Frankspencer
Atheistic scientists would say that all avalaible evidence points to the lack of existence of any kind of higher power. It's not an absolute in the same way that gravity, relativity or quantum theory aren't absolute, simply the best model for the evidence. Even Dawkins freely admits he'd change his mind in the face of evidence. But a scientific atheist would say "there's no god" in the same way they'd say "DNA is a double-helix chemical structure" or "gravity is what stops us floating away". It's not an absolute, just the best possible explanation for the evidence.

Edit - and we traffic in evangelical behaviour in defence of all theories. If a physics teacher was teaching an alternative theory of gravity that was purely based on a several-thousand year old storybook and no evidence, I'd want to stop that. Same for intelligent design. Or the teaching of religion to children as fact. It doesn't "merit equal consideration as a theory" because it's not a theory. It's a hypothesis with not one single shred of evidence in its favour.
(loutre I've said too much, been too unkind, Thu 22 May 2008, 11:33, Reply)