Like belief in unicorns and leprechauns. No reasoning required, just faith. Yes, I think I got it.
An experiment in Atheism
- Thread starter S.A.M.
- Start date
Like belief in unicorns and leprechauns. No reasoning required, just faith. Yes, I think I got it.
Thats not faith. You gotta larn to use de dicksheenary sometime!
Main Entry: 1faith
Pronunciation: 'fAth
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural faiths /'fAths, sometimes 'fA[th]z/
Etymology: Middle English feith, from Anglo-French feid, fei, from Latin fides; akin to Latin fidere to trust -- more at BIDE
1 a : allegiance to duty or a person : LOYALTY b (1) : fidelity to one's promises (2) : sincerity of intentions
2 a (1) : belief and trust in and loyalty to God (2) : belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion b (1) : firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2) : complete trust
3 : something that is believed especially with strong conviction; especially : a system of religious beliefs <the Protestant faith>
Carcano
Valued Senior Member
Yes, faith/belief is merely chosen, not attained.
Doesn't that fit the bill for belief in unicorns and leprechauns?
Not unless your belief in them includes loyalty, fidelity and trust, not to mention utter conviction.
Because there's no evidence for any god.
Not unless your belief in them includes loyalty, fidelity and trust, not to mention utter conviction.
And if it does?
What sort of evidence would you require of God?
Anyway, don't atheists lack a belief in God and embrace theism since they have no concept or whatever the au courant definition is?
Carcano
Valued Senior Member
Two different principles here:
Loyalty and belief.
You could say that you believe in unicorns, but to say they have your loyalty is something else altogether.
There can be no loyalty to something unless you believe in it.
In its religious meaning, the word faith tends to refer to BOTH belief and loyalty...both principles joined together like siamese twins.
Carcano
Valued Senior Member
Utter conviction is just an extreme belief.Not unless your belief in them includes loyalty, fidelity and trust, not to mention utter conviction.
Still not an article of knowledge attained, but merely an opinion chosen.
In that case it would be faith, of course.
Then I don't understand why you pointed out the definition of faith to Q's example as a way of saying it's wrong. There's no mention of reasoning in the definition or his example.
Yeah, in your last post to me. Should have defined what you meant by "god" right at the start no? You originally were telling me that atheism is a belief that there is "no god", not "the god of the arabs" etc.
However, I do not actively believe that mermaids don't exist. I do not actively believe that mermaids do exist. I understand the concept but I lack a belief either way. They might, they might not.. So really at the end of the day it doesn't matter.
If you understand the concept you cannot claim a lack of belief. A lack of belief implies the nonexistence of a tenet.
i.e. I have a lack of belief in pink elephants. WTF?
belief:any cognitive content held as true
I have a lack of cognitive content in pink elephants?
But I just did, so clearly I can. Whether you think it stands up under scrutiny is a different matter altogether. However, what would you call a lack of belief for or against? (As explained with my 'belief' or lack thereof concerning mermaids). I don't know if they do or do not exist and frankly I don't really care. Is that a belief?
atheism is TRUE
theism is FALSE
faith is beliving in something you know dont exist,
do you get it ?
Do you have a cognitive content on mermaids?
Do you believe they don't exist or is there a possibility that they do?
Define atheism is True.