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User:12.231.81.82 added the following to the article. Am posting it here for record.

[Minority report: As an agnostic I would like to point out that whoever wrote what follows below is operating under a popular misconception of what agnosticism is. The issue is religious belief that an ad hoc hypothetically invisible god might exist (theist) and the absence of that belief (atheist), or the outright denial and repudiation of such religious belief that an ad hoc hypothetically invisible god might exist, on principle (agnostic).

Here is the whole situation in a nutshell:

Theism is characterized by a belief that a magic invisible god might exist.

"Atheism is characterized by an absence of belief in the existence of gods." -- http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/intro.html

Agnostics, also atheist, go one step further to deny and repudiate religious belief in the existence of gods:

"That which Agnostics deny and repudiate, as immoral, is the contrary doctrine, that there are propositions which men ought to believe, without logically satisfactory evidence." -- Thomas Huxley, who coined the term 'agnostic', in his excoriation of the Christian belief, "Agnosticism and Christianity" http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/CE5/Agn-X.html ]

- Hemanshu 20:01, 8 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Whatever Huxley and even infidels.org said, in modern usage the term "atheist" means denial and repudiation of the existence of a god associated with this universe. Agnosticism is something like non-belief, lack of belief, etc., wrt such a god. Every atheist (quite a few) and atheist organization I know (with the possible exception of infidels.org) defines atheism that way. Agnostics may define themselves any way they please, but that's another topic. Fairandbalanced 01:25, 9 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Actually, it seems to be that most atheists and atheist organizations seem to not claim absolutely that a god does not exist, but instead takes their position on lack of evidence that supports the multiple claims of deities. Since they view such claims as usually as silly as the existence of Santa Claus, Bigfoot, etc, they find the likelihood of a deity existing to be less likely than one existing, thus they are not neutral, but recognize a god could exist outside of their knowledge. - Lord Kenneth 01:57, Jan 11, 2004 (UTC)

User:JackLynch asked me to explain my dispute with his changes here on talk:, so here they are.

In the opening paragraph, he changed this line:

The literal meaning of the term is therefore without a belief in a god or gods, making any person who does not believe in the existence of a god or gods an atheist -- including both those who assert that no gods exists and those who, for whatever reason, do not make any assertion regarding the existence of gods.

To this line:

The literal meaning of the term is therefore without a belief in a god or gods, making any person who does not believe in the existence of a god or gods an atheist.

ie, removing everything after the dash, which IMO was an important clarification of the term's meaning.

At the end of the first paragraph, he changed this line:

Atheism is not synonymous with irreligion; the idea of an eternal non-created universe is an important concept in some religions and as such it is possible to be very religious and very atheistic.

To this line:

Atheism is not synonymous with irreligion.

Which also removed clarity, in this case an explanation of how one can be both "religious" and an atheist. Many Buddhists would fit under this description, for example.

In the second paragraph, he changed this line:

The term agnosticism (coined by T. H. Huxley in 1869) describes a form of philosophical scepticism in which the existence of gods is considered undecidable or in which inquiry into the existence is considered unproductive.

to this line:

The term agnosticism (coined by T. H. Huxley in 1869) describes a form of philosophical scepticism in which the existence of gods is considered undecided.

which is a significantly different definition of agnosticism from what's in its Wikipedia article, and simply incorrect as far as I am aware.

He also changed this line from later on in the article:

Nothwithstanding Cold War attitudes, atheists are legally protected from discrimination in the United States and they have been among the strongest advocates of the legal separation of church and state.

to:

Nothwithstanding Cold War attitudes, atheists are legally protected from discrimination in the United States and they have been the strongest advocates of the legal separation of church and state.

Removing the "among." I'd like to see some sort of evidence before stating categorically that atheists are the strongest advocates of separation of church and state. Bryan 02:33, 12 Jan 2004 (UTC)

wow, thats hard to read. Here goes

1. Atheism asserts that no God exists. Those that don't make any assertian at all arn't atheists.

1. "the idea of an eternal non-created universe is an important concept in some religions and as such it is possible to be very religious and very atheistic." you make a valid objection, it will be replaced, or rewriten.

1. Thank you for alerting me to the errors on the agnosticism page, I am looking into it.

1. "Nothwithstanding Cold War attitudes, atheists are legally protected from discrimination in the United States and they have been among the strongest advocates of the legal separation of church and state." I don't believe I can provide such documentation, and so the ambiguous statement will be restored or rewriten. Jack 03:03, 12 Jan 2004 (UTC)