Atheism produces little hope

[ADigitalArtist]

Are negating Free Will as a matter of choice.

I'm a soft determinist (again, descriptive, not prescriptive). So my view of what constitutes free will is limited. And I believe that obtaining or discarding beliefs is not something that you can choose. They just happen.
I.e. You can have a powerful desire to believe something is true, you can pretend to believe, but if you don't believe it you will be unable to force yourself to.

 

[shunyadragon]

I'm a soft determinist (again, descriptive, not prescriptive). So my view of what constitutes free will is limited. And I believe that obtaining or discarding beliefs is not something that you can choose. They just happen.
I.e. You can have a powerful desire to believe something is true, you can pretend to believe, but if you don't believe it you will be unable to force yourself to.

Yes, I believe in limited Free Will based on the philosophical position of compatibilism, but I avoid making assuptions on the limits of our will and possible changes in our decision making process.

This view negates the influence of new information that may possibly change and influence the decision making process. There are other significant influences on human decision making process like our attachment to our 'Sense of Community, Sense of well being, and the emotional commitment to a belief or belief system.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

Yes, I believe in limited Free Will based on the philosophical position of compatibilism, but I avoid making assuptions on the limits of our will and possible changes in our decision making process.

This view negates the influence of new information that may possibly change and influence the decision making process. There are other significant influences on human decision making process like our attachment to our 'Sense of Community, Sense of well being, and the emotional commitment to a belief or belief system.

I believe new information can most certainly influence beliefs. But that the change in belief is not a conscious, choice-based decision. You can choose to research, to become informed, or to avoid becoming informed. But you cannot choose how that information will impact your belief, in my view.

 

[shunyadragon]

I believe new information can most certainly influence beliefs. But that the change in belief is not a conscious, choice-based decision. You can choose to research, to become informed, or to avoid becoming informed. But you cannot choose how that information will impact your belief, in my view.

Your still sliding toward hard determinism where I will not go.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

Your still sliding toward hard determinism where I will not go.

I believe some things can be chosen based on our nature and circumstance, so I won't call myself a hard determinist. This just isn't one of those things. Imo, you can choose to eat vanilla ice cream, but you can't choose to like it. You can choose to go through the motions of religious practice, identify as part of that group, but you can't choose to believe it.

 

[Revoltingest]

I do not consider atheists heathens, nor anybody as close to perfect. In fact I consider the atheist/agnostic worldviews more logical and reasonable than ancient worldviews like Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Though I consider agnosticism the stronger philosophical position.

I was josh'n ya about being "perfect".

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Not really clear by everyone posting in this thread. @lewisnotmiller specifically presented a foggy view.

Yeah he did. Or he was misunderstood, since I completely agree with @Revoltingest.

Atheists have all sorts of complex and diverse world views.
Atheism is not a complex and diverse world view.

It's pretty simple.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Atheism is not as narrow as you may think. It ranges from the hard determinist hard core materialist atheists to Oriental atheists that believe in spiritual worlds without God(s). They all remain variations of atheism.

Bunkum.

You're conflating atheists, and their various world views, with atheism.

It remains that and atheist is a believer in atheism of one form or another, and has nothing to do with Methodological Naturalism, and a philosophical naturalist position.

It remains that the atheist doesn't believe in God. That's it.

 

[Revoltingest]

Yeah he did. Or he was misunderstood, since I completely agree with @Revoltingest.

Atheists have all sorts of complex and diverse world views.
Atheism is not a complex and diverse world view.

It's pretty simple.

Hardly even a worldview, since it's about a singular issue of something existing.
To be an "atheist" says no more about someone than to be of average height.

 

[shunyadragon]

It remains that the atheist doesn't believe in God. That's it.

That defines atheism

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Hardly even a worldview, since it's about a singular issue of something existing.
To be an "atheist" says no more about someone than to be of average height.

Agreed!

 

[lewisnotmiller]

That defines atheism

Sure. I know.