Excited Penguin Wrote:Rhythm Wrote:We both agree on alot of things here, both antitheists right? Nevertheless, we don't agree on the inseparability of god and religion. I'm -certain- you can have either without the other.
How exactly do you have god without religion, if theism is a form of religion, and theism means belief in God?
Religion without God? - That, you certainly can have.
Theism is not a form of religion. It is an opinion on a single topic. It is not a set of beliefs, it is not a dogma, and it is not a religion or a form of religion. A religion can have theism or atheism (or we're-not-going-to-address-that-question-ism) as features of the religion, but neither is or can be a form of religion in themselves.
As an example of theism without religion, I present a type of theist that I refer to as a Somethingist. You know who I'm talking about: if you ask them if they believe in God, they'll say they believe in Something. There's a Dutch term for it: Ietsism: an unspecified belief in an undetermined transcendent force. These people believe there must be something beyond the material world that they can't define and that can't be known. Scratch the surface of people who say they're 'spiritual but not religious' and you'll often find a vaguely theistic belief like this. It's not deism, because they're not saying the Something they're talking about doesn't take a hand in events...but they usually won't say it doesn't, either.
God without religion? That, you can certainly have.
I'm not anti-Christian. I'm anti-stupid.
