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Being an atheist is not passive, it requires an active stance
#11
RE: Being an atheist is not passive, it requires an active stance
I don't really think about it one way or the other, whether my atheism is active or passive. Nor am I concerned with how people want to define it. I make it pretty simple: I can't prove god does not exist, and until someone can get god to show up, I will continue to believe that he does not. There are a great many things that we believe don't exist, many of which we cannot prove. There have likely been many more things which people didn't believe in until they were proven. Prove god and we can add her to the list. Until then, she stays on the shelf next to unicorns and mermaids.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."

-Stephen Jay Gould
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#12
RE: Being an atheist is not passive, it requires an active stance
I think atheism is a passive stance; critical thought, i.e. learning how to make judgments using the principles of science, and evaluate claims on the basis of sound evidence and valid reasoning --- that is the active part.
He who loves God cannot endeavour that God should love him in return - Baruch Spinoza
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#13
RE: Being an atheist is not passive, it requires an active stance
(May 21, 2015 at 8:57 am)Nestor Wrote: I think atheism is a passive stance; critical thought, i.e. learning how to make judgments using the principles of science, and evaluate claims on the basis of sound evidence and valid reasoning --- that is the active part.

I agree with this.
In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty.
- Thomas Jefferson
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#14
RE: Being an atheist is not passive, it requires an active stance
(May 21, 2015 at 8:57 am)Nestor Wrote: I think atheism is a passive stance; critical thought, i.e. learning how to make judgments using the principles of science, and evaluate claims on the basis of sound evidence and valid reasoning --- that is the active part.

Yes, I would agree.  There is some ambiguity in the OP as to whether they mean this, or whether by active stance they mean a position characterized by political/religious activism.
[Image: extraordinarywoo-sig.jpg]
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#15
RE: Being an atheist is not passive, it requires an active stance
(May 21, 2015 at 9:29 am)Jörmungandr Wrote:
(May 21, 2015 at 8:57 am)Nestor Wrote: I think atheism is a passive stance; critical thought, i.e. learning how to make judgments using the principles of science, and evaluate claims on the basis of sound evidence and valid reasoning --- that is the active part.

Yes, I would agree.  There is some ambiguity in the OP as to whether they mean this, or whether by active stance they mean a position characterized by political/religious activism.

(my bolded)

We have so many brands of atheism. Shall we now include "evangelical atheist" to the list?
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#16
RE: Being an atheist is not passive, it requires an active stance
Wouldn't that mean we're also actively taking a stance about unicorns, witches and pink dragons in my basement?
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#17
RE: Being an atheist is not passive, it requires an active stance
It would be about time. You should never let pink dragons in the basement go unchecked.
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#18
RE: Being an atheist is not passive, it requires an active stance
Surely the answer is it can be both.
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#19
RE: Being an atheist is not passive, it requires an active stance
(May 21, 2015 at 12:02 pm)whateverist Wrote: It would be about time. You should never let pink dragons in the basement go unchecked.

Oh I check up on them from time to time, but they're invisible and incorporeal and that makes things complicated
Maybe grandma was right and I really shouldn't be having pets Undecided
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#20
RE: Being an atheist is not passive, it requires an active stance
Just friggen great. now we go and crusade against religions based on our "real truth". Next thing you know we will be celebrating our conversion date (born again). I am in.
anti-logical Fallacies of Ambiguity
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