me, how I came to be where I am. These are my two stories about this: the...
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