Atheism is a belief.

I know how to use a dictionary.

  • Yes, and I incorporate its info.

    Votes: 28 57.1%

  • Yes, but I still like to make up definitions as I go along.

    Votes: 10 20.4%

  • No, I believe in "Truthiness"

    Votes: 17 34.7%
  • Total voters
    49
superluminal said:
That's not his analogy. Theists will say "We already know God" to support their flawed idea that atheists are somehow denying what they inherently know, thus making it a belief that there is no god. It's a theistic tactic to confuse the issue.
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I know, and he is comparing it with someone that ate ocra but didn't know it was ocra. "We already know God" should equate to "He already knows what ocra tastes like" in his analogy.
 
It's not flawed.
You see, some theists will claim that "we all already know God" and they claim that some of us deny that, or don't remember it - which could technically be so. In this case, it's like having eaten a food whose name you do not know. So you can't say anything but "this food tastes bad" or "this food tastes good", you can't call it by its name.

Those theists refuse to give us the credit that we (or at least some people) in fact do not know how to recognize whether we "know" God or not. We might have indeed "tasted" God, but as long as we don't know what God is, we won't be able to qualify that which we "tasted" as "God" - so we can't say anything more about it.
 
greenberg said:
It's not flawed.
You see, some theists will claim that "we all already know God" and they claim that some of us deny that, or don't remember it - which could technically be so. In this case, it's like having eaten a food whose name you do not know. So you can't say anything but "this food tastes bad" or "this food tastes good", you can't call it by its name.

Those theists refuse to give us the credit that we (or at least some people) in fact do not know how to recognize whether we "know" God or not. We might have indeed "tasted" God, but as long as we don't know what God is, we won't be able to qualify that which we "tasted" as "God" - so we can't say anything more about it.
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I see, but then you don't know it. Perhaps you once knew it, but apparently not anymore :shrug:
Or.. these theists claim that atheists are lying. That they do know God but deny that they know it. This would be a particularly stupid claim though.
 
Enmos said:
Or.. these theists claim that atheists are lying. That they do know God but deny that they know it. This would be a particularly stupid claim though.
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Welcome to the ugly world of proselytizing ... :bugeye:
 
superluminal said:
If it was asked of me I would say it was false. I do not believe there is no god, which is a positive assertion. Believeing in the truth of the absence of something. The correct statement regarding most rational atheists is:

"Q does not believe in a god"
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It's been my experience that most atheists, in addition to not believing in God, also believe there is no God. In any case, I was trying to find out what atheists here believe.

(note superluminal: Q was not a term for 'an atheist', it is Q's name)

Q seems to think the statement
"Q believes there is no God"
is neither true nor false.

I now know that
"Superluminal believes there is no God."
is false.

And I appreciate that you could indeed make a decision on the issue.

Any other atheists out there who can let me know where they stand on such a statement with their name at the beginning?
 
greenberg said:
Or even if he had ever eaten ocra - as long as he was unaware that the thing he ate was ocra, he can't rightfully be said to have any justified beliefs about the taste of ocra (ie. either that he believes it tastes bad, or that he belives it tastes good).

- This is in reference to the common theist claim that "we all already know God".
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Ocra exists, and we could easily justify a statement about Ocra, if I had or did not have experience with Ocra.

Theists claims for the existence of gods are something completely different and cannot be compared with things that do exist.

Hence, the statement as to the existence of gods is null, as I have no inclination to believe or disbelieve in gods, but instead, to accept or not accept the claims of theists, regardless of what they claim as indemonstrable.
 
sowhatifit'sdark said:
It's been my experience that most atheists, in addition to not believing in God, also believe there is no God. In any case, I was trying to find out what atheists here believe.

(note superluminal: Q was not a term for 'an atheist', it is Q's name)
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Heh.


I know.
 
sowhatifit'sdark said:
Why didn't he?

Q could have said the statement
Q believes there is no God
is false.

But he did not.
I think, perhaps, you should be a bit more agnostic about what he will do.
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Maybe.

Just a little aside here... I've been posting here with Q for some years now. I thought he might agree that not having a belief at all (he calls it null) would be something he might agree with. I could certainly be wrong.
 
superluminal said:
Maybe.

Just a little aside here... I've been posting here with Q for some years now. I thought he might agree that not having a belief at all (he calls it null) would be something he might agree with. I could certainly be wrong.
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You and Q responded in different ways. He said the statement Q believes there is no God is neither true nor false, it is null. You said such a statement made about you was false. Enmos answered clearly the same way you did. The statement would be false in relation to her.

He may very well agree with what you have said above, but you each handled the question related to, essentially, do you believe there is no God, differently.

I am sure you do know his beliefs, and lacks of, better than I do.
 
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Enmos said:
No..
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Then you're an agnostic, right?
That is to say "I don't believe in a god, but I won't say that a god doesn't exist", right?

See, this is the beginning, middle, and end of my point. (Well, maybe not the middle:D)

The word "Atheism", as defined by every major/scholarly dictionary, means: The Belief that God does not exist.

Please, please, look it up for yourself. You'll see. And maybe, just maybe learn to use the word properly. (Please don't bring up ancient greek again, 'cuz I ain't speekin' bout no dam greek! I'm speekin 'bout A'murican.)
See, I don't care if one believes in a god or not, it's a personal choice.
Fuck Pascal.:D

BTW, I will repeat; all, (most) of the fanciful things suggested were suggested by the so call atheists.
 
Tht1Gy! said:
Then you're an agnostic, right?
That is to say "I don't believe in a god, but I won't say that a god doesn't exist", right?

See, this is the beginning, middle, and end of my point. (Well, maybe not the middle:D)

The word "Atheism", as defined by every major/scholarly dictionary, means: The Belief that God does not exist.

Please, please, look it up for yourself. You'll see. And maybe, just maybe learn to use the word properly. (Please don't bring up ancient greek again, 'cuz I ain't speekin' bout no dam greek! I'm speekin 'bout A'murican.)
See, I don't care if one believes in a god or not, it's a personal choice.
Fuck Pascal.:D

BTW, I will repeat; all, (most) of the fanciful things suggested were suggested by the so call atheists.
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Well if I must pick something else than 'atheist' I'll pick 'agnostic atheist'..
But I think I'm somewhat in between and leaning towards atheist more.
 
See it's much like it is with Santa Claus..
I don't believe in Santa Claus, you can than say that I must believe that Santa doesn't exist.. but is there proof of that ?
One cannot proof a negative. But by far the most logical stance is that Santa Claus does not exist.
It is thus not considered belief when one states that he or she does not belief in Santa Claus.
 
My Websters New Collegiate Dictionary (Copyright 1975 by G.&C. Merriam Co.) has the following:

atheism:

1a: a disbelief in the existence of a deity
1b: the doctrine that there is no deity

atheist:

one who denies the existence of god -
shared meaning element: one who does not take an orthodox religious position. ant theist

Now, please, oh please tell me which one is "right"? Will you force one or the other on me? Or will you accept it when I (we) say that the preferred definitions that self-proclaimed atheists use are:

1a: a disbelief in the existence of a deity

and

one who does not take an orthodox religious position. ant theist

Now, I dare you to argue further this idiotic point of atheism being a "belief". It's not subject to interpretation given the meanings that atheists themselves subscribe to.

Go ahead. Argue with me.
 
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