Kilgore Trout
Misanthropic Humanist
My broadly is exactly as broad as it's supposed to be.
-
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Access to private conversations with other members.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
Atheism: A belief?
- Thread starter Orias
- Start date
My broadly is exactly as broad as it's supposed to be.
Kilgore Trout
Misanthropic Humanist
You have no idea what I'd do to your broadly. You better keep it safely locked up.
Songbird
She rules her life like a bird in flight
Well, mine can easily kick your broadly's ***, so I'm not worried.
Kilgore Trout
Misanthropic Humanist
Isn't it about time to end broadly on broadly violence? The madness must end.
Songbird
She rules her life like a bird in flight
Inaccurate stereotype. Most violence is male to male.
Kilgore Trout
Misanthropic Humanist
Yeah, but that's just the expression of the conflict resulting from the combination of indoctrinated homophobia and subconscious homoerotic tendencies. When women fight, they really want to kick each other's *****.
Songbird
She rules her life like a bird in flight
Are you comfortable with saying "Strong Atheism is not a belief"?
If it's true for the general term, then it must be true for each of its subsets.
So, you believe that 1) is not true: Strong Atheism is not a subset of atheism. I find that hard to swallow.Kilgore Trout said:
Copernicus
Industrial Strength Linguist
They apparently hold that atheists are also people who lack belief that gods do not exist. Atheists encompass the class of people who have no belief at all when it comes to the question of the existence of gods. In their minds, Huxley did not need to invent the word "agnostic" to describe his view that it was impossible to know whether or not gods existed. Huxley should just have been comfortable with the label "atheist". :areyoucra
I now feel that this subject is 98% semantics, 2% horse crap, and 100% lack of belief, together making up 100%. I now also feel that I lack a belief in lack of belief.
:areyoucra
Magic Man
Reaper of Conversation
I know, but his tactic has become to just keep claiming that he's right, and others just don't want to admit it, so I wasn't worried about responding with anything more than he was giving.
Magic Man
Reaper of Conversation
The belief "Gods don't exist".
Magic Man
Reaper of Conversation
Nope, try again.
Magic Man
Reaper of Conversation
I had a thought last night (rare as that might be). Copernicus, you're argument is that some of us atheists use our definition of "atheist" to bolster our argument against theists. You've made it clear that to you "non-theist" can be used to describe weak atheists. So, what does it matter? The group in question (people who don't believe in gods, but don't hold the belief "Gods don't exist") is then non-theists. I don't see how that's any different from them being atheists. So, OK, let's use your way of thinking. Those people are still non-theists, who - even if you consider that word to mean something different from "atheists" - are still pretty darn close to atheists. They're much, much closer to atheists than theists. That works just as well in any argument with theists I can think of.
In other words, I'm asking why we'd bother when we could just assume for the sake of the argument that non-theist describes those people better, and still be in the same position regarding the argument.
In other words, I'm asking why we'd bother when we could just assume for the sake of the argument that non-theist describes those people better, and still be in the same position regarding the argument.
Kilgore Trout
Misanthropic Humanist
Oh, my bad, I thought we were talking about atheism in general.
Kilgore Trout
Misanthropic Humanist
Who said anything about it being impossible to know? Try to stay on topic.
That's not analogous.
The relevant question would be "what makes a balloon a balloon?" If you say that one of the "necessary" characteristics of a balloon is "it's either red or not red", then you haven't really said anything. You might as well drop all reference to colour when defining what it means to be a balloon.
Well, no. Atheism isn't a belief at all. Atheists believe things beyond atheism. Atheism is not a belief itself, but it allows for beliefs.
Just because an atheist does something doesn't mean that the definition of atheism has to directly address it. I mean, I'm an atheist and I'm an auto racing fan, but other atheists (babies?
) might not like auto racing. We don't need to say "atheism is not necessarily appreciation of motorsports", do we?Same thing for rejection of gods: many atheists do it, but it's not relevant to the definition of "atheist", IMO.
... which is rather irrelevant to what is true.