RE: Nature's Laws
May 22, 2015 at 9:05 pm
(This post was last modified: May 22, 2015 at 9:10 pm by Simon Moon.)
(May 22, 2015 at 7:12 pm)Freedom4me Wrote: No, I'm not saying that what only some atheists do is to be considered diagnostic of all those who call themselves atheists. The word, "atheism" (until fairly recently) used to mean:
a : a disbelief in the existence of deity
b : the doctrine that there is no deity
In recent years, it seems that a different definition has appeared:
a lack of belief in deities.
I'm not sure that I understand the meaning of the second definition, but under the "old" definition, "atheism" is clearly a dogmatic belief in stark contrast with skepticism.
How does the first definition contradict 'lack of belief'?
Lack of belief is disbelief.
The second definition is used mostly by theists to try to define atheists positions for them, instead of listening to atheists themselves. The main reason why it is incorrect, is because atheism has no doctrine.
By the way, you do know that the original use of 'atheist' was by the Greeks to describe Christians, right?
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.