Don't be an atheist

[eudaimonia]

Or better yet, since atheism is without belief in something that is not there we should choose another term where atheism is the root word describing a state of mind and the prefix would describe theists. I know a good term already in existence.

Anyone guess what it is?

I'm not sure what you are getting at. Godless?


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[gnomon]

I'm not sure what you are getting at. Godless?


eudaimonia,

Mark

I'm basically just being rude and facetious. My frustration of the word atheist being turned into a belief system by both theists and atheists is getting the best of me.

 

[Mathematician]

To be an atheist, to be "against god,

To be an atheist and to be against god are completely separable positions.

 

[des]

Yes, I see your point here. There are atheists who take a very strong, almost religious stance, imo, about god. I think Sam Harris is a good example of this. I can think of a few people here who take this stance. Also I think there are anti-god individuals. I don't know any, but I am not ruling it out. It's just those people aren't atheists.
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]On the other end of the spectrum perhaps are Buddhists, for instance. Buddhism is a non-theistic religion. I don't think there is any kind of interest in god at all.
Here is what the Dali Lama says, but I think he is interpreting this to Western minds. It is not my impression that Buddhists really discuss god.

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
Question:
The Buddha was silent on the question of God. What about you?
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
"Why did the Buddha not say anything about God? Because he talked about the law of causality. Once you accept the law of cause and effect, the implication is that there is no 'creator'. If the Buddha accepted the concept of a creator, he would not have been silent; everything would have been God! "
Question:
[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Who caused the law of causality?
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]About that, the Buddha would say 'the mind', never God or dharmakaya or even the Buddha himself."[/FONT]


--des

Untrue, my friend.
There is a minority of atheists who actively deny the existence of God. These are known as Hard, or Strong Atheists.
But Atheism, at its essence, is not a denial of God. It is simply a lack of belief, analogous to the lack of belief you'd have in a character in a fiction novel you might be reading. You don't disavow the existence of said character -- you just don't believe in his actual existence.

This basic or essential atheism is Weak, or Soft atheism. It is what most people mean when they use the term.

 

[rojse]

To clarify, to be against the idea of God, you believe in him, and therefore you are a Maltheist.

Aetheism is the lack of belief in a god, and that is the collective for everyone who does not believe in a god.

 

[Aasimar]

Atheist is simply Non belief in God.

Many atheists such as myself are strongly against the concept of legitimizing claims of the religious. I suppose Atheism is my state of mind, but my agenda would be anti-theism.

 

[Valjean]

In contrast to Aasimar, I do not have an anti-theistic agenda. I simply think that it is rather odd to believe in something with no evidence that it actually exists.

 

[MdmSzdWhtGuy]

"anti-theism" would be more closely akin to being against God, tho to be specific even this term would be "against the idea of a belief in a god." "a-theism" simply means without a belief in ANY god. Get off your soap box and pick up a dictionary.

B.

 

[Willamena]

"anti-theism" would be more closely akin to being against God, tho to be specific even this term would be "against the idea of a belief in a god." "a-theism" simply means without a belief in ANY god. Get off your soap box and pick up a dictionary.

B.

Actually, truth be told, I would consider anti-theism to be against the literalization of an image of god, but maybe that's just me.

 

[gnomon]

I'm a proapatheisticanticosmotheisticsupercalifrigilisticexpialidocious.

Atheism, while by definition excluding an individual from belief in God(s), does not exclude one from a religious belief in general. This aspect is so often lost, once again, by both atheists and theists, that I begin to wonder what the useful function of the term is in the English language.

Heck, I can't even be Lennontheistic because I don't believe in Yoko. Or would that be Lennonic. Making me Alennonic. Or Alennoniestic.

 

[Blindinglight]

Saying an athiest is against God is absurd, as an athiest does not believe in a god to be against.

Satanist and Luciferians are more against God than an athiest.

 

[Bronze]

"atheist" does not mean "against god"

you christians are so good at straw-manning and i would appreciate if you didn't...

atheists do not believe that God exists just as you do not believe thor exists or quezacotl.

 

[Scuba Pete]

you christians are so good at straw-manning and i would appreciate if you didn't...

Not nearly as good as you are at drawing conclusions for all Christians based on just a few. Go figure!

 

[lew0049]

How can you make something out of nothing? Obviously, the universe had a beginning and b/c of this simple fact, something cannot be created from nothing. Hence, there is a creator. I just don't understand how it is possible to look beyond this simple fact and remain atheist. Sorry to be blunt for I used to be atheist, but I would actually agree with the thread of the topic. Essentially, there is nothing different from being atheist and believing in nothing.

 

[lew0049]

As far as Christianity is concerned/belief in Jesus... don't judge individuals that claim to be Christians and denounce the beliefs b/c of their human flaws. Just because the bucket in rusty doesn't mean that the water isn't pure.

 

[Jaymes]

How can you make something out of nothing? Obviously, the universe had a beginning and b/c of this simple fact, something cannot be created from nothing. Hence, there is a creator. I just don't understand how it is possible to look beyond this simple fact and remain atheist. Sorry to be blunt for I used to be atheist, but I would actually agree with the thread of the topic. Essentially, there is nothing different from being atheist and believing in nothing.

Well, you hit the nail on the head for me. I don't believe in spiritual things since they can't be proven. If you want to put that as believing in "nothing", sure.

Though your premise is a fallacy. To my knowledge the big bang does not say that everything popped into existence, but that all the matter in the universe was concentrated in one place then boomed outwards. You don't need a creator for that to happen.

 

[lew0049]

I would be interested to hear from an atheist on this thread, what make you not believe in God?

 

[LogDog]

If you want people to believe that you exist, it is best not to require faith.

 

[gnomon]

How can you make something out of nothing? Obviously, the universe had a beginning and b/c of this simple fact, something cannot be created from nothing. Hence, there is a creator. I just don't understand how it is possible to look beyond this simple fact and remain atheist. Sorry to be blunt for I used to be atheist, but I would actually agree with the thread of the topic. Essentially, there is nothing different from being atheist and believing in nothing.

Simple fact! Were you there prior to Planck Era to tell us what was going on?

There is a vast difference between being an atheist and believing in nothing. Of course, depending upon the particular atheist.

 

[standing_alone]

I would be interested to hear from an atheist on this thread, what make you not believe in God?

Lack of any convincing evidence for the existence of any gods as well as the existence or nonexistence of any gods is completely irrelevant to me in my daily life, so nonbelief in supernatural beings just makes the most sense for me.