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In your own words - What does "Atheist" mean?

Elvira said:
There is a big difference in having knowledge and possessing the wisdom to apply that knowledge...kinda like eating a meal without having the ability to digest your food...you may feel full, but gain no nutritional value at all and eventually you die...
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Exactly, and as we've seen, as mankind has gained wisdom, and applied that wisdom, belief in magical beings has lessened. Nobody believes in Zeus or Leprechauns. And fewer and fewer people believe in Jesus.
 
JustHanging said:
I don't claim a god doesn't exist, I just haven't seen sufficient evidence to convince me a god does exist.
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That is not a definition. It's a listing of relevant features which would be matched against a definition, in this case Agnostic but not Atheist.
 
Jay59 said:
That is not a definition. It's a listing of relevant features which would be matched against a definition, in this case Agnostic but not Atheist.
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LOL, you believe whatever you want. You're allowed to remain ignorant. I suspect you also believe there are magical beings that can cast spells like Wingardium Leviosa to make whole universes pop into existence. Amirite?

a·the·ist
/ˈāTHēəst/
Learn to pronounce
noun
noun: atheist; plural noun: atheists

a person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods.
 
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Jay59 said:
that a minority of non-believers believe in the negative.
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A minority?

What about the majority?

Lack of belief is not a belief.

Just as lack of oxygen is not oxygen.
If you don't believe me there's a few experiments you might want to consider.
 
Dragonfly said:
A minority? What about the majority?
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It could be. I'm going with a very vocal minority.

Lack of belief is not a belief.
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Correct

Just as lack of oxygen is not oxygen. If you don't believe me there's a few experiments you might want to consider.
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Weird, but granted. Was there a point to that?

Of course lack of belief is not a belief, hence the need for a distinction between the two. I could diagram it in Boolean algebra if I had the symbol set.
 
Dragonfly said:
Therefore - Atheism is not a belief.
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Bad logic. The correct construction is, therefore lack of belief in a God is not the same as belief there is no God.

In terms of this discussion, therefore Agnostic is not the same as Atheist.

Edit: If you want to say Agnosticism is not a belief, I can go with that.
 
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Atheism is not a description that I proactively adopted. It was forced on me. Non-participation in sky-fairy worship apparently created a need for worshipers to give non-worshipers a name that means 'not-one-of-us'. Atheism is passive non-compliance by nature and would not even 'exist' if not for the ubiquity of theism.
 
Jay59 said:
Bad logic. The correct construction is, therefore lack of belief in a God is not the same as belief there is no God.

In terms of this discussion, therefore Agnostic is not the same as Atheist.

Edit: If you want to say Agnosticism is not a belief, I can go with that.
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Wait, what?

Please do me a favor.
Can you define what agnostic means, what atheist means, and what the difference is between them?


Again, the working definition of Atheist, for most atheists, seems to be:

"The lack of sufficient evidence to justify a belief in god or gods."

Or boiled down to the most simple:

"A lack of belief in god/gods."
 
Dragonfly said:
Wait, what?

Please do me a favor.
Can you define what agnostic means, what atheist means, and what the difference is between them?

Again, the working definition of Atheist, for most atheists, seems to be: "The lack of sufficient evidence to justify a belief in god or gods."

Or boiled down to the most simple: "A lack of belief in god/gods."
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This is the problem. That is the definition of Agnostic, not an Atheist. An Atheist holds that there is no God. It's an affirmative position rather than a passive one.

Several members of the conversation object to the distinction. Stating there is no God is a as unproven and unprovable as a statement that there is a God. Hence, stating affirmatively that there is is no God is a statement of faith, making Atheism a religion. They find this offensive, even though the logic is very plain and very simple.
 
Jay59 said:
This is the problem. That is the definition of Agnostic, not an Atheist. An Atheist holds that there is no God. It's an affirmative position rather than a passive one.

Several members of the conversation object to the distinction. Stating there is no God is a as unproven and unprovable as a statement that there is a God. Hence, stating affirmatively that there is is no God is a statement of faith, making Atheism a religion. They find this offensive, even though the logic is very plain and very simple.
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So...

What is atheism? - Atheist Alliance International

What is Atheism? | American Atheists
 
OlNate said:
I just go with the dictionary, as I do with deciding what most words mean:

a person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods.


So, my question in turn, since your threads always seem to have a destination in mind when started, is why do you ask? :)
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So let's see if an example of why you should not just simply "go"with the dictionary.

That would be because the dictionary only gives "a" definition, the most commom use of the word. It does not give "the" definition of a word as in the only definition.

The example i would like you to explain is the word "altruism". Look it up in the dictionary and then tell me if you understand why it is "a " definition of the word and not "the "definition of the word.

The problem with the dictionary definition of atheism is that it is given from the perspective of a theist rather than that of the atheist.
 
Atheism - denial of God’s existence...

Unfortunately, Christendom is largely to blame by portraying God as a vindictive, unreachable God with their lies...

“It was the Christian tradition that produced atheism as its fruit; it led to the murder of God in the consciences of men because it presented them with an unbelievable God.” - French writer P. Valadier
 
Elvira said:
Atheism - denial of God’s existence...
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No.

Atheism is the lack of sufficient evidence to believe in a god or gods.

If there is a god, that lack of evidence is god's fault. Not humans.

The OT of the bible isn't to blame either.

The JW's insanely ridiculous portrayal of what paradise will be is just as crazy sounding to most intelligent folks as the idea of a lake of fire for anyone who doesn't fall in line with Jesus.
Not to mention the idiocy of blood transfusions and plenty of other nonsense.

If there's a god, and there are people who don't believe/worship him/her, that's 100% god's fault.
 
Dragonfly said:
No.

Atheism is the lack of sufficient evidence to believe in a god or gods.

If there is a god, that lack of evidence is god's fault. Not humans.

The OT of the bible isn't to blame either.

The JW's insanely ridiculous portrayal of what paradise will be is just as crazy sounding to most intelligent folks as the idea of a lake of fire for anyone who doesn't fall in line with Jesus.
Not to mention the idiocy of blood transfusions and plenty of other nonsense.

If there's a god, and there are people who don't believe/worship him/her, that's 100% god's fault.
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No...plenty of evidence, some merely refuse to accept it...that's 100% the person's fault...
 
Jay59 said:
This is the problem. That is the definition of Agnostic, not an Atheist. An Atheist holds that there is no God. It's an affirmative position rather than a passive one.
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Do you affirm that Bigfoot, Zeus, Vishnu, Allah, Xenu, FSM and such do not exist?
 
Try the basic derivation of the word--a-theist = no God.
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Actually, the 'a' is translated as 'away' or 'away from'. So it doesn't mean that an individual necessarily believes there is no god, but that the individual rejects the claim there is a god owing to a lack of evidence.
 
Dragonfly said:
No. Atheism is the lack of sufficient evidence to believe in a god or gods. If there is a god, that lack of evidence is god's fault. Not humans.

The OT of the bible isn't to blame either. The JW's insanely ridiculous portrayal of what paradise will be is just as crazy sounding to most intelligent folks as the idea of a lake of fire for anyone who doesn't fall in line with Jesus. Not to mention the idiocy of blood transfusions and plenty of other nonsense.

If there's a god, and there are people who don't believe/worship him/her, that's 100% god's fault.
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You are insisting on disagree over semantics, which is dishonest. Elvira clearly stated what she meant and you intentionally disregarded it. If you disagree on term, discuss the disagreement and choose terms to fit the necessary definitions. If you insist that Atheist means only that that there is insufficient evidence, provide a term for someone that believes there is no God or gods. Traditionally, that is the role of the term atheist.
 
AProudLefty said:
Now you understand why your claim is wrong. Atheists do not affirm anything.
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Semantical argument using fuzzy definitions. I also think you are lying.
 
Dragonfly said:
Do you see no benefit in clarifying terms?
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If it's a one on one discussion then it's obviously beneficial to clarify terms. But just a general "what do you guys think this means" doesn't really benefit someone, because we won't agree what it means and as soon as you have a discussion with someone that doesn't agree or isn't in this group of 10 people, it serves no purpose.

But as far as just a general discussion/argument about what it means to each person and learning what people think, yes it's beneficial just in terms of learning.

When I used to debate with religious folk a bit my favorite thing to do was to take the terms out of it. I said we can't agree on what atheism is apparently, so lets bypass it. I am a (made up word), which means I believe that I can't be sure there is no god, but find it unlikely and live my life based on that assumption. This was as soon as they replied with "but atheists believe"... I was able to say "by your definition I'm not an atheist, i'm a (made up word), so if you can't stick to my actual beliefs then you have no chance of convincing me I'm wrong, just as you wouldn't find it convincing if I argued as though you are a Buddhist".
 
Jay59 said:
Semantical argument using fuzzy definitions. I also think you are lying.
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Again, do you or do you not affirm that other gods or mythological creatures do not exist? Do you or do you not reject claims of those gods/creatures?

It's very simple.
 
NWO_Spook said:
Actually, the 'a' is translated as 'away' or 'away from'. So it doesn't mean that an individual necessarily believes there is no god, but that the individual rejects the claim there is a god owing to a lack of evidence.
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In other words...denies...:2razz:
 
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