(June 24, 2021 at 3:48 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote: Not believing in gods is exactly what makes a person, and the only thing that makes a person, an atheist. Did you want to discuss some position, or air your grievance with accurate language?
(June 24, 2021 at 3:42 pm)Frank Apisa Wrote:So I can disregard all earlier comments, then, all seventeen pages, and then, having done that, discard the rest, as you're now reasserting that atheism is something it's not?
I do not think atheists of any stripe are being unreasonable about anything. I also do not think theists of any stripe are being unreasonable either.
It is my opinion that anyone who uses the word "atheist" as a descriptor or part of a descriptor...is not doing so because of just a lack of "belief" in any gods. I think the reason they do it is because the think there are no gods...or they think it is more likely that there are no gods than that there is.
I do not take that stance.
I am not an atheist.
Are you going to ask me what gave me that impression again, or just get on with the bit?
Atheists essentially want to assert that the word “atheism” derived from “a” without + theism “a belief in a god” = without a belief in a god.
But it did not!
In fact, if you check an etymological dictionary, you will see that “atheism” arrived in the English language almost 100 years BEFORE theism. It could not have derived that way.
Atheism comes to us from the Greek through the French…and actually means (approximately) "a" without + “theos” a god = without a god…NOT without a “belief” in a god.
Check it out…you will see I am correct on this.
