Atheism's Definition - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

[Clueless Morgan]

You raised an interesting point in all this mess, and that is the question of whether the definitions of words can change and under what condition.

Definitions do change, under the conditions of usage among the population of speakers of that language.

The word Addict used to mean "a person given as a slave to one whom they owed money." Now it means to become physically or psychologically dependent on an activity, substance or habit.

The word Decimate used to mean "to kill one out of every ten people." Today it means to totally destroy something.

The word Nice comes from the latin word for "ignorant" and used to be used as a synonym for "foolish." Today it means to be pleasing or agreeable.

The word Atheism may have changed meaning from its original usage, but not nearly as much as Decimate or Nice or Addict have. If you are a language purist and insist on using the original definition of a word and only that definition ever, than here are some other words you'll have to rethink your usage of:

Gay.
Infant.
Munition.
Inmate.
Legacy.
Apology.
Manure.
Exorbitant.
Engross.
Bully.
Fantastic.
Complexion.
Promiscuous.
Balderdash.
Affluent.
Abandon.
Bimbo.
Husband.
Cute.


Definitions of words are not immutable. They can, and often do, change meaning. What is so special about the word Atheism that is has to, must always, and forevermore be only ever defined as it's original, millennia-old, Greek-rooted definition?

Ignoramuses should not have the right to redefine words. It must come from the intelligensia.

No single body of people is in charge of how language evolves over time; it does so naturally through its use by every speaker of that language, whether they be ignoramuses or intelligentsia.

BTW, you misspelled "Intelligentsia" which disqualifies you from being apart of it and therefore you are not allowed to redefine words in the English language like Atheism. Sorry.