Only those who want to build a straw man do that. The rest of us use common sense and reason that since as far as we know only members of the human race have invented gods only members of the human race are involved in the theism/atheism discussion.
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Atheism is not a default position
- Thread starter Willamena
- Start date
The word was first coined to describe people who didn't believe in the gods one was officially supposed to believe in.
Curious George
Veteran Member
I follow your logic here. Rocks did not invent gods so rocks are not involved in the theism/atheism discussion.
But wait...
Babies did not invent gods so babies are not involved in the theism/atheism discussion?
psychoslice
Veteran Member
Good thinking.
Babies are members of the human race and since members of the human race invented gods we include babies with those who don't believe in Gods. They are just not old enough yet to know what they are or to decide whether to believe they exist or don't exist.
Curious George
Veteran Member
But babies as atheists would only be used as someone trying to make a straw man argument, such as saying the default position is atheism.
Which god(s) did you believe in at birth?
Curious George
Veteran Member
Why, the same as the rock of course.
Does your dignity have some sort of self destruct mechanism that makes you say things like that?
Curious George
Veteran Member
No, it was just an irrelevant answer to an irrelevant question.Does your dignity have some sort of self destruct mechanism that makes you say things like that?
Irrelevant or not just answer it. Were you or were you not a theist at birth?
ImmortalFlame
Woke gremlin
You're exactly wrong here. It DOES mean "no belief in God". Theism is a combination of "theos", meaning God, and the suffix "ism", meaning belief. The word therefore means "God belief", and adding the prefix "a-" changes it to "without God belief". It does not mean "without God", it means precisely "without belief in God".
You may use whatever variation of the definition you prefer, but that doesn't make the broader definition any less useful or accurate.
Ouroboros
Coincidentia oppositorum
If -ism means belief, then a-the-ism means belief in not God. Or No-God-Belief.
Again, the no-belief in God is a more modern definition. If you look in older dictionaries of "atheism" and its definition, most (if not all) have the "belief in no God" (if I remember it right from my past).
Curious George
Veteran Member
Lol, I am not sure I can remember what I was at birth. But looking back logically, I do not think I was capable of belief.
Curious George
Veteran Member
Theism may literally translate to God belief, but theism requires more than just God belief. Specifically theism also requires the rejection of the proposition "God does not exist."
So not theist then requires the rejection of the belief in God and the acceptance of the proposition God does not exist.
Jumi
Well-Known Member
You mean none?
Thank you. So you start off in life without belief in gods. When you grow up you can become a theist or a strong atheist unless you just stay a weak atheist without any of those beliefs.No it doesn't. It just requires the absence of the position God exists and the absence of the position God doesn't exist.
I was to quick there. Not theism only requires the absence of theism.
Curious George
Veteran Member
You start out in life without belief. Once you are capable of forming belief you do so. But the lack of belief accorded to a weak implicit atheist is starkly different from an weak explicit atheist.