On 2-8-2009 22:15, David H. Burns wrote:
> andrel wrote:
>> On 1-8-2009 16:16, David H. Burns wrote:
>>> Probably, but how real are their fears. There are certainly a lot of 
>>> "practicing atheists"
>>> (i.e people who live as if they believed nothing) 
>>
>> I strongly object to that. Atheists believe (i.e. know) that no God 
>> exists. You do have people who believe nothing, but they are not 
>> referred to as atheists nor agnostics for that matter.
> 
> No offense intended. That's why I put the the phrase in quotes; perhaps,
> Non-Believers would be a better term for those who believe nothing --but 
> that
> term might be misread too. :)
> 
>  "Believe" and "know" are not synonyms. :)

Depends. A believer "knows", he/she will often deny believing as that 
suggests that there is another option. I know that no god exists, but at 
the same time acknowledge that others know that God does exist.
An outsider who does not share the same believe/knowledge may classify 
it as (merely) a believe, for the believer it is knowledge.
So whether it are synonyms or not depends on the observer.
(I am aware of the parallels with the evolution as (merely) a theory).

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