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

Elvira said:
In other words...denies...:2razz:
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No. Rejecting the belief system does not mean that the individual denies the existence of said abstract. To state that one does not see any reason to believe a claim owing to a lack of evidence does not mean that the individual denies the claim.
 
Elvira said:
Atheism - denial of God’s existence...
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Allow me to quibble over your wording. The way you have it, and of course it's because of what you believe, you are declaring that God exists, but that there are people who deny that. I think of it as the denial of the existence of gods of any kind. Your way, God is with a capital G, my way it isn't.
 
NWO_Spook said:
No. Rejecting the belief system does not mean that the individual denies the existence of said abstract. To state that one does not see any reason to believe a claim owing to a lack of evidence does not mean that the individual denies the claim.
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Um, you may wish to rethink that...

Synonyms for reject
deny
dismiss
rebuff
refuse
renounce
repudiate

Reject Synonyms, Reject Antonyms | Thesaurus.com
 
Dragonfly said:
So tell me, how do you define "atheist" or "atheism"? (in your own words please)
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For better or for worse, a new discipline of linguistic manipulation emerged in the early 1900s. To keep assumptions to a minimum let's call it PR. Due to the pervasive effects of PR, we'd all be well served to be mindful of the context in which the definition being asked is being used.

Toward, debates…

How often is a 'Christian' defined as anyone of beliefs and follows the teaching of Jesus(uncomplicated by interpretation)? Rarely. 'Conservative' or 'liberal' can be even more complicated…

Atheism stops being simply the absence of a belief in God the second it is used outside an impersonal description, once a person says(or thinks) "I am an atheist" the context becomes one where there is a whole web of implications, assumptions & new meaning.

In other words, if I label you, in general, an 'atheist' that is often all it means, but if you call yourself one, or I am speaking of them as a group, or we are discussing you being one, well then we have to go past dictionaries as that definition is out of context.

The most important aspect being what is your/their definition of "God(s)"(to reject). If I were to refer to atheists in general. I must assume the most generic form of this I can. God in the psychological sense, which is "I am sure there is a consciousness greater than my own greatest possible capacity", that is to say, if two people of equal experience express from their universal wonder "there is a God" and "there is not God" I can generally assume the one models themselves a minor character and the other as a major character(with some odd exceptions on either side). Discussions on this topic often go astray as atheists tend to rather this be seen as a "rejection of supernaturally"...I find this a non-starter. It simply comes back to the psychological question. Do the infinate possibilities of the imagination reflect the physical world or not? And not to get all meta, but such is just a reframing of "do 'I' exist?" or "Do I have free-will?"...and such explorations tend not to have satisfying conclusions.

Curiously, despite this, such a worldview in practice seem to shift as rarely is there a theist. My self not excluded. Who does not in some way feel they are in a relationship with this higher consciousness making it so they feel special even as a 'minor' character; where as, the view as a major character, despite great feats of consciousness feels often not as special.

So what is an atheist in your context?

Someone who looks out to the world, feels the speculating on the implication of a God(s) is counterproductive and beneath them, bitter on trapping of religion, dismissive of relational reasoning(i.e. a little autistic), on a spiritual search to fill a God-sized hole with some different form of natural meta-structure that's bigger than oneself and offers a sense of wonder, redemption, humility, peace and meaningfulness. My 'God' but by some other name. :2razz:
 
NWO_Spook said:
No, I have no need to revise my point.



Being synonymous does not limit the meaning to the synonym.
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Nor does it discard it, as you did...
 
NWO_Spook said:
Please read post #127 again to improve comprehension, for it explains the position adequately.
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Already did and I disagree...to reject is to deny...
 
Elvira said:
Already did and I disagree...to reject is to deny...
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If you choose to believe that, then so be it. I have stated otherwise with sound reasoning, therefore I have nothing more to say on the subject, and I do not wish to engage a puerile argument on the subject.
 
Elvira said:
Yes, I did...reject, deny...same difference...
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Nope.
You reject the claim that something exist.
It does not follow that you deny that something exist.
 
I was going to be an atheist.


But they didn't have any holidays.
 
Yasureoktoo said:
I was going to be an atheist.


But they didn't have any holidays.
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Christians are only commanded to observe one day a year...go figure...
 
AProudLefty said:
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.
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Then why are you not getting it correct?
 
Elvira said:
Christians are only commanded to observe one day a year...go figure...
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Not even that in some sects. Others one day a week.
 
AProudLefty said:
Nope. You reject the claim that something exist. It does not follow that you deny that something exist.
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Your logic would not pass muster from a 3rd grade teacher, much less someone knowledgeable.
 
Jay59 said:
Your logic would not pass muster from a 3rd grade teacher, much less someone knowledgeable.
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So in other words, the prosecutors deny that a crime occurred because they reject a claim made without evidence or an evidence that is tainted?
 
AProudLefty said:
So in other words, the prosecutors deny that a crime occurred because they reject a claim made without evidence or an evidence that is tainted?
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When in a hole, stop digging.

We already know you are attempting sleight of hand. It is unnecessary to advertise your ignorance.
 
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