RE: Now and before.
March 15, 2017 at 3:33 pm
(This post was last modified: March 15, 2017 at 3:34 pm by Simon Moon.)
(March 15, 2017 at 2:42 pm)PETE_ROSE Wrote: I agree with all you stated. Although in my earlier remarks I was not laying the groundwork for a debate. I stated there were many denominations of atheism, non-belief, etc. Wasn't trying to be argumentative, but some take offense with Atheism being paralleled to religion in any context; such as using words that are associated with...gasp....religion. Although atheism is a worldview, so says me.
There are no "denominations" of atheism. The concept is laughable.
There is a baseline, beyond which one is an atheist. That baseline is absence of belief in gods. That is all that is needed to be an atheist.
Even if someone goes beyond that baseline, and, also claims to know there are no gods, hates religion, is an antitheist, is a Marxist, or whatever else you personally think goes along with atheism, the only thing that actually makes them an atheist, is their absence of belief in the existence of gods. FULL STOP.
None of that other stuff makes them another denomination of atheism. Please...
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
