Posted: Oct 08, 2010 5:22 pm
LIFE wrote:Sagan would be so useful today, what with all the debates about science and religion. By most definitions he would be called an atheist, but he hated the term. "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."
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 870_2.html
I couldn't find another source where he said something similar with regard to the label atheism so I suppose the predominant contemporary definition of atheism at that time was that an atheist claims to know that there are no deities? Similar to what Dawkins describes as strong atheism then?
Unfortunately a lot of Sagan 'quotes' on the net are bogus.
I'm not sure about this one.
Its very late here, don't have time to check atm ... going to bed.
Just book marking so I can come back later ... with some input.