In the contexts I care about, this absolutely is pedantry. If I as a layman make the assertion, "I am an atheist," and a perfect scientist asks you to translat

In the contexts I care about, this absolutely is pedantry. If I as a layman make the assertion, "I am an atheist," and a perfect scientist asks you to translate my statement into an expression compatible with the scientific method, that he could understand, you could do it. Here, let me try: "VikingCoder is not convinced there is evidence that proves the existence of a being which created the universe." Feel free to make your own translation, if you are dissatisfied with mine. And if it turns out that you do not believe there's any difference between the scientifically literate explanation for agnosticism and atheism, THAT'S FINE BY ME. I believe there is a scientifically literate explanation for atheism which differs from the scientifically literate explanation for agnosticism. Because we're humans. We are allowed to express opinions. That doesn't mean we have abandoned the scientific method. I'm allowed to have thought, "I believe we will find the Higgs boson." I'm allowed to think, "I believe I will never be convinced of the existence of God." > It's a belief, and can't be proven or disproven by known methods of experimentation or observation. My atheism absolutely could be disproven by observation. I'd be delighted to go in to listing observations that would disprove my atheism, if you care. (I think you probably shouldn't have used "or observation" in that statement, if you wanted to be harder on me.)