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Current time: March 28, 2024, 5:51 pm

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Para-atheism
#11
RE: Para-atheism
So what exactly is a soul according to the Oxford English Dictionary then? I'm sorry but I've never heard a definition that doesn't involve some kind of religious / theist based theme.
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#12
RE: Para-atheism
Quote:the spiritual element of a person, regarded as immortal.

No mention of God. I know that the word spiritual has religious connotations but even here you can have religion without a god. Ask the Dalai Lama.

So, to sum up your honour I put it to the court that you can be an atheist and also believe in a soul.

Obviously an atheists belief in the soul would be a million miles away from the theists version of a soul and would no doubt be based on the notion that it was an integral part of the nature of the Cosmos, but, atheist and soul are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
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#13
RE: Para-atheism
(September 11, 2008 at 5:28 am)Leafmold Wrote: That's right Smile

Hang on, I messed up.

My point is if you claim to be an Atheist but secretly believe then you're a theist. If you don't believe then you're an Atheist.

However, I'm putting this into the Agnostic section purly because it's not a fine line between the 3, it's a huge blurr. It's not even a line at all.
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#14
RE: Para-atheism
(September 10, 2008 at 3:08 pm)josef rosenkranz Wrote: To the best of my knowledge you'll not find that term of para-atheism in other places .
I would call a para-atheist a person who declares him self in public as an atheist but deep down in his soul he believes only "almost"in the non existence of God.

We believe in the non existence of God just as much as we believe in the non existence of fairies, making as para-fairiens.
It's nonsense to talk about belief in non existence, you know what it's called? No belief. You know what we call people who have no belief in God? Atheists! Don't confuse yourself with semantics and double negatives, the entire concept of 'para-atheism' is ridiculous and yet another attempt by christians to cause divisiveness amongst atheists.

A lot of the arguements I hear from christians seem to be flawed in many crucial aspects originating from their misunderstanding of basic terms, such as atheist, belief, and almost complete lack of critical thinking skills.

You're either theistic or you're not.
You're either a fairy believer or you're not.
Atheism as a Religion
-------------------
A man also or woman that hath a Macintosh, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with used and abandoned Windows 3.1 floppy disks: their blood shall be upon them. Leviticus 20:27
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#15
RE: Para-atheism
(September 10, 2008 at 3:30 pm)Tiberius Wrote: Surely you yourself are a para-atheist then. You just stated "deep down in his soul he believes".

Atheists don't believe in souls...unless it was a "slip of the tongue" Tongue

Adrian
You should have percieved by now that my English is far from being perfect.
English is not my mother tongue and I graduated as an engineer in a non-english speaking country. Nor is it so bad as not to be understood.

I used the word "soul" in a symbolic sense not as a religious one.
Please, all repliers of this thread ,delete the word soul and replace it by
the word "self".
The core of the idea exposed by the thread is more important than a minor slip of words.
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#16
RE: Para-atheism
Yeah I get that, hence the " Tongue "

It is the only way to portray sarcasm online!
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#17
RE: Para-atheism
Since when is determinism linked with theism? And since when is free will linked with atheism?

I've talked with several Christians and all of them claimed Free Will as something deeply important for religion, yet at the same time they claimed God knew the future (= destiny).

IMO determinism is the only rational conclusion for the scientific evidence we have, but it doesn't lend itself to everyday thinking. Having no free will doesn't mean we don't decide, it only means are decisions are based on outside (and inside!) influence, rather than some spiritual "I" which pulls the levers.

Learning that free will is an illusion is no more destructive to our everyday habits than learning that different items of the same weight only fall at different speeds because of friction with air -- not very. In fact, we might just as well ignore it for everyday thinking. It's only when it matters that we should remember it: when creating space ships, for example. Or in this case, when we try to predict behaviour.
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#18
RE: Para-atheism
As I think I've said in another post somewhere; the many kinds of atheists generally fall into 2 categories:

1. Atheists who don't believe in God(s) or ANYTHING supernatural or superstitious.

2. Atheists who don't believe in God(s)...but could believe in something else supernatural or superstitious such as souls, spirits, astrology, homeopathic treatment, the law of attraction, reincarnation, Therapeutic Tapping (there are many different names for that tapping treatment so I don't know what to call it and I forgot it's name bla bla bla.). Etc etc etc...

Just in case you don't know... I'm in category 1.
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#19
RE: Para-atheism
I'm ashamed to admit I recently migrated from category 2, but I still maintain my Buddhist philosophy towards life. Except reincarnation, I believe that is as bogus as any religions afterlife.
Atheism as a Religion
-------------------
A man also or woman that hath a Macintosh, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with used and abandoned Windows 3.1 floppy disks: their blood shall be upon them. Leviticus 20:27
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#20
RE: Para-atheism
Well tradition and philosophy doesn't necessarily require the belief in the supernatural...nothing wrong with Buddhist philosophy, Taoist philosophy, Confucianist philosophy; or traditions like Weddings, Birthdays, Funerals, Christmas, New year etc. I don't think any of these philosophies or traditions particularly require faith or religion.
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