Today, my daughter will mostly be wearing...

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Fundy atheists can and do exist. They are 'fundy' about their atheistic views (be what they may).

I think you may be conflating "fundamental" with 'dogmatic' and 'closed minded' which is how fundamentalist believers tend to come across.

By definition,there is no such thing as a 'fundamentalist atheist"' There is no doctrine or ideology about which to be dogmatic and closed minded AS AN ATHEIST.


BUT
Many atheists are ALSO dogmatic and closed minded about a whole pile of ideas and sometimes very aggressive. I do not accept such things are the result of their atheism, rather the result of being flawed human beings. It's my observation that we human beings usually rationalise our beliefs and actions after the fact. It's a matter of degree.

EG I can't abide Richard Dawkins, I think he's an egomaniacal prat with nothing original to say. I find the few ideas he hasn't stolen from better minds facile and unsupported by evidence. His sweeping generalisation that it's child abuse to teach children religion,is facile ,obnoxious and unproven. So too the claim that religion is evil IN PRINCIPLE.

[leo-rcc]

EG I can't abide Richard Dawkins, I think he's an egomaniacal prat with nothing original to say. I find the few ideas he hasn't stolen from better minds facile and unsupported by evidence. His sweeping generalisation that it's child abuse to teach children religion,is facile ,obnoxious and unproven. So too the claim that religion is evil IN PRINCIPLE.

I wouldn't word it as strongly as that but in general I agree. One point though, it is not the teaching of religion Richard is against, it is the indoctrination. Richard is not opposed to teaching "This is what Christianity says, this is what Buddhists think, this is what Hinduism teaches" but he is opposed to "This is what I believe so you must believe that too.".

[Tiberius]

The fundamental belief (or disbelief) of atheism is the disbelief in gods (also it's only belief/disbelief). So technically speaking you could argue that all atheists are fundamentalist atheists.

However I don't think Arcanus meant it in that way; certainly there are atheists who are ignorant and atheists that are close-minded. I think it is fair to say it doesn't matter what philosophy, religion, or political viewpoint you subscribe to; you will always find these kinds of people

[Edwardo Piet]

Does it really count as 'the fundamental' disbelief, if it's only the one?

You speak of 'the fundamentals' or 'the fundamental thing' out of a larger whole. But could you really call one single disbelief a 'fundamental disbelief' if it's the only one? Saying it's one disbelief is enough, to say that it's 'one fundamental disbelief and nothing more', just seems totally gratuitous to me. It's just one disbelief, that's enough, the 'fundamentalist' part does nothing, if it's just the one disbelief then obviously that's fundamental to it - because it's the only one and that's all it is! So it doesn't need to be said that it's the 'fundamental disbelief' since it's the only one, that doesn't really make sense that way in my view.

So what is it to mean by 'atheist fundamentalist' then, that isn't to simply mean 'atheist'? I think such a term is completely gratuitous, totally unneeded. If it is to mean anything it is to mean nothing more than simply atheism. Unless it is the name for a strawman of atheism


EvF

[Violet]

fundamental |ˌfəndəˈmentl|
adjective
forming a necessary base or core; of central importance : the protection of fundamental human rights | interpretation of evidence is fundamental to the historian's craft.
• affecting or relating to the essential nature of something or the crucial point about an issue : the fundamental problem remains that of the housing shortage.
• so basic as to be hard to alter, resolve, or overcome : the theories are based on a fundamental error.
noun (usu. fundamentals)
a central or primary rule or principle on which something is based : two courses cover the fundamentals of microbiology.
• a fundamental note, tone, or frequency.

I suppose atheists are all fundamentalists... because all of us disbelieve in gods, which is our necessary base.

---

Is it just me... or did we just lose one of our favored insults?

[Kyuuketsuki]

The fundamental belief (or disbelief) of atheism is the disbelief in gods (also it's only belief/disbelief). So technically speaking you could argue that all atheists are fundamentalist atheists.

That's true and theists also have the fundamental belief that there is a god so really the distinction is pointless (Arcanus is wrong).

Kyu

[northumbrian66]

I want it now!!

[Rhizomorph13]

It's Barney Rubble not Flintstone. They weren't gay! Fred was married to Wilma and Barney had that sweet piece of ass Betty (I loved her laugh). If you had a soul you would be able to keep track of these things!

Much like souls, they don't really exist

EvF

EvF

I hate you so much!

Rhizo

---

@Adrian - You beat me to it! I think all atheists are fundies because we only have the one belief with variations of gnosticism.

That's very decent of you. What would your logo be?

"Where identifying fallacies is like shooting fish in a barrel."

Arcanus,

You're alright! That made me lol!

By the way, you have to wear the T-shirt to church or something public and tell us what happens.

Rhizo

[Violet]

Well, he doesn't have to... though i think it would be interesting. Tell them you are a proud member of atheistforums.org, and that you are one of our few resident theists

[Rhizomorph13]

Saerules,

I would think it would garner him big ups from the congregation for battling mightily against a known evil lurking on teh internets. I am still curious about a "good" source that would define TAG according to how Arcanus understands it. He never did answer me in my "Conversion" thread, I figured one of our other exchanges must have caused him to ignore me or something. *shrug*

Rhizo