No, the question is NOT begged. Begging the question is a logical fallacy in which the conclusion is assumed in order to prove the argument.Wow! You must be a ton of fun at parties. My sincere apologies that I did not parse the meaning properly of "begging the question."
I assume the clergy in the 20% or so of agnostics fall into that thinking much like others do -- where they have a series of terrible experiences with people who purport to be Christians, but who do not love the way God loves them. They then begin to entertain agnostic arguments, and over time stop looking for or considering the evidence of God's enormous love for them, and they lose their faith.
The arc for this is probably the same for most people. I have no proof nor data to support it, just my two cents. Not looking to argue about it, if that makes sense to you, great. If it doesn't, no big deal.
Your apology is appropriate, although obviously NOT sincere as you claim. - YOU are the one who initially chose to correct my PROPER phrasing with an improper term. So, apologize for attempting to correct me from your own ignorance. Then thank me for imparting a bit of knowledge to you, and helping you not look ignorant in the future.
If I told you that the buzz was late - would you know for certain that I meant the motor coach was tardy, or might you think I had taken some mind altering product and was waiting for the effects?
If I declared the point mute - would you think the point was silent, or would you understand that I intended to say the point was moot (of no practical importance)?
Words mean things - improper usage of a term destroys our ability to properly communicate. “Begging the question” has a very precise meaning - and it was not the meaning you mistakenly applied to it.
By the way - parsing the phrase is what led you to the error - breaking it in into the component parts (words) led you to believe you understood the meaning of the phrase, because you understood the parts. It is a very common mistake, surprisingly made by many journalists, who definitely should know better.
The proper meaning of the phrase is understood properly only as a whole, not by parsing. You might even say the phrase has irreducible complexity ;)