That Big 'A'

In case you ever wondered, the big 'A' on the sidebar of my precious, precious blog refers to the OUT Campaign, and constitutes a public aknowledgement that I am an atheist.

Being an atheist does not mean I am absolutely certain that god does not exist. It means I know of no reasonable basis for believing that god exists, and therefore* feel no stirring of any such belief. Moreover, having looked at the matter carefully over the course of many years, I do not live in fear of the possibility that I'm overlooking such a reasonable basis -- Pascal's Wager does not strike me as convincing in the least, and I am not going to church or dropping to an eastward-pointing prayer mat "just in case."

I proceed through life as though god does not exist, and do not bother with the label of agnostic, any more than I would bother with calling myself agnostic on the question of the existence of leprechauns, fairies, werewolves, or unselfish Republicans.

If you believe in god, I deny the existence of all the gods whose existence you deny -- plus one more.

From the OUT Campaign's page:

As more and more people join the OUT Campaign, fewer and fewer people will feel intimidated by religion. We can help others understand that atheists come in all shapes, sizes, colours and personalities. We are labourers and professionals. We are mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers and grandparents. We are human (we are primates) and we are good friends and good citizens. We are good people who have no need to cling to the supernatural.

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* The therefore in that sentence is misleading -- it happens that I know of no reasonable basis for belief in god, and it happens that I feel no stirring of belief in god, but the connection between the two is not straightforward cause and effect. I disbelieve on intuitive, emotional, and visceral grounds as well as reasoned ones. The reasons tend to reinforce the others, but I don't think it would be quite honest to say the reasons are the basis, or even the sine qua non, of the less rational side of my disbelief. But on this question as on others where the true-false distinction is consequential (unlike, say, color or candy bar preference), I do my best to make the rational and reasonable guide the irrational and emotional.