Quote:Yes, you're pointing out what we believe, if we only believe in material existence. But that's a pretty big if, and it's an assumption that you haven't justified, and not one that many of us are willing to share with you.
Do you believe in God/non-material reality beyond the physical world? If you answer yes then you're a theist or whatever else you are and if you answer no then you're a materialist, just the material natural world as you see it nothing else. You can still be open minded to the other possibilities a materialist as a theist can believe in God yet have some doubts. I'd materialism as seriously as I would take a belief in God or a religion, you choose a team and you stick with it. Someone will be right and someone will be mistaken.
Quote:No, actually: one could even believe in a soul without a god behind it.
God or a higher power, transcendent realm of consciousness or whatever it would be that would allow such entities to exist. You believe in something like that and say what it is or you don't believe anything like that. This leaves you with a belief in the material existence as it therefore what you have there is materialism. Though perhaps you're not really all convinced by this atheism business? It's just more fashionable to claim and go along with, gives you some intellectual credibility perhaps, I think there quite lot of self claimed atheists like that around but they're not really buying into it.
Quote: One could believe in all manner of things without a god behind it: god is not every possible non-physical thing
You don't believe in God or whatever other metaphysical equivalent to God that could exist or anything else particularly so you're left with physical matter. So what you have there is materialism. If you asserted a belief in something else you wouldn't be a materialist/naturalist.
Quote:, and there are more non-physical potentials than just god. There are sects of Buddhism that don't have god figures, but have nonmaterial teachings: you are simply demonstrably wrong, here.
I'm covering Buddhism, pantheism, monism and whatever else. You don't believe in any of those alternatives therefore you are a materialist, seeing as that's what you're left. The argument you have against the existence of God or the non-physical transcendent nature of existence is an argument favor of materialism, seeing as that is the only alternative.
Quote:It would help more if you'd actually bother to understand the position of the people you're talking to, rather than ramming them into categories they don't wish to share.
It could be I understand your position better than you do. I realize you don't know for a fact that materialism is true or not but I don't know for a fact whether God exists or not so we're in the same position just on opposite sides.
Quote:Again, I'm saying I don't know.
I don't know either. I didn't say anything about actually knowing that God exists.
Quote:There's always the third answer: I don't know. Why would I hold a position if I don't hold to either of the binary options you're attempting to force me into?
No-one, no-one currently alive anyway, actually knows whether or not God exists so that isn't a third answer just something that applies to everyone.
Come all ye faithful joyful and triumphant.
