(February 2, 2016 at 5:12 pm)Excited Penguin Wrote: I want to see how many of us here are antitheists. Be sure to research what the word actually means before jumping to conclusions.
From my understanding, atheism is simply a lack of religious belief. On the other hand, anti-theism is an active opposition to religion, but it seems that the term anti-theist has a very negative connotation to it: it comes off as militant. IMO, if an individual voices his or her anti-theism in a civilized, respectful way and extends this same right to others while making a genuine attempt to understand the other side (blind disagreement is futile), then anti-theism is simply one of many ways to assert one’s individuality.
Assuming that I’ve understood the terms correctly, then I’m not an anti-theist: I see no need to oppose religion. Personally, I’d prefer to engage in interfaith dialogs (from what I’ve seen, they are more productive than debates) with the goal of finding some common ground. Perhaps atheists, anti-theists, theists (etc.) would benefit more from these, provided that they have a skilled and competent moderator.
