“I am not an atheist. An atheist is someone who has compelling evidence that there is no Judeo-Christian-Islamic God.” - Carl Sagan
Nope. You are quote mining again. That is your fallacy. Try to do better.
Carl Sagan was agnostic on the matter of God, which means not holding belief in the existence of a God. Agnosticism is a form of atheism; soft atheism.
Quote; ''David Morrison, one of Sagan’s students back in the day, tells me by e-mail, “Carl acted like an atheist but rejected the label. I guess it seemed too absolute to him. He always tried to be open to new evidence on any subject. I am reminded of Bill Nye answering a question about what could change his mind about evolution : ‘evidence’.”
I e-mailed the person who would know Sagan’s views better than anyone: Ann Druyan, Sagan’s widow. I specifically asked her about the quote in my 1996 story (“An atheist has to know a lot more than I know. An atheist is someone who knows there is no God”). Druyan responded:
“Carl meant exactly what he said. He used words with great care.He did not know if there was a god. It is my understanding that to be an atheist is to take the position that it is known that there is no god or equivalent. Carl was comfortable with the label ‘agnostic’ but not ‘atheist.'”
Here’s a definition of “agnosticism” from Merriam-Webster: “Agnosticism may mean no more than the suspension of judgment on ultimate questions because of insufficient evidence, or it may constitute a rejection of traditional Christian tenets.”
