Do you have a faith?

[HeadCone 0]

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An atheist believes there is no god.
An agnostic believes no one can know if there is, or isn't, a god.
A fundamentalist atheist believes he needs to convince everyone else there is no god.

So what am I if I simply don't believe in god? If I don't make any claims about the non-existence of a god and I don't make any claims about not being able to know if there is or isn't a god, I just plain old don't believe, what am I?

I don't think that definition of agnostic is on the same level as theist/atheist. It would seem someone could be both theist and agnostic: "I believe there's a God but I can't prove it". Or someone could be both atheist and agnostic: "I don't believe any god exists but I can't prove it".

It seems to me that agnostic most closely matches your views or perhaps there's another term

--Head

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[Royd 0]

yea, I knd of forgot to put down Atheist, although that is a religion in its own right.

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Eh? How can atheism be called a religion? What's religious about not believing something?

If you change the word religion to belief system, it's not hard to do.

Ism: A doctrine, system, theory, or practise.

[Shotgun 1]

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yea, I knd of forgot to put down Atheist, although that is a religion in its own right.

No, it's not.

Faith? Perhaps. Religion? No.

Well, unless you're talking about an atheist such as Richard Dawkins, but his "religion" seems to be a lot more than simple atheism.

[JackC 0]

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Eh? How can atheism be called a religion? What's religious about not believing something?

If you change the word religion to belief system, it's not hard to do.

Ism: A doctrine, system, theory, or practise.

How can not believing something be a belief system? It's like saying not collecting stamps is a hobby or that bald is a hair colour. It's bonkers.

[rehmwa 2]

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How can not believing something be a belief system? It's like saying not collecting stamps is a hobby or that bald is a hair colour. It's bonkers.

It's more akin to going around and burning stamps, or shaving your head everyday.

It's not passive, it's active. That's the divider.

But the actions are what really show the parallels:
That 10% of atheists that are nuts will : actively recruit, try to leverage it for politics and money, try to get organized, get all emotional about it, have a personal dislike for those that don't believe the same. Sounds a lot like that 10% of religious folks - frankly, I can't tell the difference. Religions are defined by their zealots, atheists have zealots.

(note that 90% of them are just fine and live their lives without bothering others - that's why it's not about religion, it's about 10% of all people out there being idiots)

(I told them it would bunch up some panties. But did they believe me? NOOOOOOO. well, the shoe's on the other coatrack now, isn't it?)

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[Royd 0]

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How can not believing something be a belief system? It's like saying not collecting stamps is a hobby or that bald is a hair colour. It's bonkers.

Do you believe that there is no god?

[JackC 0]

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It's more akin to going around and burning stamps, or shaving your head everyday.

It's not passive, it's active. That's the divider.

No, it's quite simple: there are some folks going around saying there's a god. I don't believe them. It's as simple as that.

If that is a religion, then not believing in the infinite number of things that you don't believe in is also a religion. If you don't believe in a chocolate teapot orbiting Alpha Centauri then you're a fully fledged member of the "no-chocolate-teapot-orbitting-Alpha-Centauri" religion. If you think Hilary Clinton would be a shit president than you're a "no-clintons-in-the-Whitehouse-ist". Any position you can think of is a bloody religion one way or the other.

[souleh 0]

As subtle as it may seem, there's a difference.

On the one hand, I don't believe there's a teapot orbiting alpha centuri. There might be; it's an infinite universe after all. But I'd say it's bloody unlikely. Who knows - who cares. That's probably apathetic agnosticism

On the other hand, I actively believe there ISNT a teapot. That's atheism.

An atheist doesn't simply not believe in God, they believe there is no God.

Okay, I admit, it's late, I'm off to bed, and that made no sense. It's hard to get the point across articulately

'buttplugs? where?' - geno

[jakee 1,501]

But now let's look a bit closer.

Gods (and religions) are ideas. If I've never heard of an idea, I cannot (according to you) be atheistic about it. So say you come up to me and tell me that there is a tiny 3 legged invisible martian called Dave that runs around my room at night re-organising my CD collection. Before you mention it, the idea has never occured to me, I do not believe it. After you mention it to me, the idea has occured to me, I still do not believe it. My position has not changed, yet suddenly I am 'atheist' with respect to wee tripod Dave from the red planet.

And then we look at all the things that other people don't believe. Most people don't believe that the Pyramid of Giza was built by a lost ant. Most people don't believe that the fabled city of Atlantis was actually a small village outside Shepton Mallet. Most people don't believe that Thor, Zeus, Jupiter, Ra, Dis and Quetzelcoatle got together every saturday night for a few rounds of Texas Hold 'em (in the movie, it was Chemin de Fer in the book).

So, everyone is an atheist in respect to every little absurdity that has ever crossed their minds, every ancient religion they ever learned about in school. So to call my atheism, which only goes one tiny step further, a religion or belief system, would render both terms utterly meaningless, since they would have to apply to every other tiny disbelief that every human being has.

If you see what I mean.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[champu 1]

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So to call my atheism, which only goes one tiny step further, a religion or belief system, would render both terms utterly meaningless, since they would have to apply to every other tiny disbelief that every human being has.

To clear up any confusion, the next time someone asks you, "What religion do you subscribe to?" you say, "Christianity." and then when they ask, "Oh really? What sect?" you say, "Atheism."

/edited for freshness

[JackC 0]

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An atheist doesn't simply not believe in God, they believe there is no God.

Not according to the dictionary. If you don't believe in god, you're an atheist. You don't necessarily have to actively believe there is no god, if you simply don't put any faith in a god then you're an atheist by definition.


Main Entry: athe·ism
Pronunciation: 'A-thE-"i-z&m
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French athéisme, from athée atheist, from Greek atheos godless, from a- + theos god
1 archaic : UNGODLINESS, WICKEDNESS
2 a : a disbelief in the existence of deity
2 b : the doctrine that there is no deity

[souleh 0]

Ohh darn those dictionaries and their semantics

'buttplugs? where?' - geno

[rehmwa 2]

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Who knows - who cares. That's probably apathetic agnosticism

OMG - I might just send you a beer for supplying this site. I haven't even looked at it yet, but who cares, as long as it exists.

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[idrankwhat 0]

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Who knows - who cares. That's probably apathetic agnosticism

OMG - I might just send you a beer for supplying this site. I haven't even looked at it yet, but who cares, as long as it exists.

You really need to check it out. Good stuff!
http://apatheticagnostic.org/ourchurch/faith.html

http://apatheticagnostic.org/articles/quanda/qa2/q26.html