Atheists believe, absolutely, that there is no god. This is oftentimes an almost religious belief in and of itself. Atheists popular in those circles preach (for lack of a better term) that because of science or scientific discovery, they can undeniably state that there is no god. An absolute truth, as far as they are concerned. Deists believe, absolutely, that there is a god. Deists preach about god in absolute terms. There is no wiggle room for them either. Their god(s) are an absolute truth. Here is my problem with these absolutists: you can't both be right and you will never agree with one another. I believe it is all a matter of faith, knowledge, and perspective.
The argument for these specific absolute truths - that there is a god or that there isn't a god does not impact my life in the slightest at this moment. As for the afterlife, I guess I'll find out when and if I get there. I am a proud agnostic. I feel am smart enough to know that I am way too stupid to claim absolute knowledge on numerous subjects. The existence of any god or nonexistence of said god is one of those subjects.
I do not begrudge you your belief that there is a god and I do not begrudge you your belief that there isn't. I just don't think either of you have really strong evidence to convince me one way or the other. I also believe that you both have some pretty strong arguments in both directions... I think it is fantastic that you can have enough knowledge and/or faith to believe in these absolutist tenets. Good on you. I have also seen some ugly zealotry on both sides that really shows the darker side of humanity that is always so disappointing to me. To this point, I do believe in one thing - humans are oftentimes, very disappointing creatures.
In any case, stop lumping me in with my amazing and fantastic husband. I respect his beliefs a great deal. I even think he's pretty darn smart and has some very good arguments. However, I don't live in the 1950s and do not submit my beliefs to his will.
I have the utmost respect for both adamant atheists and adamant deists alike. I know some very intelligent and well reasoned folks in both camps. However, I cannot believe either that there is a god, or that there is not. I believe the possibility of either concept being true is plausible. Honestly, a belief in either concept would not change the way I live my life - with a sense of integrity, friendship, compassion, and social justice. I hope that is also what I am teaching my children as well.
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When I first got married, my husband and I were on completely opposite sides of the 'God' debate, or so I thought. He says now that he was agnostic, and I don't claim to be Christian, but I do have a solid belief in God. I think most religions are basically the same in that they have a version of the 10 commandments etc. I sort of made up my own 'Amyism' religion because I believe in reincarnation, in do unto others etc, and sometimes I even dabble in things some Christians would say are 'evil'.
At any rate, my husband is now more of a 'Christian' than I will ever be, and that can chafe sometimes. Especially because of the kids and how we agreed originally to raise them with knowledge of ALL religions. The first two, got a good bit of everything to experience, and if they chose to choose a religion, it was their choice. Etc. Now that our third is talking etc, and my husband is talking about 'Sunday School', I'm fighting it. I feel like it's my obligation to make sure that all of my children get to choose for themselves and that nothing is pushed on them. (This is because I was baptized 7 times, only twice of my own volition - war between my Catholic mother and Pentecost grandparents was super fun)
Okay, now that I've written a novella - I appreciate, very much, that we are capable of being independent of our husbands and what they have or have no faith in.
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