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Should the term Atheist be scrapped?
May 20, 2013 at 11:12 pm
Just curious what others thought as I prefer non-believer or even heathen.
The regative connutations it has in many minds clouds any argument in my view. Then add it's dictionary definition of either nonbelief OR disbelief, and religious folks always seem to think I.we disbelieve. Any thoughts?, is it just me.
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RE: Should the term Atheist be scrapped?
May 20, 2013 at 11:39 pm
We use other Greek-derived words in English. Can't see any reason to change it.
If I gave a rat's ass what the theists thought I'd probably be one of them.
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RE: Should the term Atheist be scrapped?
May 20, 2013 at 11:43 pm
It's just you. A-theist is about as accurate as one can get to define the term "non-believer" in ANY deity
"The Universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements: energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest." G'Kar-B5
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RE: Should the term Atheist be scrapped?
May 21, 2013 at 3:32 am
There's a certain stigma associated with the word, but I agree with Kichi that it describes accurately what it is all about.
When I was young, there was a god with infinite power protecting me. Is there anyone else who felt that way? And was sure about it? but the first time I fell in love, I was thrown down - or maybe I broke free - and I bade farewell to God and became human. Now I don't have God's protection, and I walk on the ground without wings, but I don't regret this hardship. I want to live as a person. -Arina Tanemura
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RE: Should the term Atheist be scrapped?
May 21, 2013 at 3:41 am
So are we arguing from the perspective of stigmatism or accuracy?
My vote is that you Terr, are arguing from the perspective of stigmatism.
Not unlike Homosexual or Transsexual and Transgender also carry certain societal stigmas.
"The Universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements: energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest." G'Kar-B5
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RE: Should the term Atheist be scrapped?
May 21, 2013 at 7:24 am
In the end of the day, I don't care what theists call me - I know what I lack a belief in, and that is the only thing that matters to me, the "atheist" label is just the one that fits the description of my lack of belief in English. In my native tongue I'm a "gudloysingur" (literally means "god-free"), do theists prefer that word instead?
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool." - Richard P. Feynman
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RE: Should the term Atheist be scrapped?
May 21, 2013 at 8:14 am
Atheist is an accurate description for me. If someone else attaches a negative connotation to it, they'd probably attach the same to any other term I would use in its place. I use the term "non-believer" from time to time, but it means the same thing to me.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
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RE: Should the term Atheist be scrapped?
May 21, 2013 at 8:44 am
The word exists.
It usually has two potential meanings, and that's why some people don't like it.
I don't care.... if the word exists, use it.
atheist
non-believer
I think it's easier to write atheist, so I'll stick with it.
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RE: Should the term Atheist be scrapped?
May 21, 2013 at 12:49 pm
If the topic comes up I'll usually just tell people I'm an atheist, because it's commonly used and everyone pretty much knows what it means. To be honest I would rather say that I'm an empiricist, but not everyone knows what that means and of those that do, they would think I'm a pompous ass for calling myself that.
Essentially I am an atheist, but I am an atheist through empiricism.
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RE: Should the term Atheist be scrapped?
May 21, 2013 at 1:27 pm
The term atheist needs to stay because it tends to annoy some religious people.
You are currently experiencing a lucky and very brief window of awareness, sandwiched in between two periods of timeless and utter nothingness. So why not make the most of it, and stop wasting your life away trying to convince other people that there is something else? The reality is obvious.
