In my humble, but firmly held opinion, atheism is arrogant. Pure atheism requires absolute knowledge, unless we define it as faith and not knowledge. To say that I know for certain there is absolutely no God, then I have to be able to say, I have searched and researched every possibility. I know everything, therefore, I know there is no God.
In order to have faith that says, “I know that there is a God,” I do not have to know everything, I simply have to know God. For example, someone in Japan says, “I have absolute knowledge that Brad Bessent does not exist,” they have to be able to say, “I have met every person in this world, and there is no Brad Bessent.” For someone to say, “Oh, but you are wrong, I know that Brad Bessent does indeed exist because I have met him personally.”
It is not arrogant to say that I know that God exists. I have met Him. He speaks to my heart, and I talk to Him everyday. Some can say (indeed some have said) that I am nuts. But knowing God does not require absolute knowledge, just personal experiential contact with the living God. Atheism, pure unadulterated atheism, that requires absolute knowledge. Since no one has that, except God, then anyone claiming to be an atheist ultimately declares their arrogance. That is my uncut raw point of view.
Agnosticism, however, is a different matter. Someone who settles in agnosticism, or gives up the search for truth, so to speak, is just lazy. If you don’t know, keep searching.
bradunleashed 
“Pure atheism requires absolute knowledge, unless we define it as faith and not knowledge.”
Wrong. It isn’t about faith or knowledge. It’s belief.
“Absolute knowledge” as a concept is essentially useless. You can’t really be absolutely certain of anything. You can be reasonably certain based on all available experience, observation and evidence.
And that is why I’m an atheist. Based on all the available experience, observation and evidence that I have studied, I see no good reason to believe a god exists.
Thanks for offering your point of view. Sometimes we use the same words, but have different definitions. It seems to me, that is my opinion is, holding to atheism has a higher risk than faith in God. No doubt there are many “gods”, most created in man’s image. We like the control we have when we can fashion a god after our liking.
But if you are right, if there is no god at all, then we rot in the ground, I suppose. Annihilism may be a comfort to some, and quite frightening to others. If there is a god, more realistically if there is God, then seeking to know Him becomes a pretty significant endeavor. The question I would ask is, “What would it take for you to believe in God?” Some have swaid, “Nothing could convince me.” Others have said, ‘If I see a blinding light, as in the story of Saul of Tarsus in the Bible, and if God speaks to me, then I will believe.” The interesting thing to me about that, is the second perspective at least acknowledges the possibility of faith. Something can convince. To those who would take that position, I would simply say put the burden back on God. Offer a prayer, “God, if you are real, prove it to me.”
“But if you are right, if there is no god at all, then we rot in the ground, I suppose.”
Which give me more incentive to make this life, the only one I know I’m going to get, as good as I can.
“The question I would ask is, “What would it take for you to believe in God?” ”
No idea. But I imagine an omnipotent deity would know what would convince me.
“Offer a prayer, “God, if you are real, prove it to me.””
I have. And received no response.
Once again, I appreciate the honest dialogue. “I have and received no response.” Maybe you haven’t received a response yet, or you have overlooked a response that you have received. In any event, I would encourage you to not quit seeking after truth. Although at different places in this journey, we can share that in common.
“In my humble, but firmly held opinion, atheism is arrogant.” .. You might want to check your Humility meter…It’s in the red zone.I’m surprised you can’t recognize it.
“Pure atheism requires absolute knowledge” .. That’s absurd. Only believers try to doctor the facts to suit their argument.
It’s stupid blogs like this that give believers a bad name amongst those that don’t.
Let me begin by say thanks for responding to the blog. I wrote it a couple years ago and just reposted it. I addressed a philosophical position, and the point is that to say absolutely there is no God is to say that one has exhausted all possibilities and therefore can say absolutely there is no God. I did not suggest that an individual cannot affirm that as their position. You did not address any of the issues but instead launched your attack at me, and not my argument.