Posts: 3628
Threads: 20
Joined: July 20, 2011
Reputation:
47
RE: A different definition of atheism. Atheism isn't simply lack of belief in god/s
August 1, 2012 at 12:15 pm
(This post was last modified: August 1, 2012 at 12:16 pm by Simon Moon.)
(August 1, 2012 at 3:31 am)fr0d0 Wrote: I've been speaking with RaphaelDrake, and he disagrees with the common definition of atheism that is strictly adfhered to on AF: that atheism simply means: lack of belief in god/s.
Raphael states that atheism is also this:
Atheism is the lack of belief in anything unproven/ Atheists don't believe anything supernatural without proof
So what do you think?
Is the above statement accurate for all atheists?
Is a-theism: literally not a(without) theism(belief in god/s)?
Is atheism also anti anything supernatural?
It is not an accurate statement.
Atheism is only the disbelief in the existence of gods. Since for the vast majority of atheists, their atheism stems from their overall skepticism, it is true that atheists also tend not to believe other supernatural claims.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
Posts: 69248
Threads: 3759
Joined: August 2, 2009
Reputation:
259
RE: A different definition of atheism. Atheism isn't simply lack of belief in god/s
August 1, 2012 at 12:35 pm
I don't believe in gods, spirits, santa claus or honest republicans. Only the first is covered by "atheism."
Posts: 25314
Threads: 239
Joined: August 26, 2010
Reputation:
156
RE: A different definition of atheism. Atheism isn't simply lack of belief in god/s
August 1, 2012 at 12:35 pm
Atheism is simply a specialised subset of scepticism (or skepticism if you must) dealing solely with claims of theism. It really is that simple. Nothing else can be implied purely from the atheist label besides a lack of belief in gods. Oddly enough, humans are complex creatures, generally capable of compartmentalising their beliefs and opinions. Personally, I have my own opinions regarding what is popularly regarded as the supernatural, but since they are precisely that - personal - and since they have no relevance to my atheism, I choose not to share them with anyone other than close friends and family.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
Posts: 10411
Threads: 15
Joined: September 9, 2011
Reputation:
119
RE: A different definition of atheism. Atheism isn't simply lack of belief in god/s
August 1, 2012 at 2:54 pm
(This post was last modified: August 1, 2012 at 2:55 pm by Mister Agenda.)
It's easy to get this impression because so many Western, English-speaking atheists are also rational skeptics. That is not at all true of most Eastern, non-English-speaking atheists. There's a big difference between a population that largely had to think about their theism and discard it for what they consider sound reasons and a population that largely was raised to be atheist because communist regimes imposed it.
Not to mention Raellians.
