Page "Agnosticism" Paragraph 4

According to Richard Dawkins, a distinction between agnosticism and atheism is unwieldy and depends on how close to zero we are willing to rate the probability of existence for any given god-like entity.

Since in practice it is not worth contrasting a zero probability with one that is nearly indistinguishable from zero, he prefers to categorize himself as a " de facto atheist ".

He specifies his position by means of a scale of 1 to 7.

On this scale, 1 indicates " 100 per cent probability of God.

" A person ranking at 7 on the scale would be a person who says " I know there is no God ..." Dawkins places himself at 6 on the scale, which he characterizes as " I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there ", but leaning toward 7.

About himself, Dawkins continues that " I am agnostic only to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden.