Re: Is atheism a religion
Atheism meets 2 and 3 of M-W definitions and 1, 2, and 3 of dictionary.com's definitions.
Definitions that define the word with the word are useless. You're looking up what a word means. Why would you define that word with itself? Makes No Sense.
It's like defining particle as such:
Particle:
Noun,
A small localized particle to which can be ascribed several physical or chemical particle properties such as volume or mass
Useless.
Unfortunately, the definition is pretty clear. You do believe something even though you will never admit this. YOu don't admit it for other psychological reasons but if you can't accept definitions by Noah Webster and the Merriams.....well then do what you have to.
This is saying that bald is a type of hair color. Does that make any sense?
This is a false equivalent argument and this analogy doesn't make sense for the point you are trying to make. Reason 1 as to why: Baldness and hair color can't be equated as even bald people have a hair color. Whether a person is bald because they shave or their hair wont grown anymore, at one time that bald person grew hair and it had a color. Therefore even if no hair shows, that person has a hair color. Reason 2, atheism isn't the lack of hair. Again, atheism is a belief. You are holding an opinion about a Thing. Therefore, atheism is picking a color, lets say Blue, and then saying Blue isn't a color.
Another analogy may be that black, the
absence of absorption of all color wavelengths, isn't a color. But it is clearly is a color too. Atheism is just the belief in a negate. Maybe you need to see other people who believe in a negative position. Well, physics has a theory that nothing can travel faster than light. Some physicist believe that nothing can travel faster than light. This theory is unproven as of yet but it is stilled theorized and is accepted in relativity theory. It is a theorized negative position held by people. This idea within physics is a belief because it is an opinion/truth about a thing held by people. It meets the definitions which you quoted.
You are redefining Atheism. Atheism is once again, a lack of belief in deities. Whether or not someone moves past that into active denial is something else. You are trying to cast what is the core of atheism as a religion in the same way that saying bald is a type of hair color.
I am not redefining anything. I directly quoted both sites.
This is very, very, very wrong. Do you have a belief on everything that exists? What's your belief on a special type of giant isopod that only lives in a small area of the waters off the Antarctic? Had no idea what those were? Congratulation, you had a lack of belief.
Actually yes. When you think of anything, you create beliefs. This is a fact. When I ready your post about giant isopods, I actually formed a couple of beliefs at the same time: 1. giant isopods probably don't exist but I haven't researched them so I am not sure what an isopod is (as an aside: I am specifically not Googling isopod to see what you mean here. And biology is a mystery to me; I never study it, have never studied it. I pretty much dislike all the animal TV as well.); 2. the definition of a small area in the antarctic may be as large as several square miles given that the antarctic is several thousand square miles; 3. as "special type" may mean here several things, so I came to the belief that you don't define examples well if I am honest. And that is just three. The position you don't have in atheism but are describing as a lack (and I have to be specifically vague here so this is going to come across as strange) is if you don't believe in something you have never heard of. The problem is when you hear it you start to create beliefs about the new thing you just heard about. Since you have heard about God and rejected him/her/it, atheism isn't a lack. it just a belief in the negative.
The term belief is actually quite vague and because of this vagueness, I am quite surprised when atheists get up in arms about their position being a belief. If you think of anything and internalize that position then you believe it. This can be about anything. You don't believe pink elephants exist. That's a belief. You think that Audi's are cool. That's a belief. You just heard about Hell's Kitchen. That generates beliefs. The term belief, again, is
worthless in and of itself. To paraphrase M-W so maybe you can think about the term better, a belief is just an internalized opinion that a person holds. I don't really understand why atheists are against the term.....but I can theorize as a good scientist.
When atheists do get up in arms about the term "belief", it just shows them to be irrational by rejecting a vague term that does apply to them. They are rejecting this term simply because the term also applies to their direct counter position and is used by direct counterpeople quite frequently. Athiests reject the term because they don't want to be associated with their opponents at any time. No hard evidence here, but it is a testable theory. I would bet it is right because atheists are people and are generally irrational as all people are. But again, just a theory
