FAIL Quote of the Day: Stop telling us what we believe, Ray

Ray Comfort again writes about that which he knows so little of (and yet spends so much time writing about):

If someone doesn't know what caused the universe, they are not an atheist. They may hold onto the label, but in truth they are "agnostic." Etymology: "Greek agnōstos unknown, unknowable, from a- + gnōstos known, from gignōskein to know — more to know."

The dictionary says the same thing. Agnostic: "a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable."

[…]

So you are not an atheist. You are an "agnostic," and you therefore can't speak on behalf of the true atheists, who, like Richard Dawkins, believe that nothing created everything. He is a true atheist, and his belief is unscientific. Agnostics plead ignorance. They don't know.

No, Ray. An atheist is simply someone who believes that any and all gods don’t exist. This says nothing about any potential origin(s) of the universe as we know it – or anything else at all. Atheists don’t have True Knowledge^TM about the origin or nature of the universe, or anything else – that’s you Christians’ shtick, not ours. Claiming that atheists believe that “nothing created everything” isn’t just pure nonsense, it’s also a strawman derived from your own ignorance of atheists and atheistic beliefs. Also, to be purely pedantic about it, all atheists are agnostics. We don’t know, nor claim to know, that any one or more gods don’t exist. We simply believe that they don’t in light of a complete lack of any shred of evidence to the contrary.

(Also, note that one should distinguish between atheism and agnosticism in the sense that while atheists believe that god(s) don’t exist, agnostics are those who don’t believe in god(s) without actually disbelieving in them (ie. believing they don’t exist).)

The atheist’s worldview is based on beliefs in the natural and supernatural, not absolute or inherent truths. We have our own senses, and especially, we have scientific research and material evidence, to help us determine what is worth believing in and what is not. We can “prove” that gravity, wind, radiation and love exist, through their natures and effects on ourselves and the world. Whereas, if any one or more gods do exist, they don’t seem keen in manifesting their powers in any tangible (or even intangible) ways. Which is why, considering this is a physical and material universe, we can be fairly confident in assuming that they simply aren’t there to begin with.