(April 14, 2011 at 12:24 am)bliss Wrote: 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.
Firstly, Welcome.
Secondly, Atheism is from the Latin "A (apart from/without) theos (belief in a deity)", or "Without belief in god" - Everyone who does not believe in a god is an atheist. I do not believe in a god, therefore I am an atheist.
Quote: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.
You have a semantic failure on your hands, not a real argument, but a personal failure to understand language.
Sure, we all have worldviews and a non theistic worldview (a worldview without gods) is necessarily an atheistic worldview. We have many beliefs about reality, for us a God is not part of that, you are the one positing this belief and as such you DO have the burden of proof.
Quote:IMO, if you can't admit that you have your own beliefs, you are a coward.
It is self evident that we all have beliefs, YOU have completely misunderstood, that is not anybodies fault but yours.
Quote:You are afraid to have your beliefs questioned, put under the same skepticism that you use against those that believe in God.
I believe there is no God. Question away, the only legitimate contention is an argument and/or evidence for a god - If you have either I would love to see it.
Quote: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.
In your above example you DID NOT ask what their worldview was. For someone to be an atheist simply means they have rejected belief in a deity, this says nothing about their world view, it only says something about their position on the existence of deities, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that response - Your reaction only suggests that you asked the wrong question.
Quote: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.
Oh bullshit, most of us here are metaphysical naturalists, that is evident to anyone who spends any length of time here. If you want to challenge naturalism I'll gladly take you up on that.
I do not hate people who believe in God, I hate some of their positions on morality, their need to impose their valued on others, their disdain for those who disagree but that still leaves a great many theists well shy of my "hate".
Quote: 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.
Nobody here disagrees that you need religion to be a bigot...
It is relatively clear that you do not understand atheism, stick around and discuss it if you like, perhaps you will leave here with at least half a clue, which would be a great deal more than you have now.
*SIDE NOTE*
You're awesome Dave!
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