RE: Why don't some people understand lack of belief?
April 2, 2018 at 3:08 pm
(This post was last modified: April 2, 2018 at 3:10 pm by Edwardo Piet.)
(April 2, 2018 at 2:36 pm)MysticKnight Wrote:(April 2, 2018 at 1:46 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote: And I can appreciate someone like you who isn't afraid to state their opinion forthrightly.
I don't understand why so may atheists are ashamed to say plainly that they don't believe in God. Instead, like Khem, they have to go into these long-winded explanations making all kinds of subtle distinctions, like gnostic versus agnostic atheists. Who cares? Either you believe in God or you don't. It really isn't more complicated than that. I'm not scared to say I don't believe in fairies, because whether fairies exist or not has no bearing on any fundamental question and there's no serious reason to believe that they do. I don't feel the need to call non-fairy belief some weaselly "lack of belief" default position. I'm not terrified of the question "Why not?"
AFaries.com ftw. We all need to reinforce each other and refute all arguments for fairies.
And the fact you can't refute the existence of faeries without resorting to arguments that could be redirected just as effectively towards your own belief in God, is certainly embarrassing.
(April 2, 2018 at 1:46 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote:(April 2, 2018 at 10:30 am)Lutrinae Wrote: No.
Now you can sleep easier at night.
And I can appreciate someone like you who isn't afraid to state their opinion forthrightly.
I don't understand why so may atheists are ashamed to say plainly that they don't believe in God. Instead, like Khem, they have to go into these long-winded explanations making all kinds of subtle distinctions, like gnostic versus agnostic atheists. Who cares? Either you believe in God or you don't. It really isn't more complicated than that. I'm not scared to say I don't believe in fairies, because whether fairies exist or not has no bearing on any fundamental question and there's no serious reason to believe that they do. I don't feel the need to call non-fairy belief some weaselly "lack of belief" default position. I'm not terrified of the question "Why not?"
Yes. I can assert "God does not exist" just as easily as I can assert that "Santa Claus does not exist."
In neither case does it mean I've searched the whole universe looking and am absolutely certain in both cases. But I can be just as confident about God as I can Santa Claus. I don't go out of my way to speak of my lack of belief in anything else (pet peeve of mine, it's an absence not a lack. To say it's a lack is to admit that I should believe which would be a false admission)... so why should I about God?
