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Atheism is a faith

Do you think Atheism counts as a faith

  • yes

    Votes: 24 24.5%

  • no

    Votes: 74 75.5%
  • Total voters
    98
MoonWater

MoonWater

Warrior Bard
Premium Member
Jay said:
Do me a favor: do a search on IBE and let me know what you think ...
Click to expand...

Which IBE do want me to look at? There's Institute of biological engineering, identity-based encryption, Indiana black expo, international bureau of education...... Which one?
 
meogi

meogi

Well-Known Member
Scuba Pete said:
For it to not be faith the "justification" must enter the realm of being proved.
Click to expand...
Exactly. Atheism enters the realm of being proved. Just like I don't expect to see unicorns and lepricauns having a merry old time, or ghosts and zombies in my closet, I don't expect to see God. Overwhelming absence of evidence is, in fact, evidence of absence. My "justification" for my atheism is on the lines of 'faith' as much as the 'faith' I have that I'll wake up next time I go to sleep.

I've never experienced God or the supernatural, and until I do, I see little reason to believe in either.
 
MoonWater

MoonWater

Warrior Bard
Premium Member
meogi said:
Exactly. Atheism enters the realm of being proved. Just like I don't expect to see unicorns and lepricauns having a merry old time, or ghosts and zombies in my closet, I don't expect to see God. Overwhelming absence of evidence is, in fact, evidence of absence. My "justification" for my atheism is on the lines of 'faith' as much as the 'faith' I have that I'll wake up next time I go to sleep.

I've never experienced God or the supernatural, and until I do, I see little reason to believe in either.
Click to expand...

Following that it could easily be said that my THEISM is not a faith either and also enters the realm of being proved. You "justification" is based on personal experience and your interpretation of said experience. These two things have led you to believe there is no God. However my personal experience and my interpretation of said experience tells me that there IS a God. If personal experience were the only deciding factor than neither theism nor atheism could truly be faith-based. Hence it takes more than personal experience to prove something.
 
Willamena

Willamena

Just me
Premium Member
MoonWater said:
:confused:I couldn't even get halfway through the article. It's so technical and confusing.:sorry1:
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"The idea is that when we have a best explanation of some phenomenon, we are entitled to repose confidence in it simply on that account."

Not sure what Jay is getting at, though.

There is still room to distinguish between belief=confidence and faith=conviction, or some such.
 
MoonWater

MoonWater

Warrior Bard
Premium Member
Willamena said:
"The idea is that when we have a best explanation of some phenomenon, we are entitled to repose confidence in it simply on that account."

Not sure what Jay is getting at, though.

There is still room to distinguish between belief=confidence and faith=conviction, or some such.
Click to expand...

K, I think I get it. Thanks for the explanation. Though I agree I'm not sure what he's getting at either as what is the "best explanation" will really be based on one's opinion. One person may feel that the best explanation for supernatural phenomenon is the presence of a deity while another will feel that the best explanation is that the supernatural phenomenon is just an illusion.
 
logician

logician

Well-Known Member
MoonWater said:
I have to agree with you on that one. It certainly explains why two people who have the exact same experiences will react to and interpret them in diffrent ways. You ask one person what causes a house to be haunted and he/she will likely say wandering spirits. Ask another and he/she will likely say it's an halucination or it's electromagnetic energy or something. Who is right is a matter of opinion but it does not change the fact that people experience "something" in that "haunted house". When you experience something you will interpret and react to that something in your own way. And as we grow and change we interpret and react to things differently even if the situation is the same as a previous experience. But regardless of interpretation or reaction it does not change the fact that the experience itself occured. I have a great deal of "evidence" for the existence of the divine and the supernatural but it is only evidence because I have interpreted it in that way. Another person with the same experiences might interpret them as "evidence" that he/she is going crazy. So in the end it is about the interpretation of the experience rather than the experience itself.
Click to expand...

So is "truth" absolute or relative?
 
MoonWater

MoonWater

Warrior Bard
Premium Member
logician said:
So is "truth" absolute or relative?
Click to expand...

I think the only absolute truth we can know is "I exist". The whole concept of "I think therefore I am." While I do think that there is absolute truth I do not believe that we humans at our level of development are capable of even tapping into this truth let alone coming to grips with and understanding it. So for us right now truth is relative and will remain so until we are able to discover and understand the truth that is absolute.
 
~Amin~

~Amin~

God is the King
Atheism is a belief they have there own way of explaining
the begining of creation.
They take the attributes of God Almighty and give them
to the creation eg ,they state that matter is eternal,
this quality belongs to God Alone.
Everyone KNOWS we will die one day if you dont believe
God has power over life, then you believe time itself
has power over our lives, and cause death.
And it goes on And on.
If you dont believe God Almighty Sustains,
then you believe the clouds and the sun sustain.
So im sure you get the point.
 
Nanda

Nanda

Polyanna
~Amin~ said:
Atheism is a belief they have there own way of explaining
the begining of creation.
Click to expand...

No, they don't. Once again, the only thing that all atheists have in common is the disbelief in any and all gods. What we don't all have is one way of looking at something, like, say, the earth's origins.
 
~Amin~

~Amin~

God is the King
Nanda said:
No, they don't. Once again, the only thing that all atheists have in common is the disbelief in any and all gods. What we don't all have is one way of looking at something, like, say, the earth's origins.
Click to expand...
How did everything thing start then?
 
gnomon

gnomon

Well-Known Member
~Amin~ said:
why are you so worried?
Click to expand...

Why would an atheist be worried. They don't have to make **** up or rely upon some bogus belief system established by people they never knew.

I think the onus of being worried is upon yourself.
 
MoonWater

MoonWater

Warrior Bard
Premium Member
gnomon said:
Why would an atheist be worried. They don't have to make **** up or rely upon some bogus belief system established by people they never knew.

I think the onus of being worried is upon yourself.
Click to expand...

And what gives you the authority to call a belief system bogus? Do you have any idea how insulting that is?
 
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