Atheism, Humanism, and Skepticism are my three big topic headings for Human Tales, and generally for my life-philosophy. "Atheism" is by far the easiest concept to define quickly to one who does not share the viewpoint.  "Humanism" and "Skepticism" are not nearly so simple or nearly so culturally understood.  Sometimes we have trouble giving an elevator speech about those two.

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"The power of science is that it can refute intuition." -Mark Palmer

I was listening to The Atheist Experience (#723) on iTunes. A Christian caller tried to trip the hosts up citing the transcendental argument for god or ("TAG"). The TAG and most other philosophical justifications for god I've been presented with seem to be nothing more than silly word games--mere verbal gymnastics. As you've probably noticed already, I care a lot about the definitions of words.  I like people to understand what I'm saying. I like clarity. I hate verbal trickery.  And, the saddest thing about it, is that it seems many of these verbal gymnasts manage to trick themselves.

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I had planned to pontificate on the state of magic believers and evolution deniers in this country based on this 9/7/11 Fox “News” poll article. However, after reading the questions asked on the poll, I have elected to verbally piss all over the questions themselves.

Why? Because statistics mean nothing when you ask the wrong questions.

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Yes, I'm putting my 2 cents on this "Atheist" v. "Agnostic" labeling ridiculousness. I'm going to make a case for why we should embrace the term "Atheist." I've not seen my particular argument addressed elsewhere.  I call it: The Parable of the Gold Coin.

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