@ OP:
When people say atheism is the "lack of belief in a God or Gods" they are assuming that the reasonable person would accept the definition without trying to apply it to things it is clearly not meant to apply to.
Babies, rocks, twigs; none of these things think. Therefore, when someone says "I lack belief in God, therefore I am an atheist", they are saying that a person can be an atheist only if they have the cognizance to form the idea of "lacking belief". The definition isn't meant to be applied to everything.
Analogously, when someone claims to lack preference towards milk they aren't condemning cheese, ice cream, or cake. The statement simply isn't meant to be applied to these things, or it loses its meaning.
When people say atheism is the "lack of belief in a God or Gods" they are assuming that the reasonable person would accept the definition without trying to apply it to things it is clearly not meant to apply to.
Babies, rocks, twigs; none of these things think. Therefore, when someone says "I lack belief in God, therefore I am an atheist", they are saying that a person can be an atheist only if they have the cognizance to form the idea of "lacking belief". The definition isn't meant to be applied to everything.
Analogously, when someone claims to lack preference towards milk they aren't condemning cheese, ice cream, or cake. The statement simply isn't meant to be applied to these things, or it loses its meaning.
My conclusion is that there is no reason to believe any of the dogmas of traditional theology and, further, that there is no reason to wish that they were true.
Man, in so far as he is not subject to natural forces, is free to work out his own destiny. The responsibility is his, and so is the opportunity.
-Bertrand Russell
Man, in so far as he is not subject to natural forces, is free to work out his own destiny. The responsibility is his, and so is the opportunity.
-Bertrand Russell
