Quote:I'm very familiar with the distinction. What I'm arguing in this thread is the distinction does more harm than good.That's personal, people prefer different claims, just like some theists simply believe and others claim to genuinely know and feel god's presence
Quote:First it redefines atheism in such a way you might as well drop the A. Theism means God the A in atheism mean not or without God. Weak atheists share more in common with a theist than an atheist who actually claims not or without God. A theist doesn't deny God exists either does the weak atheist! There is no point in debating the existence of God between a weak atheist and a theist since the weak atheist doesn't deny (even as a mere opinion) that God exists. Whats to argue? Lastly if the atheists who subscribe to the A in atheist can't convince weak atheists God doesn't exist then there case must be pathetic.You're right, why do I need a word to say I don't believe in gods - Am I an aunicornist as well
Oh, and I forgot that part when you appointed yourself emperor of AF and decided that atheists have no right to redefine atheists - What a tragedy! After all, the people who share the label are the worst to define it, right, right!? We should let Christians define atheism then, we'd get some pretty answers
Quote:If I bother to show two or more sources that use the word creator to define theism are you going to say okay I stand corrected or are you going to insist you're correct as you customarily do?Believing in god doesn't equate believing in a creator. I had a professor who believed there were two deities - The creator, who created everything and god who ran everything. With one example, your case has been disproved
Quote:Yes it does mean a lot more to me. It means that humans are special and provides a philosophical basis for thinking so. It provides a basis of equality among people and a reason to provide sanctions against those who would enslave or abuse people. It is also the basis in the USA for the belief human beings are endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights among these is the belief that all humans are created equal and a litany of other rights that are granted not by the government but by a Creator. That the government is in power to protect those rights.Humans are not special. The rest is a bunch of bullshit that can easily be supported trough valid scientific legal theories that mostly come from natural law, natural rights and secular humanism. Theology isn't the basis of law, rights, duties and freedoms - It's rationality.
Quote:There is simply not enough evidence to support the positive claim but it is definitely possible.Everything is possible, but not as likely possible
Quote:Its your fellow atheists who are in a fog...take it up with them.Your god doesn't exist... Mwaaaahahahahahahhh
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you