Thank you very much Ben for your kind and helpful feedback

I shall have a good look over what you said, and see if I can make some improvements (if it's not too late to edit it).

Ah, I can't edit it now, it seems there's a time limit for editing. But people will hopefully read what you say and take it on board also. You are right, I wasn't trying to represent atheists as anything more, so apologies if it came across that way. Some people have argued about if babies are atheists, hehe. It's a good point, I think that if you have not even heard the claim, it doesn't make sense that you have rejected it. So I guess babies are neither atheist nor theist. Bless 'em! Don't fuck them up, people.

Thanks again! If I ever get published I can rewrite it

tl;dr

(November 5, 2014 at 7:52 am)robvalue Wrote: It's a good point, I think that if you have not even heard the claim, it doesn't make sense that you have rejected it. So I guess babies are neither atheist nor theist. Bless 'em! Don't fuck them up, people.

Well, the strictest definition of atheism is 'an absence (a) of belief in god/s (theism)'. It's this definition which sets atheism as the default position regarding belief in god/s. In principle, this can apply to anything which has such an absence; what I refer to as 'the atheism of a stone'. Consequently, babies are born atheist. Now this shouldn't be confused with the predominantly useful application of the strict definition which concerns the addition of cognition to the principle; only those who are cognisant of theism can be usefully described as atheist. If there's no cognisance, the term is effectively redundant e.g. it would be pointless to call a stone 'atheist'.

But yeah, don't fuck up your kids, folks.

Thanks for your contributions Ben, Strongbad and mr al, very good points.

I really hope that at the very least people will get what atheism is in the near future, and stop throwing out their random definitions of what they think it is. I think it will help us co-exist.

The OP is very well stated. Parallels my thinking almost exactly.

(November 5, 2014 at 6:43 am)Stimbo Wrote: On the contrary, I seriously want "God" to exist. Because if it's anything close to the way it's described in the mythology and actually does have any measure of influence in the Universe, I am going to kill it for crimes against the human race.

Absolutely.

If the "Yahweh" and "Jesus" character in the Bible actually did exist, it would be the duty of every compassionate, thinking, ethical person on the planet to battle such an evil being.

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Thanks Simon, I appreciate it

Great explanation - Only one thing I might elaborate on. You stated that atheism is not, of itself, a worldview, but I would take that into more detail. Atheism is not evolution. Atheism is not materialism. Atheism is not solipsism, nihilism, or any other philosophical concept. Atheism is not a stance on (or against) morality or judgement. Atheism is not technically even a disbelief in doctrines such as an afterlife (ie. some atheists believe that there may be reincarnation or other form of afterlife, but this does not necessitate a god 'at the helm.')

Atheism is simply one thing and one thing only - it is the lack in a belief in a god.