Is atheism a belief?

[Amarok]

Yes, albinism IS a condition, it has nothing to do with what you believe. one can HAVE 'albinism' but a person doesn't HAVE 'athiesm', that should tell you right there that the the two aren't the same.

We don't apply that same criteria to lack of belief in anything else. for instance, whats the state for non-belief in Bigfoot?

There are Ideologies focused on there being zero gods, THAT IS athe-ism.

Atheist and atheism have different meanings, same with theist and theism. One can believe a God exists without actually engaging in religious practices.

A person DOES have atheism, the condition of being without a belief in any deity; or theism, the condition of having a belief in at least one deity. They are not 'isms' in the sense of 'a distinctive practice, religion, system, or philosophy. Anglicism is that, theism is not that. Anglicism is a belief system, theism is one belief, not a system of beliefs on its own.

The state of someone having no belief in Bigfoot is obviously the state of having no belief in Bigfoot. If the majority of the US believed in Bigfoot, I guarantee a word would have to be coined for those of us who do not.

An ideology focused on their being zero gods would be that type of 'ism', but atheism itself isn't an ideology focused on their being zero gods. If you have a problem with some specific ideology that fits your description, you should name it so the rest of can know what it is you're really talking about. My 'ism' that relates to the existence of gods is rational skepticism, but my lack of belief in any gods is a product of applying it evenly to gods and Sasquatches, not the goal, it is possible to be a theist who is a rational skeptic, but in my view they would not be applying the method evenly.

And being able to believe God exists without engaging in any religious practice is why theism is a condition, not an ideology. By the way, you can be an atheist who engages in religious practices. In addition to being a rational skeptic, I am also a Unitarian.

---

Bahahaha u guys are still goin on about this. I was over it by my 3rd post. LoL

When you made this post, were you thinking 'what would a troll say?'?

And as I pointed out in response to his argument about Condition being a physical dieses . Does paganism fit either ?

---

Bahahaha u guys are still goin on about this. I was over it by my 3rd post. LoL

Yes because you were schooled then ran away to start a bunch of equally vapid threads filled with your rants

---

I just want to say, kudos on the name change, Huggy.  I like.  

Thanks, I figured I'd change it for the people who confused the name with diapers, I think Rev. Rye was the only one who got the reference.

It's definitely  a better name

[Mister Agenda]

Good question about paganism. I'm not sure it's specific enough to be an 'ism' the way Asatru or Red Path or Wicca are. All it means is a religion that isn't one of the 'world religions', I'd say it falls under 'condition of having a minority religion' rather than a belief system. Deism, too; although it says more about the deity believed in, not enough more to qualify as a belief system like you might get if deism were more organized.

[Peebothuhlu]

At work.

......Whenever I say that atheism is based on belief just like theism is I get a strong rejection from atheists. .... 

Hello!

First off, I just want to start small. Which is why I'm just replying to the above.

One of the possible problems with your conversational disconnects is that words are only ever descriptive of 'Things'.

The meanings people attatch to them change over both time, cultural and technical usage.

Heck.... new words keep being made up for new ideas and some times old words have to be re-adjusted to fit around the new paradigm.

So, when you post your words. Some one of a different culture, or age group, or techical background etc could quite probably assign a very different meaning/understanding to the words they are reading.

While I don't have a problem/issue with how people label themselves, I understand that when two people start trying to share ideas they have to take extra time to share their own understanding of the words they are using to share said ideas.

Of course, the problem with this is, now you're using words to try and describe other words. An endeavour that can be problematic.

Now, personally, I identify my self/stance on the diety issue as 'Non-theist' as I feel such a term has the best 'Fit' for my current mental state.

If some one else wanted to label my mental state simply as 'Agnostic'? I'd be okay with that as a kind of 'Place holder' as we work out our understanding of one anothers.

I hope my rambling post has been of some edification to oourself with my first direct reply to you.

Cheers.

[Angrboda]

I've taken to representing myself as religiously unaffiliated in interfaith discussions rather than atheist. It seems to short cut various problems that would otherwise crop up.

[Amarok]

......Whenever I say that atheism is based on belief just like theism is I get a strong rejection from atheists. .... 

Getting a strong reaction does not make something a belief.

[ignoramus]

Jor, what's wrong with just agnostic. That's a wide enough net ™

[The Grand Nudger]

Roughly the same thing that would be wrong if someone asked you the day of the week and you replied "tuna".  

More in context, though, if someone were to ask you whether or not you believed in gods, and you said "I don't know", this is the agnostic position..you've not indicated that you don't know whether or not there are gods..but that you don't know the contents of your own beliefs.

[Huggy Bear]

Roughly the same thing that would be wrong if someone asked you the day of the week and you replied "tuna".  

More in context, though, if someone were to ask you whether or not you believed in gods, and you said "I don't know", this is the agnostic position..you've not indicated that you don't know whether or not there are gods..but that you don't know the contents of your own beliefs.

*emphasis mine*

Don't you ever get tired of talking nonsense?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism

Agnosticism is the view that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/agnostic

agnostic
: a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (such as God) is unknown and probably unknowable

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dict...h/agnostic

agnostic
someone who believes that it is impossible to know whether or not God exists

[Angrboda]

Reading comprehension fail.

[Huggy Bear]

Who? You? Because he clearly stated that an agnostic is NOT saying "I dont know" in relation to a God existing but in relation to the contents of THIER OWN beliefs"...

The fact you gave that post a kudos shows who actually fails at reading comprehension.

this is the agnostic position..you've not indicated that you don't know whether or not there are gods..but that you don't know the contents of your own beliefs.