RE: Is atheism a belief?
March 15, 2019 at 2:21 am
(This post was last modified: March 15, 2019 at 2:29 am by The Grand Nudger.)
A persons response to existential claims and value setting aren't the same thing, though we employ similar language in both cases. If someone told you that they didn't believe in loyalty, for example..they're saying something like "loyalty is a suckers game" - likely not that they don't believe that loyalty exists. Similarly, a person saying that they believe in loyalty is unlikely to be making an existential claim, whereas a person telling you that they believe in god is.
Academic, really, since atheists do "believe things" in the existential sense. Tons of things. Atheism is a single line item...it would be legitimately surprising that there are ever any questions beyond that, were it not for the weird ass shit that theists imagine atheism is. Telling a person that atheism is about whether or not a person believes in gods answers -every- other question about atheism.
Ala
Okay, so, atheists don't believe in gods...does it mean that they don't believe in loyalty?
-Atheists don't believe in gods.
Okay, so, do atheists think that other people are people?
-Atheists don't believe in gods.
Okay, so, do atheists dance counterclockwise around ritual bonfires on the sabbath?
-Atheists don't believe in gods.
Notice a pattern?
Academic, really, since atheists do "believe things" in the existential sense. Tons of things. Atheism is a single line item...it would be legitimately surprising that there are ever any questions beyond that, were it not for the weird ass shit that theists imagine atheism is. Telling a person that atheism is about whether or not a person believes in gods answers -every- other question about atheism.
Ala
Okay, so, atheists don't believe in gods...does it mean that they don't believe in loyalty?
-Atheists don't believe in gods.
Okay, so, do atheists think that other people are people?
-Atheists don't believe in gods.
Okay, so, do atheists dance counterclockwise around ritual bonfires on the sabbath?
-Atheists don't believe in gods.
Notice a pattern?
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