Skepticism And Atheism

PZ Myers has posted a lengthy, but important, opinion on the relationship between the skeptical movement and atheism. In this blogger's opinion, unfettered use of the tools of skepticism leads to the conclusion that there very probably is no god. Thus, atheism is a necessary result of skeptical inquiry and it should not be attenuated in any way.

As PZ concludes:

Any skeptical movement that tries to exclude atheism and religion from its domain is diminishing itself in arbitrary and self-defeating ways. Suck it up, guys; atheism won’t be the whole of skepticism, but it should be recognized as a respectable and important part of the whole.