(December 27, 2014 at 3:18 pm)Esquilax Wrote:(December 27, 2014 at 3:09 pm)Lambert Wrote: Ok, but does the a- prefix not specifically deny being a theist then?
No, and it never has. "Asymmetry," denotes a lack of symmetry, not a denial of symmetry. "Amoral," denotes a lack of morality, not a denial of morality. "Atheism," denotes a lack of theism, not a denial of theism. That's a non-trivial distinction.
Quote:You can be nothing or anything and everything except a theist when you declare yourself as atheist. And yes you can be a boy, a girl, a male female or anything in between but not a theist when you call yourself an atheist. So already you need to know what a theist is before to deny to be one yourself as atheist.
Not necessarily: you might not have a word to describe atheism without theists, but the actual content of the beliefs would still be definitely atheist, and having a name for a thing is not the sole qualifier for whether or not it exists.
Ok so now you are saying that just as amoral is a lack of morals so is atheism a lack of theism, that I called impoverished believers in another post. Ok I will accept that.