Shouldn't Atheists learn to accept religion?

[Redbeard The Pink]

Are you saying that there are no positive/strong atheists? I mean, they have a positive belief that god(s) don't exist -- and it could be argued that it's a faith.

Is faith required to positively believe that Gandalf does not exist?


If so, then sure. Gnostic atheism requires faith.


If, however, it is reasonable to conclude that all accounts of Gandalf are fictional (since we can trace their authorship , and their veracity is not reflected by real world evidence), then it seems pretty reasonable to me to also conclude that Gandalf does not exist as a non-fictional person.

If we can conclude that Gandalf is purely and exclusively fiction, then we also ought to be able to do the same thing with Jehovah, Zeus, and any of the other easily-debunked characters that man has assigned the title of "god."


Beyond the realm of specific religious characters, god becomes a "higher power" so vague and meaningless that the argument is essentially reduced to "You can't logically assert the nonexistence of an entity that I refer to as 'god,' yet refuse to define."


You're right. I can't. Looks like you'd better be able to define a thing before the question is raised of whether said thing actually exists.


Not you, obviously. Just the hypothetical theist I implicitly created for this example.


Fuck language.