Why do atheists say Carl sagan is atheist?

Question

"An atheist has to know more than I know. An atheist is someone who knows there is no God." -Carl Sagan

"I have some discomfort with both believers and with nonbelievers when their opinions are not based on facts ... If we don't know the answer, why are we under so much pressure to make up our minds, to declare our allegiance to one hypothesis or the other?"- Carl Sagan


Clearly he is NOT, and neither is numerous other scientists that you have attempted to label, but surely you already know that, right?

Answer 1

Carl Sagan in all likelihood was indeed an atheist. I am a believer, but was a fan of Sagan right up to his death. He once stated " looking at an alarm clock then thinking that it must have been created by a grandfather clock is similar to the Christian belief."

Answer 2

Maybe it was quotes like these:



"A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism."



"For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring."



"In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion."



"The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by God one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying... it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity."



"What I'm saying is, if God wanted to send us a message, and ancient writings were the only way he could think of doing it, he could have done a better job."



"Anything you don't understand ... you attribute to God. God for you is where you sweep away all the mysteries of the world, all the challenges to our intelligence. You simply turn your mind off and say God did it."



"The question [Do you believe in God?] has a peculiar structure. If I say no, do I mean I'm convinced God doesn't exist, or do I mean I'm not convinced he does exist? Those are two very different questions."



"You see, the religious people -- most of them -- really think this planet is an experiment. That's what their beliefs come down to. Some god or other is always fixing and poking, messing around with tradesmen's wives, giving tablets on mountains, commanding you to mutilate your children, telling people what words they can say and what words they can't say, making people feel guilty about enjoying themselves, and like that. Why can't the gods leave well enough alone? All this intervention speaks of incompetence. If God didn't want Lot's wife to look back, why didn't he make her obedient, so she'd do what her husband told her? Or if he hadn't made Lot such a shithead, maybe she would've listened to him more. If God is omnipotent and omniscient, why didn't he start the universe out in the first place so it would come out the way he wants? Why's he constantly repairing and complaining? No, there's one thing the Bible makes clear: The biblical God is a sloppy manufacturer. He's not good at design, he's not good at execution. He'd be out of business if there was any competition."



Sagan only pointed out that any absolute claim of the nonexistence of God is not more scientifically sound than an absolute assertion of the existence of same. His opposition is not to non-belief, but sloppy thinking.

Answer 3

Its funny how theists explain that the Bible should not be taken literally, in order to explain away the obvious issues with it, but man... they always seem to jump on this argument full force.



Stop it already. Athiest's don't believe in God. There is a wide spectrum between positively sure there is no God and positively sure there is. It is not black and white and NO ONE can say with certainty that there is or is not a god. Anyone who believes must concede that there is the possibility that God doesn't exist and similarly, Atheists must concede to the possibility that He does. I don't agree with Sagan's statement that if and only if you are sure there is no God, at that point you are an athiest.



Stop focusing in on semantics and definitions. Carl Sagan, Albert Eistein and Richard Dawkins were/ are all smart enough to admit there is much they don't know, but that doesn't prohibit them from feeling one way or the other.

Answer 4

If you want to save your child from polio, you can pray or you can inoculate.

-- Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World, p. 30



In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken," and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time someting like that happened in politics or religion.

-- Carl Sagan, 1987 CSICOP keynote



It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

-- Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World



The evidence, so far at least and laws of Nature aside, does not require a Designer. Maybe there is one hiding, maddeningly unwilling to be revealed.

-- Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot

Answer 5

Frank,

Suppose I told you that my religious belief was reducible to the idea of "The Weather God Of Maine," whose sole job was to monitor the temperature. I'm betting you wouldn't defend me against accusations of "atheism."



It's much the same with Sagan, whose view is better contained in this quote, when asked about religious beliefs:

"Where's the evidence? Now, the word God is used to cover a wide variety of very different ideas, ranging maybe from the idea of an outsized light-skinned male with a long white beard who sits in a throne in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow--for which there is no evidence, none at all--to the view of Einstein, of Spinoza, which is essentially that God is the sum total of the laws of nature. And since there are laws of nature ... if that's what you mean by God, then of course there's a God. So everything depends on the definition of God."



And with this definition of a god, there isn't the remotest possibility of constructing a theology of any interest to any religious person. The point? As his wife observed, neither believed in any traditional sense of God nor did they believe in an afterlife. So.. what are you left with?

Answer 6

why just post two quotes from him and try to use those to make it sound like he was a believer?



Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

-- Carl Sagan



If you want to save your child from polio, you can pray or you can inoculate.

-- Carl Sagan



If some good evidence for life after death were announced, I'd be eager to examine it; but it would have to be real scientific data, not mere anecdote.... Better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy.

-- Carl Sagan



I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But as much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking.

-- Carl Sagan



You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe.

-- Carl Sagan



Think of how many religions attempt to validate themselves with prophecy. Think of how many people rely on these prophecies, however vague, however unfulfilled, to support or prop up their beliefs. Yet has there ever been a religion with the prophetic accuracy and reliability of science? ... No other human institution comes close.

-- Carl Sagan



It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

-- Carl Sagan



The evidence, so far at least and laws of Nature aside, does not require a Designer. Maybe there is one hiding, maddeningly unwilling to be revealed.

-- Carl Sagan



____________________________



Sagan was an agnostic til the end...



"Contrary to the fantasies of the fundamentalists, there was no deathbed conversion, no last minute refuge taken in a comforting vision of a heaven or an afterlife. For Carl, what mattered most was what was true, not merely what would make us feel better. Even at this moment when anyone would be forgiven for turning away from the reality of our situation, Carl was unflinching. As we looked deeply into each other's eyes, it was with a shared conviction that our wondrous life together was ending forever."

-- Ann Druyan, Epilogue to Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium

Answer 7

Famous people are labeled by whatever group can find a quote or an action to skew to their way of thinking. For my eentire childhood, I was told that the founding fathers were Christian. I later found out that wasn't the case. Some of the same people have been claimed by Christians, Pagans, Atheists, and hermeticists. Newton is an example. And DaVinci.

My opinion? If you follow any path because someone famous or 'smart' followed, your chosen path is no more 'yours' than a pair of shoes you're trying on in a store. I don't care much about knowing what famous people followed my path. For those who proclaimed it openly, I take what knowledge they have to give, and question it until I can believe. For those who chose not to be so public in their opinions, I choose to be respectful of their decision, and not attempt to ferret out a belief from quotes and writings.

Answer 8

You clearly have never read anything written by Carl Sagan. He was agnostic, but always leaned toward atheism. I remember once someone asked him on television whether he believed in God or not. He answered by saying, "That all depends on what you mean by God." The asker said: "What do you mean....what do I mean? I mean God!" He said, "If you are talking about an outsized white man with a long white beard in white robes sitting on a golden throne surrounded by fat little angels that tallies the fall of every sparrow, then no, I don't believe in that God. But if you mean Spinoza's God -- as first cause -- then perhaps."

Answer 9

Carl Sagan was not sure there is a god, but he hadn't seen any evidence for the existence of god.



Affirming as a matter of fact that god exists (or not) is an unreasonable position. While there is no evidence FOR the existence of god, proving that something doesn't exist is a logical fallacy. If you're a reasonable person, you would not take a dogmatic position.

Answer 10

1. Some work is needed on your grammar. It will lend weight to your argument. Trust me.



2. I never assigned such beliefs to Carl Sagan.



3 I am an atheist.

Answer 11

I respected and admired Carl Sagan a lot but if he said that he was wrong.



There is nothing about the word atheist that says explicitly or implicitly that someone claims to know there are no deities. If he himself did not believe in a deity he was by definition an atheist. Even a neutral position on belief is by definition atheism.



Provide a link to the source of the first quote.

Answer 12

Ooooh. That proved touchy. Definitely Agnostic.

Answer 13

Frank,



You guys always attempt to claim famous non-believers as converts. Why? is obvious.



On Carl, he is dead, why don't we give him some respect and use someone alive, who can defend himself against your repeated, vacuous claims?

Answer 14

So you are saying he had a belief in God then? An Atheist can be someone who doesn't believe in a God. It doesn't have to mean they know there isn't a God.

Answer 15

Sagan was an Agnostic

Answer 16

Sorry, but those quotes do not prove he wasn't.



See his book, "The Demon Haunted World".



Also, he was fond of saying that the cosmos is all that there ever was and all that ever will be. That is a statement of scientific materialism, also known as atheism.



He was an atheist.

Answer 17

Carl Satan was not a atheist he believed in a higher intelligence.

Answer 18

who cares, what are you trying to say? that he's not an atheist so that means god exists or something?

Answer 19

If Sagan actually believed in the POSSIBILITY of there being a God, then he was less intelligent than I thought.

Answer 20

Under the broadest definition of atheism, anyone who doesn't believe in gods is an atheist. This definition subsumes agnosticism.

Answer 21

I fit that first quote. And according to him I know more. lol