"Religious bigotry" is an overused term.

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

Well said. And I realize that I am oversimplifying things.

Nevertheless.... when you say "I think there's not a lot of difference between agnostics and atheists.", I have to agree based on your definition of an atheist. Now I would like to read your definition of an agnostic.

When you say: "If they were to experience anything like Joseph Smith's 'First Vision' they'd believe in God without having to adjust their basic outlook one whit." I understand your point. But most atheists I have known are dead sure that there is no God and use every opportunity to ridicule believers. It seems to me that such an experience would be shattering to an atheist since it would turn their world view upside down and completely disprove the "there is no such thing as a spiritual world" mindset.

In other words, when one says "spirituality is nothing more than emotion", isn't that a statement of belief, to a degree? How can one definitively prove such a thing?

I agree. I also said materialism is a discipline, which means it takes effort. That I think is where something like faith comes in. But it's not really comparable to faith in the existence of the super natural.