Quote:The term "atheist" simply means that you lack belief in a god/gods. There is no connection with personality. Some are nice, some are well-accomplished, some are fuck-ups. It doesn't matter.[/b]
You may define the term "atheist" as "simply lacking belief in a god/gods", but if you studied the lives of you and all the atheists you know, you would see that atheism is a distinct culture with its own norms, values and beliefs that go way beyond simply believing there are no Gods.
Peoples beliefs about the world determine their values. That is the source of values: beliefs. Your culture that you see as just being incidental, Pink Floyd, marijuana, etc, is to a very large degree an outgrowth of peoples theological beliefs. You can hide behind a definition of atheism that is designed to obscure this, but you cannot do it and be honest at the same time.
Quote:Your proof for your God is in the connections you've had with Him. But what about a Muslim who claims to have had similar, if not the exact same, type of interactions with Allah? Is he bullshitting? Or are you bullshitting? How can you prove he isn't bullshitting, because if he isn't, that really fucks up your claims.
Why should they be mutually exclusive? You have to think carefully about theological issues. There is no reason that Muslims and Christians could not have mystical experiences that come from some spiritual source. Maybe getting to the bottom of exactly what happened could be trickier.
