Atheism and what is means to you!

[theatheistguy]

Haven't heard an accurate definition yet. Too many people are saying a lack of belief in god. Two problems with this:

1. we do not lack anything, and 'a' means 'non' or 'not'
2. the word god is a Germanic-Christian invention from the 14th century (ish) and there are many faiths which would claim to worship magical deities but not gods.

A correct definition of Atheism would be:

A non-belief in a deity or deities.

 

[GoodKat]

1. we do not lack anything, and 'a' means 'non' or 'not'

not theist, a theist is one who believes in God, thus an atheist should be someone who doesn't.

 

[Desty]

You know guys what irritates me with this 'atheism' label?

1) It gets connotatively considered as taking an active position against something, as if trying to make a public statement.

2) But then that's what you're asked to call yourself if you have no interest in a fairy tale or another.

3) The word actually exist while aperpetualmotionmachinism does not, which I believe would have much more relevance in our daily conversations.


Every now and then I stumble upon a philosophical text, youtube video, announced debate, etc., on the topic of "the existence of god". Since a while I always feel clueless as to why they're still debating the plausibility of existence of this random fictional character instead of another one. I mean, this topic was hot back in 2002. But I guess its like the Spice Girls, can't die yet.

However after wandering around youtube and watching a lot of thunderf00t's stuff, especially the VenomFangX case, I remembered the good old days of mind sharpening on Kent Hovind's supporters ( I used to be on the exchristian.net forum), and found you guys. I guess I will again feel the pressure to define my online self through my struggles against some other people. Can't wait to hear "you angry rebeling little atheists are obsessed with bashing religion".


This is my first post on the forum.
What motivates me to get back to this crap is the total disregard of neuroscience, a scientific field I happen to be a student of. I think I can do something about the impressive scientific iliteracy of some of our fellow web surfers.

 

[theatheistguy]

not theist, a theist is one who believes in God, thus an atheist should be someone who doesn't.

....point?

 

[GoodKat]

....point?

Atheist just means that you're not a theist, and thus indicates that you do not have(or lack) a belief in God.

 

[theatheistguy]

Atheist just means that you're not a theist, and thus indicates that you do not have(or lack) a belief in God.

Ah, I understand. My point was to say that we lack a certain belief makes it sound like we should have it, like lacking a limb or lacking oxygen, when I am happy to be atheistic and wish others were too, especially with recent events like those in California.

 

[Ozymandyus]

Yeah, the problem was that lacking should probably only be applicable to positive things. It can be applied to anything - like lacking smallpox, STDs, or a belief in bigfoot. Though to be fair, we should probably use another word rather than lack - there is a certain connotation to it that implies deficiency and lack of a positive thing.

Absence is perhaps the better term. Absence of a belief, rather than lack of a belief, would be more accurate - as you are correct in pointing out that lack does imply a need or deficiency. Non-belief works as well, assuming you are intending to mean it as absence of belief.

 

[Sparky]

Atheism is the lack of belief in a deity. It is a poor term. It is like saying that one can have the hobby of not collecting stamps as GoodKat pointed out. I think there is validity in the weak/strong atheist terms in that some people (like me) have not seen enough evidence to warrant that a God exists (although I think it highly improbable that there is one) and others say that they know a deity doesn't exist.

And just because others have put in their own definitions for these I thought I might throw these in too:

Theism is the belief that a single God.
Polytheism is the belief in many Gods.

Deism is the belief in a God and that this God can logically be proven to exist (ie no need for faith).

Agnosticism is the belief that we can have no knowledge of something. It is mutually exclusive of atheism/theism as it relates to knowledge, not religion.

 

[theatheistguy]

Atheism is the lack of belief in a deity. It is a poor term. It is like saying that one can have the hobby of not collecting stamps as GoodKat pointed out. I think there is validity in the weak/strong atheist terms in that some people (like me) have not seen enough evidence to warrant that a God exists (although I think it highly improbable that there is one) and others say that they know a deity doesn't exist.

And just because others have put in their own definitions for these I thought I might throw these in too:

Theism is the belief that a single God.
Polytheism is the belief in many Gods.

Deism is the belief in a God and that this God can logically be proven to exist (ie no need for faith).

Agnosticism is the belief that we can have no knowledge of something. It is mutually exclusive of atheism/theism as it relates to knowledge, not religion.

Again I take issue with the word lack but that cat has been beaten to death already.

Your definition of strong atheism is wrong, its not that people know a deity doesn't exist, it's that they believe there isn't one.

Also, agnosticism is not a belief, it describes those who do not have knowledge of a god or those who say we cannot have knowledge of a god.