Subduction Zone
Veteran Member
For many it is just a lack of belief. Do you understand the difference between a lack of belief in a god or gods and a belief that there are no god or gods?
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What do Atheist Believe?
- Thread starter Jacob Samuelson
- Start date
mikkel_the_dane
My own religion
Forget it. It has nothing to do with atheism. You are trying to figure out how they do epistemology, morality, logic and metaphysics.
Jacob Samuelson
Active Member
So what I understood is a better term of atheism is agnosticism. It isn't possible to completely be absent from a belief in God, only to have a preference in belief in other things, correct?
Jacob Samuelson
Active Member
I understand there is atheism and there is agnosticism. Agnosticism is what everyone experiences to certain degress, however, I am curious to know if atheism is possible in humans, and if so, how does it affect ones belief structure.
mikkel_the_dane
My own religion
Yes, the common example is some versions of Buddhism.
I believe in what is physically testable because otherwise there is no way to verify what we believe is true.
I don't disbelieve in the existence of a God but without a mean to test whether what we believe is true there is no way to know it is not false.
People make lots of different various claims about God. Since they can't be verified, how would you know if any of them are true? Maybe what you believe about God is wrong and you'd never know since that belief can't be tested. So I'd rather not invest in a belief that I could be wrong about without ever knowing I am wrong.
I am often wrong about things, especially when there is nothing/no evidence to support my belief. So ideas I am unable to support with evidence I'd rather not invest any belief into.
Jacob Samuelson
Active Member
Isn't that everything to do with atheism? I am trying to better understand what atheism is logically? You say it is a lack of belief in God, but to what extent? If I wake up one day and question my belief in God, at what point do I enter atheism?
mikkel_the_dane
My own religion
When you stop believing in God.
Subduction Zone
Veteran Member
Agnosticism is a statement about what one knows. Atheism is a statement about what one believes. Most agnostics are atheists because they do not believe in a god. You seem to be under the misapprehension that all atheists believe that there is no god.
As to the question that I asked you and you did not answer the answer appears to be "No". You do not understand the difference between not believing in something and believing that something does not exist. Stating that one has a lack of belief usually indicate a willingness to change one's mind when sufficient evidence is presented. If one reasons rationally one will not believe a concept without sufficient evidence. That is why when some theists positively assert that there is a god that atheists demand evidence.
Jacob Samuelson
Active Member
LOL. Oh how cartoons have taken the places of most parenting. Although its funny that gravity only works when Wiley realizes it and he is usually fully healed in a matter of seconds. So you are content with your proof in your belief system coming from stories or happening to other things or beings?
The only thing that makes me an atheist is not believing that there are gods. That's it. It's a very tiny part of my overall identity and I have very little in common with most atheists outside that one single trait.
Jacob Samuelson
Active Member
Atheism is a statement about what one believes? So what I believe you are saying is, in order to be an atheist you must believe that God does not exist? It seems everyone here is saying it is the lack of belief in God. So who is more correct?
Subduction Zone
Veteran Member
My "belief system"? I am always willing to change my beliefs as new evidence comes out. Through experience one hopefully learns how to know which claims need more evidence and which claims need less. My friend says that he bought a new puppy. Does that require as much evidence as if he claimed to have talked to God?
Either. Both implicit and explicit atheism exists. Just like both gnostic and agnostic atheist exists.
Personally I tire of the 'lack of belief vs belief of lack' argument as it seems like weasel wording, or an implicit bias against the word 'belief' some atheists have. I'm pretty comfortable saying I do not believe there are gods. Do I know for certain? No. But I'm comfortably assured with going on with my life as if there are no gods.
I think it is more about the theist claims being wrong.What do Atheist Believe?
That's easy, atheists believe that theists are wrong.
PureX
Veteran Member
That's a distinction without a difference. Like "unbelief" and "disbelief". Atheists seem to like these terms that don't actually designate anything.
Jacob Samuelson
Active Member
Ok. So why can't you say you KNOW theists are wrong? Why use 'belief'?What do Atheist Believe?
That's easy, atheists believe that theists are wrong.
If there were no proposals as to what any God constituted (as to any existence), would there be any atheists? Given that such almost always comes from some religious text.
exchemist
Veteran Member
I'm not sure why you find this so hard. Everyone can list propositions they believe and ones they don't believe. As @mikkel_the_dane said at the start, an atheist is one who doesn't believe in deities. That tells you almost nothing about what else they believe or don't believe. Some may be physicalists and have a worldview in which only those things for which there is objective evidence are real. Others may observe the religions of the world and their commonalities and come to conclusion they are the result of human psychology rather than being true. Others again may simply see no reason to trouble themselves with the issue at all. (I knew someone like that at university.) But they may believe plenty of other things of course, from political ideologies to the effectiveness of acupuncture. There's nothing about atheism that implies any particularly sceptical cast of mind, though some indeed are natural sceptics.