(November 28, 2017 at 5:45 pm)bennyboy Wrote:(November 28, 2017 at 5:44 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote: That's fair enough. I guess if atheism is described as lack of belief and lack of disbelief, i see no difference between that and agnosticism, or even apathy.
I'm with you on this one. By their definition, my beagle is an atheist. So's my big toenail.
The problem, though, is that "-ism" is usually used to describe a deliberate position or system of thought, and an "-ist" is usually used to describe someone who holds that position or adheres to that system of thought.
Correct. The suffix "-ism" in this case is attached to the word "theism". The prefix "a-" negates it. Hence "not a theist". But obviously that only means I don't believe the things I thought I do, and do believe those I thought I don't. Thanks for you and CL pointing it out to me; I probably would never have known the contents of my mind without you to guide me.
*exits thread
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
