No one is an atheist

[lilphil1989]

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If atheism is simply a non-belief in God, then no one is an atheist. I don't mean that "everyone believes in God, they just don't know it." I mean that atheism is an attribute of an ideology, but it isn't an identity in itself.

I've had several conversations with atheists that goes something like this:

"God doesn't exist. He's a fantasy just like the tooth fairy or santa claus."
"Well, what do you believe, if you don't believe in God?"
"It's not about what I believe, the burden of proof is on you. You are the one who believes."

I may be the one who believes in God, but I am not the only one who believes. All people believe. Making inferences about reality is a necessary part of survival for humans. Atheism is just a general term for belief systems not based upon God.

IMO, if you can't admit that you have your own beliefs, you are a coward. You are afraid to have your beliefs questioned, put under the same skepticism that you use against those that believe in God. Marx was a communist. Bertrand Russel was a rationalist. The Dalai Lama is a Buddhist. All these men are atheists, but they all have a specific system of ideology that is debatable in reasonable terms. To just call yourself an atheist without saying what you do believe in a debate is to have the discussion drowned in irrationality.

This is mostly what I've seen so far on this forum. Most of you don't have a formulated idea on anything, you just hate. It's the same kind of prejudice that many religious people function under. If that's what truly disgusts you about religion, perhaps you could realize that you don't need a religion to be a bigot. You also don't have to be a bigot to be religious.

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All people believe, yes. However, not all beliefs all equally well grounded in rationality, and not all beliefs have an equal amount of evidence in support of them.

Atheism does not mean lack of belief in general. It means, specifically, lack of belief in a god or gods. Anyone who lacks belief in god, regardless of what other beliefs they may or may not hold, is an atheist.
Your reasoning regarding Marx et. al. is fallacious. One can be a theistic socialist or an atheistic socialist. (Indeed, the irony is that most christians are right-wing, whereas the bible clearly states that to be more christ you should give ALL your money and possessions to the poor: "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven". Sounds awfully like socialism to me...)

You seem to think that anyone who lacks belief in god must replace that belief with something, but that is simply not the case.


I hope you stick around to have an adult discussion with us and not just post-and-run.