I've seen you write similar comments elsewhere Lacewing and I thought that your philosophy or it's basic principle needs its own thread. I am finding myself agreeing more and more with your position about how ultimately tentative all of our knowledge is really. But also interesting is the further comment you make about judging others. I think that is also very true, that is, those who believe very, very strongly that they are right are the ones most prone to make judgments about other people's beliefs or positions. Instead of seeing the task of "knowing" as an ongoing project, those who "know" too much (as in, they think that they have all the right answers), see knowing as a destination. Of course when these strongly fixed "knowers" admit that they rely on faith (like Ruskin) what they are admitting is that they don't know! So then faith itself undermines their own strongly judgmental view.Lacewing wrote: Is it really about being right or wrong? Can we ever all know or agree on such a thing that applies to everyone, and is it even necessary to do so? Why not, INSTEAD, be accepting of people having a broad range of perspectives and strengths and awareness? Isn't it more important how people respect and respond to all that is around them? Clearly, a person's "path" does not define or ensure their behavior in one direction or another. On every path there are a wide range of people behaving in ALL kinds of ways. Your ongoing and broad-based attacks on "atheists" (whatever you think that represents) simply demonstrates the limits of what you can (or want to) see and fathom. Your ideas reflect your limitations... no one else's.
Wouldn't you agree that there is ALWAYS MORE to discover and see and understand from EVERY position, and that perspectives (even yours) can shift throughout time/experience? So, what you do in each "position" is what's important -- not whether you can say: "NOW I'm right! I wasn't before, but I am now... and that's what enables me to judge others." It's not up to anyone to prove your stance "wrong". Your stance is your own fabrication, and what you do/believe with it, is what you contribute to the world.
I see most atheists with strong beliefs about the non-existence of gods are not really so fixated on their being right, even though it often comes across as such, they are more convinced that all the various theists are wrong. Even people like Dawkins and Hitchens have admitted that if someone came along with a strong case for the existence of a god then they would be willing to examine such a proposition. So they are/were not completely closed to such ideas.