General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Carl Sagan on Life... and the "After-Life": [View all]Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)People get very hung up on definitions, yes- and what I suspect Sagan was addressing was the assertion "I know there isn't a God", which I don't hear made all that often.
However, I don't believe there is a God, there are any Gods, and I see no objective evidence to the contrary- that is pretty much the core of what comprises most Atheistic thought.
I suspect Sagan was arguing to keep an open mind, which is the essence of science. But that goes hand in hand with evidence-based validation.
It's a vast misstatement, I think, to assert that Sagan thought Atheism was "stupid".
Edit: Okay, um, if you follow that Wikipedia quote, via the footnotes, you see no evidence that Sagan actually said that quote.
The quote is referenced to an article in Skeptic, which as near as I can tell, does NOT contain that quote.
http://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/the-sagan-file/
In the comments to the article;
Lone Primate says:
February 13, 2012 at 4:52 am
Where did Carl Sagan every say this: An atheist has to know a lot more than I know. An atheist is someone who knows there is no god. By some definitions atheism is very stupid.
You can chase around the net for weeks and you see nothing but people quoting people quoting people quoting people. But no one ever gives a citation, except for the LAST guy who quoted it. So where did he actually say this? Because Im increasingly disinclined to believe he ever actually did. Its beginning to look like a rootless meme.
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Mark Klotz says:
February 15, 2012 at 9:53 pm
Yes, I would ask the same question; Specifically, when, and where did Carl Sagan ever state An atheist has to know a lot more than I know. An atheist is someone who knows there is no god. By some definitions atheism is very stupid.
I can find no reference to this anywhere, other than the article that was printed in the Washington Post.
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I think wikipedia needs a clean-up on aisle sagan, honestly.