I find this hilarious not for the topic, moreso the "arguing with a dictionary" part. Edit: Some people seem to miss the above paragraph, so let me emphasize: I don't consider these definitions worth arguing about, I posted this due to the mind-bending nature of the conversation. He might just as well have been arguing that "four" means "seven" or that "cow" means "hat," while twice telling me to read more so I can get on his level. There is little to no actual debate, controversy or confusion about what these words mean, except in this guy's mind. We were discussing atheism and faith. He said: [quote]Two people walk into a room. One says there is a cat in the box. One says "I don't believe there is a cat in the box based on the evidence I've seen so far. Maybe we should wait until we have evidence to draw a conclusion". What about this is unreasonable?[/quote] I said: [quote]Nothing. But, that is agnosticism, not atheism.[/quote] He said: [quote]Wrong. Atheism is a lack of belief in gods, not the assertion that gods definitely don't exist. Do some reading.[/quote] I said: [quote]Lol at the "do some reading" part. [quote] 1ag·nos·tic \ag-ˈnäs-tik, əg-\noun : a person who does not have a definite belief about whether God exists or not http://i.word.com/idictionary/agnostic athe·ist \ˈā-thē-ist\noun : a person who believes that God does not exist http://i.word.com/idictionary/atheist [/quote] Why do people make these kind of assertions rather than look things up if unsure? It isn't difficult.[/quote] He said: [quote][i]Atheist a person who disbelieves [b]or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods.[/b][/i] It's fair enough to say that anyone claiming gods definitely don't exist are adopting a burden of proof. It is not a rational decision as it requires proof, and no one has that proof. But that is not the typical atheist position - it is simply that we don't believe it true. Surely you must have heard the court room analogy? Courts find you 'guilty' or 'not guilty'. 'Not guilty' is not the same as 'innocent'. I find god not guilty of existing; I can't be sure a god doesn't exist but I'm sure that it hasn't been proved that he does. I was not being rude when I said do some reading, it was a serious suggestion that will help you a lot more than Google searching a word. The Internet is full of bullshit and contradictions. This is actually a subject I know rather a lot about. Despite the inaccuracies in terminology prevalent in the Internet, agnosticism is not the middle ground between theism and atheism. A/gnosticism concerns knowledge, a/theism concerns belief. Seriously, do a little more than just googling a definition.[/quote] (OurWildebeest note: the quotes I used are from Merriam-Webster, and are the same in the printed dictionary - and basically the same in every dictionary ever) I said: [quote]Lol. Just lol. OK, you are right, the definition and common usage are wrong. In your world, what does "the" mean?[/quote] He said: [quote]Fine, remain ignorant.[/quote] Bonus material in spoiler to keep the main post shorter [spoiler]Wikipedia: Atheism "Atheist" redirects here. For other uses, seeAtheist (disambiguation). Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection ofbelief in the existence of deities.[1][2] In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities.[3][4][5] Most inclusively, atheism is the absence of belief that any deities exist.[4][5][6][7] Atheism is contrasted with theism,[8][9] which, in its most general form, is the belief that at least one deity exists.[9][10][11] The term "atheism" originated from the Greekἄθεος (atheos), meaning "without god(s)" Agnosticism Not to be confused with Gnosticism. Agnosticism is the view that the truth valuesof certain claims – especially metaphysicaland religious claims such as whether God, thedivine or the supernatural exist – are unknown and perhaps unknowable.[1][2][3] According to the philosopher William L. Rowe: "In the popular sense of the term, an agnostic is someone who neither believes nor disbelieves in the existence of God, while a theist believes that God exists, an atheist disbelieves in God." [/spoiler]