(February 3, 2016 at 9:31 pm)MTL Wrote:

(February 3, 2016 at 5:20 am)Excited Penguin Wrote: I'm literally face-palming right now.

Not hard enough.  Keep trying...only do it a bit harder.

Nah. Go ahead and do it a lot harder. And, make a fist first.

(February 3, 2016 at 7:26 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote:

(February 3, 2016 at 7:19 pm)mh.brewer Wrote: Close enough for me to agree. I'm sure I'll be told I'm incorrect.

Lol. I think what Evie said makes sense. Since atheism is merely the absence of theism, "preaching" it would just consist of attacking theism. (and I use preaching for lack of a better term). And it's not that you, MH, don't agree with what they are saying, it's just that you don't agree with it being preached.

I detest evangelism of any stripe, including antitheist evangelism.

(February 3, 2016 at 10:37 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:

(February 3, 2016 at 7:26 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote: Lol. I think what Evie said makes sense. Since atheism is merely the absence of theism, "preaching" it would just consist of attacking theism. (and I use preaching for lack of a better term). And it's not that you, MH, don't agree with what they are saying, it's just that you don't agree with it being preached.

I detest evangelism of any stripe, including antitheist evangelism.

Consistency is powerful.

(February 3, 2016 at 10:37 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:

(February 3, 2016 at 7:26 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote: Lol. I think what Evie said makes sense. Since atheism is merely the absence of theism, "preaching" it would just consist of attacking theism. (and I use preaching for lack of a better term). And it's not that you, MH, don't agree with what they are saying, it's just that you don't agree with it being preached.

I detest evangelism of any stripe, including antitheist evangelism.

Good for you. Some causes are worth advocating, though. Just because christian evangelism is bad, doesn't mean every other kind of ideas being spread is bad as well.

(February 3, 2016 at 10:40 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote:

(February 3, 2016 at 10:37 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: I detest evangelism of any stripe, including antitheist evangelism.

Consistency is powerful.

Subtlety is even more powerful.


Person A did a bad thing using item X.
Person B did a good thing using item X.
Conclusion: Item X is bad.
Why? Because consistency is powerful.

Wrong.

There's nothing else I hate more than moral equvalency. It's born out of the most simplistic world views.

(February 3, 2016 at 10:40 pm)Excited Penguin Wrote:

(February 3, 2016 at 10:37 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: I detest evangelism of any stripe, including antitheist evangelism.

Good for you. Some causes are worth advocating, though. Just because christian evangelism is bad, doesn't mean every other kind of ideas being spread is bad as well.

The fact that you associate Christianity with evangelism is not why I detest evangelism, but hey, go with whatever you want to think. I know better than to hope for your ability to listen.

(February 3, 2016 at 10:46 pm)Excited Penguin Wrote: There's nothing else I hate more than moral equvalency. It's born out of the most simplistic world views.

It's a shame you insist on imposing your own filters over the views of others, rather than ask them why they think a certain way before imputing a rationale.

(February 3, 2016 at 1:50 pm)Mister Agenda Wrote:

Meandering Atheist Wrote:Can someone help me out here... Antitheist just means that I don't want theism to be true, correct? I've seen Hitchens say this a bunch of times (in videos) but I don't think people are on the same page as me.

An antitheist actively opposes theism. It may refer to being opposed to organized religion or it may be opposition to any belief in any deity. It's a little ambiguous, Excited Penguin seems to take it in the sense of being opposed to any religion, but not all religions are theistic, so anti-religionist would seem to be the more appropriate term for that. For instance I could see a religious humanist being an anti-theist in the sense of being actively opposed to people believing in any version of a God or gods while still technically being religious themselves without any contradiction.

Rightfully pointing out that theism is a form of religion is not the same as saying all religions are theistic. I've said countless times I do not think that.

The only claims I made countless times in this thread that I now realize are wrong are that 1)the notion of God originated in theism and that 2)deism doesn't make any sense. It has been pointed out to me that there's no reason to believe 1) is true. As for 2), I gave it some thought myself and reached the conclusion that every idea has to make some sense.

People believe in any God by conflating notions like authority, goodness, love and/or the concept of creation, etc. This creates an illusion in our minds where we consider the notion of God as describing something on its own - when it really doesn't. God describes a multitude of already existent things which are not miraculous at all - certainly not having the properties people generally attribute to God- in the minds of believers.

(February 3, 2016 at 1:54 pm)Mister Agenda Wrote:

Excited Penguin Wrote:Let me be more polite here.

Your definition is not wrong. Neither is theirs. You are simply seeking to get out of it in a dishonest manner. I don't know precisely why - maybe political corectness, who knows?

ac·tive
ˈaktiv/
adjective
adjective: active
1.
(of a person) engaging or ready to engage in physically energetic pursuits.
"I needed to change my lifestyle and become more active"

2.
doing things for an organization, cause, or campaign, rather than simply giving it one's support.
"she was an active member of the church"

Definition 2 would be the one that applies to antitheism.

Every single person on these forums who identifies as an atheist and ever talked shit about theism or religion, whether they realized they were talking about the former or not, were effectively being antitheists. This is a public forum. You talk shit about God or any theistic religion, you're an antitheist. If you don't want to be one, stop talking shit about God. You can be secular without criticizing a theistic religion. Christianity is theistic. Countless times I've seen people who now identify as non-antitheists criticize Christianity. What more is there to say? This is childish and ludicrous.

I've even been told I'm slandering people for calling them antitheists. Would I be slandering him if I called him a human being and he didn't agree with it? No, because that's what he is. It's the same with antitheism, I'll bet, even though I don't remember ever seeing him criticizing God or Christianity in any way, I'll bet anything he did do it.