Split from pedophile priest thread

[troy]

Phew, atheism is a position , not a belief. As I said only some atheists believe god does not exist, atheism is a lack of belief.

eta You are starting from a incorrect definition of atheism ( god does not exist) so what follows is not necessarily true. You yourself said that the original meaning was without god (lack of belief in a god). Its a jump to say the meaning has changed to believing there is no god. How did you get to this point ?

Edited April 16, 2010 by troy

[Cosmic Dick]

Ok, fair enough, but if an atheist is a person who believes there is no God, what do you call someone with no religious beliefs whatsoever?

How many religions are there?

How many Gods are there?

IMO, religion is nothing to do with God, they are human inventions.

Myself, an agnostic, I have no religious beliefs whatsoever, but I do not know if God exists or not, that I consider unknown and unknowable.

[weed_G]

God

if an atheist is a person who believes there is no God, what do you call someone with no religious beliefs whatsoever?

Nietzsche is nodding in his grave

only some atheists believe god does not exist

can we have an example of the other kind of atheist?

[Boojum]

Phew, atheism is a position , not a belief. As I said only some atheists believe god does not exist, atheism is a lack of belief.

eta You are starting from a incorrect definition of atheism ( god does not exist) so what follows is not necessarily true. You yourself said that the original meaning was without god (lack of belief in a god). Its a jump to say the meaning has changed to believing there is no god. How did you get to this point ?

From studying the English language

The root word is Greek, and means lack of belief in a God, but the word atheism entered the English language from the French, where it meant to deny the existence of God, and that is the meaning that we kept when the word entered the English language. The confusion over the meaning has led to a lot of debate, and subcategories being created (strong and weak atheism, implicit and explicit atheism etc) but the word has most correctly always meant the denial of the existence of a God in English. If you do not deny the existence of a God then you are not, correctly speaking, an atheist.

[troy]

We disagree. Many Atheist thinkers believe the term to mean a lack of belief in god ( what is god ?). The french word can mean a disbelief in god or a denial of god. It is not clear which is the more accurate. Meanings of words can change however as language is a living thing. The important thing is to find out what it means today.

eta Its better for atheists to define the meaning of the word rather than have it foisted upon them.

Edited April 16, 2010 by troy

[Randalizer]

.

[Cosmic Dick]

.Atheists think this just happened by chance one day...

Christians Know a Wizard did it.

The only thing wrong with that picture is that most atheists don't think it happened by chance one day, (probably) most of them think it happened over a long period of time.

CD

[HvyFuel]

Probably most know it happened over millions of years because gods don't exist.

[Cosmic Dick]

Probably most know it happened over millions of years because gods don't exist.

I think it's possible it happened over millions of years, but I don't know.

[weed_G]

the passage of time is a man-made construct ...all matter is vibrating energy, continually recreating itself at a rate close to light speed

[Randalizer]

the passage of time is a man-made construct ...all matter is vibrating energy, continually recreating itself at a rate close to light speed

That's only because your mind sees it that way.

[weed_G]

the passage of time is a man-made construct ...all matter is vibrating energy, continually recreating itself at a rate close to light speed

That's only because your mind sees it that way.

That's only because your mind sees it that way. :wink:

There is a more interesting flaw in the original statement ..maybe flaw is the wrong word, an absurdity is probably more accurate

[weed_G]

Many Atheist thinkers believe the term to mean a lack of belief in god

you keep saying that, but you never name who these atheists are ..if they do indeed exist and have arrived at that conclusion without any process of thinking/reasoning ..they are by definition practising blind faith

eta Its better for atheists to define the meaning of the word rather than have it foisted upon them.

no conflict of interest then ...probably better letting the people who maintain dictionaries to define the meaning through the study of source/root/usage.. if you find that your personal leanings don't meet the definition the rational explanation is probably that you are not an atheist ..you only think you are ...pause to soak up the irony

Edited April 17, 2010 by weed_G

[weed_G]

[Jessiedog]

I have no belief in any "God" and consider myself atheist, though I would not rule out the possibility of some kind of "God" or "Gods".

I believe the sun will rise tomorrow though, if pushed, would have to admit that there's no certainty it will.

As such, some would consider me agnostic on both issues.

I disagree.

I'm an atheist who believes the sun will rise tomorrow (though I have no proof of this).

I could also say that the evidence strongly, strongly suggests that (given no unexpected, catastrophic event,) the sun will rise tomorrow, hence my belief that it will - though, of course, it may not.

I could also say there is no good evidence for the existence of any "Gods", hence my lack of belief in any, thus my atheism - though, of course, there may be.

Woof

Edited April 17, 2010 by Jessiedog