The Sects of Atheism

[GaryAnderson]

I just love it when a strident Christian shows up on an atheist forum and pretends to want to understand some things, knowing full well he's heard it all before and just wants to rant and argue.  No thanks.  Been there, done that.  Waste of time.

This is my take on it too. They want to play "let me bully you into a predetermined response so I can gotcha" and I'm not into it. They've already admitted that they have an agenda, that there's a "correct answer" to these questions and they have many more threads planned, so, it's a script. It's a dumb game. Don't wanna play.

Hahah. You guys are funny. Who is this “they” you speak of?

Can you please describe what and where you are in a belief system? Or no belief system? Or lack of belief?

I don't believe in gods.  

Once you’ve answered that, can you please answer the following: What can you tell me about souls and the existence of an afterlife?

Thank you.

All sorts of fun and interesting shit, like..for example..the fact that a belief in souls and the afterlife wasn't something any jesus would have believed.

I don’t understand your answer. Can you clarify a bit more?

Thank you. You sound like a true atheist,

Thank you. I try.

but I’m waiting for one here to give me the correct answer.

Well, if you have the correct answer, spit it out. Don't keep us in suspense.

I am going to call this sect “The Meat Machines”. Meat Machines are basically people whose value is just that. Meat. We will get to this later.

Nobody here believes that. (Except maybe The Valkyrie.)

Your answer on soul, skirts on philosophy though and based on your position as “lack of belief” you shouldn’t delve into any philosophy. Do you agree/disagree with this?

Ummm. I disagree. Because a philosopher is someone who tries to understand reality. Not someone who has the correct answer. Not someone who "knows things" or "believes things." In fact a famous adage of an almost-universally revered philosopher (Socrates) is "The only thing I know is that I don't know." Tracing the line from ignorance to knowledge is what a philosopher tries to do. You do that by discarding assumptions and starting from scratch. Not by assuming things.

Also, I have beliefs. Just not god-beliefs. I believe I'm sitting on a chair right now. I believe my front porch light is on. I'm agnostic about God. Not everything.

The correct answer for the dictionary definition of an atheist is : “I don’t know” regarding the existence of the afterlife and souls. A few of you have said that, in different words. 
This should explain the philosophy response too because it’s in regards to as what you’re allowed to say in this topic based on your position.

Don't know how to tell you this, but, the afterlife is pay to play.

Thank you very much, have a nice day.

I don’t understand your answer. 

Hard pass.

Don’t pass. Come join the group.

Yes, there are many sects of atheism.

Cute atheists are those who think theists lack evidence, 

Less cute atheists think there is positively no God (100% certainty).

Then you have militant atheists who go out and actively preach their lack of belief

and then, at the Pol Pot level, atheists rigorously apply natural selection to entire populations.

Indeed. 

You’re saying the soul and the afterlife doesn’t exist. This is a belief system because nobody has proof and you’ve defined yourself as having a “lack of belief”.

So every time some asshole claims some fantastical bullshit lie to exist, all other people who don't take it seriously for lack of any evidence are in a religion/ "belief system".

No no don’t get confused friendly atheist with analogies which are off topic. This is in regards to souls and afterlife and your definition of an atheist as having a lack of belief on gods. So what is your answer?

Well Gary,

You believe in a god, Jesus specifically you said ?
Why do you believe ?

What justification do you have for your belief ?

How do you define your god ?
What are it's attributes and how did you determine that it has those attributes ?

What is a soul ?
What is an after life ?

I’ll open another topic later “Why do you believe” mostly for Theists, if there are any here. You guys can observe from outside since you don’t believe.

Thank you. You sound like a true atheist, but I’m waiting for one here to give me the correct answer. I am going to call this sect “The Meat Machines”. Meat Machines are basically people whose value is just that. Meat.

Tell me you're a Christian without telling me you're a Christian....

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As far as your other points I can describe why atheism is categorized as a religion by United States Supreme Court and a few other things on what you mentioned.

You don't need to describe why. You just need to link to the original source of your claim (the case, with footnotes) and we can figure it out for ourselves.

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What’s vague about your answers is that you’re saying there’s lack of evidence to make up your mind on souls and the afterlife but you also place a belief in the brain.

Are you saying there isn't evidence brains exist? Because if that's not what you're saying, it's perfect consistent to believe that brains exist based on evidence and to not believe souls exist based on lack of evidence.

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You just told me with absolute certainty that they absolutely don’t exist without any proof. This is a belief system .

An opinion on a topic doesn't comprise a belief system.

Belief System: a set of principles or tenets which together form the basis of a religion, philosophy, or moral code.
"the ancient Greek belief system"

Brains exist. Your absolute certainty that souls don’t exist since it was linked to the brain is unfounded and without proof.