john9blue wrote:This is just more proof that modern atheism is a cult. The true freethinkers have already realized that.

Aren't you the guy who said you believe in god because "that many people can't be wrong and besides, pascal's wager, best to hedge my bet" ? Hearing you talk about "true freethinkers" really is a hilarious. Did you perhaps read an article about such people once?
Anyway, moving on.
Webster wrote:
Main Entry: cult
Pronunciation: \ˈkəlt\
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: French & Latin; French culte, from Latin cultus care, adoration, from colere to cultivate — more at wheel
Date: 1617
1 : formal religious veneration : worship
2 : a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents
3 : a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents
4 : a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator <health cults>
5 a : great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad b : the object of such devotion c : a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion
I'm assuming you're going for definition five. Well, if the respective idea is reason and the scientific method, then yes we might just be devoted to that.
We're a cult of reason and science, guys, high five.
Or were you just going for: cult sounds bad, cult is associated with strong belief, some atheists have strong beliefs, therefore I'm making atheism sound bad?
Also, "absolute agnostics", at least in the popular meaning, are hypocrites if they don't apply the same level of uncertainty in their real lives. Should i walk to work today? But what if a brick falls of a building and hits me in the head, maybe i should wear a helmet. Ok then i'll take the car, but what if someone hits me? Hmm, now that i think about it, tomorrow might be the apocalypse, maybe i should go and buy supplies instead. etc etc
If you can reject all of those possibilities off hand everyday because they are improbable and there's no new evidence to make you reconsider that decision in said morning, then you have no reason to not also reject the possibility of the existence of god, until new evidence appears.
Actually, if you go by the notion that actions, not words define your beliefs, what exactly does an agnostic do that's different from an atheist?(a regular one, not a "militant"). Atheists ignore religion and such and just live their lives, agnostics do the same ...
One last thing, about that article:
So says Erik Verlinde, 48, a respected string theorist
Isn't that kind of a contradiction?