I am a Skeptical Atheist. First, we need to define our terms, and then I'll talk about how that applies to The InnKeeper.

Skeptic: from the Greek word skeptikoi, meaning "seekers" or "inquires" and skepteon meaning "we must investigate this" (Plato). Skepticism is the application of reason to any and all ideas. "Skeptical" does not mean "doubting" or "cynical", it means "to inquire". Skepticism is not a position, it is a process - a process of learning. The scientific method is central to skepticism. Skepticism is an essential and meaningful component of the search for truth.

Atheist: from the Greek word atheos, meaning "without gods". Theism is a belief in a deity or deities, and the "a" prefix means "without". An atheist is simply lacking belief in a god or gods. Atheism does not make any positive assertions about gods, or lack thereof, it is WITHOUT. This covers a lot of different kinds of people, because the term does not have any positive assertions associated with it. This means that there are no dogmas, no claims, no creeds, nothing. It is an absence of a belief, it is not a belief in absence.

Anyone who is lacking that belief is an atheist, whether they choose to identify with the label or not. Because it is a lack of belief, the term covers a very wide range of people, from those who are positive that there is no god, all the way to those who just don't think about it at all, don't care, and don't claim to know one way or the other. Some people want to claim that all atheists believe in no gods, and that such an assertion is the same as having a religion. But to say that atheism is a religion is to say that bald is a hair color. Or that not collecting stamps is a hobby. It is the *absence* of a religion, it is not an assertion of a godless religion.

Some people want to distance or distinguish themselves from those atheists at the far end of the spectrum who make a positive assertion that there is no god, and they do so by calling themselves agnostic. This is an improper use of the term.

Agnostic: from the Greek word gnosis, meaning knowledge, and the grammatical convention of placing an "a" in front to mean "without". So "agnostic" means only "without knowledge". This is a position that we do not or cannot know something. To know something is to be aware of the truth or factuality of it. But to believe is to accept a claim without necessarily having proof, evidence, or even plausibility, without "knowing" the truth. One word relies on empirical evidence, outside of oneself, and the other relies on one's *feelings*, an internal sense. It is possible to be both agnostic and atheist at the same time - in fact, most atheists are agnostic. It is also possible to be both agnostic and theist at the same time, just as it is also possible to be gnostic and atheist or gnostic and theist.

For example, Christians are atheistic about the Greek gods. They do not believe in them and consider them "false idols". They do not believe they ever existed. But they are, of course, theistic about their god. This person would be gnostic about, both, his theism of his god and his atheism of other gods.  He would "know" that his god exists and others don't.

Meanwhile, an Atheist can be gnostic about the Abrahamic god because the atheist has evidence that is incompatible with the definition of the Abrahamic god, but may be agnostic about the existence of a god of some sort - maybe one that hasn't been defined yet. The Atheist may be willing to admit that some sort of supernatural deity is possible because "we just don't know" while simultaneously rejecting the gods presented thus far because the definitions contradict what we know of the universe. So this person's atheism would be simultaneously agnostic about some gods and gnostic about others.

Here's a handy little chart to help illustrate the point:

So, to sum up, atheism means "lacking belief in a god or gods" and that's it. An atheist can simultaneously be agnostic (lacking knowledge of deities) or gnostic (makes a positive assertion that there is no deity). Since the term "atheism" only refers to what a person doesn't belief, atheists can also hold other types of identity labels that more accurately describe what they do believe, such as "humanist", "secularist", "naturalist", and "free thinker". Some religions are also atheistic, that is, without belief in a diety, so an atheist can be a member of one of those religions, such as Buddhism or Unitarian Universalism.

There are many different reasons for why atheists are atheist. Some were simply raised in a godless environment and the subject of god never really came up at home so the atheist just doesn't think about deities. Some are anti-theists and are antagonistic towards religion, sometimes because they were raised in an overtly religious environment that the atheist is now rebelling against. And sometimes a person might approach atheism from a skeptical perspective, which is how I view my atheism.

A skeptic, as mentioned above, is someone who questions, who inquires about things. Skepticism is a process of learning, and utilizes the principles of the scientific method to guide the learning process. The skeptical process requires withholding judgement until sufficient evidence is presented to justify holding a particular belief or opinion. Often, skeptics revert to the null hypothesis as the default, but are willing to change their minds with appropriate evidence.

The "null hypothesis" is the default position in science that there is nothing going on here. Closely related in skepticism is Ockham's Razor, which states that the simplest explanation is probably the correct one, where "simplest" means the theory with the fewest new assumptions. Also related, is the idea that the burden of proof lies with the one making the claim. All of this together means that the default state of mind for a skeptic is the "a" part of atheism and agnosticism. A skeptic is "without" until given evidence otherwise.

All of this means that my default is to assume something is not true until I see evidence supporting the claim that it is true. This goes for deities and it goes for medical claims and it goes for paranomral activity. I have always been an inquisitive person and I have always demanded proof before I accepted things. But I dearly wished that all manner of mysticism were true. I devoured books on ghost hauntings and sea monsters; I learned to read tarot cards; I spoke to my stuffed animals in case they came alive at night and had a spirit that could hear me; I communed with the spirits and the trees and the birds and the animals. But I kept testing and pushing and looking into things. When I was a child, I wrote letters to Santa, as most children did. But I kept asking Santa to be pen pals. My parents thought this was cute, and that I was completely fooled. But the reason I asked to be pen pals was because I had become suspicious and I wanted proof that he really did exist. I wanted a sample of his handwriting so I could compare it to my parents' handwriting. I mailed my Christmas letters without letting my parents read it so I could see how many items on that list I actually got on Christmas morning. I desperately wanted Santa to be real, but I needed proof that he was real in order to continue believing. And when that proof did not manifest itself, in spite of my best detective skills, I lost my belief.

I questioned everyone and everything. When my parents gave me an order, I wanted to know why. I would usually be in the middle of complying with the order, but I still wanted to understand the reason behind it. Why can't I play with the power tools? Will I really hurt myself? Let's test this and find out. I asked why so often, that my parents thought I was arguing with them. I wasn't, I just needed evidence. Do girls really get accosted, mugged, and raped more often at night? Where's the report? What do the statistics say? Why can't I go out to my friends' house down the street after dark? Is it really more unsafe?

But what about morality? If I don't have a god to guide me, how do I know what's "right" or not? Well, my morality is divined from the simple reason that I empathize with my fellow humans and I have a desire to avoid doing them harm that is almost as strong as my desire that they avoid harming me. Everything else stems from that and is double-checked against what evidence I can find that discusses the specific topic at hand. I live by two major guidelines. 1) Treat others as they would have me treat them. 2) Follow the path of the greatest courage.

The first is often called The Platinum Rule, to distinguish it from the Golden Rule. It is not enough to treat people the way I want to be treated. I acknowledge that we are all individuals with our own wants, needs, and desires, and that which makes me happy may not make someone else happy. To treat someone the way I want to be treated is a selfish behaviour. It ignores what the other person wants and places my own values above that of anyone else. The second is to evaluate all my options and to choose the option that takes the most courage. This is a good way to cover those specific actions that have a "depends on the situation" qualifier, such as lying or violence. It is too simplistic to say that you should never lie, but to try and spell out all the possible situations where lying might be appropriate is time consuming and ultimately impossible to complete. Instead, I will check to see what the path of greatest courage is. To lie about doing something that hurt a loved one is the coward's way out because it makes me feel better but harms someone I care about. To lie to the Nazis about whether I'm hiding a Jew in my basement is a courageous path because it puts my own life in danger in support of defending the value of human life and opposing those who seek to harm others.

I discuss many more specific issues in my LiveJournal. I am an atheist because I lack belief in a deity, I have seen no compelling evidence for any deities, and I live my life as if there is no deities. I am a skeptic because I require evidence to accept a claim, I seek answers to questions about the universe we live in, and I use the scientific method and principles of science to guide me.

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