RE: I can feel your anger
July 6, 2012 at 9:25 am
(This post was last modified: July 6, 2012 at 9:26 am by CliveStaples.)
(July 6, 2012 at 9:18 am)Ace Otana Wrote: No. Atheism isn't a belief, it's a lack of. Atheism simply means without theism. If you kill people for having religious belief, it can be said you're anti-religion, anti-theist in the extreme. Atheism simply means one without belief in god.
So what would you call someone who has the belief, "No gods exist"? Are they not atheist?
Quote:Though incorrect. Theism is a belief system, A-theism is the lack of that belief system.
Theism isn't a belief system. Well, it could be, but almost nobody believes only theism. Christians, for example, have many more theological beliefs than merely "At least one god exists".
I don't think you took the time to think about what I meant when I said that Theism and Atheism are classes of belief systems. Think about what that would mean.
To my thinking, "Theism" is the class of belief systems which include the belief "At least one god exists". If a belief system does not include the belief "At least one god exists", then it belongs to the class Atheism.
Now, it seems to me that this is entirely consistent with your characterization of atheism as a 'lack of theism'. So I'm not sure why you made that particular objection.
(July 6, 2012 at 9:25 am)Ace Otana Wrote: They're not.
They are.
Boy, arguing here is super easy! You just get to say stuff, and then you don't have to support it or anything!
“The truth of our faith becomes a matter of ridicule among the infidels if any Catholic, not gifted with the necessary scientific learning, presents as dogma what scientific scrutiny shows to be false.”