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Is atheism a religion[W:711:831]

Is atheism a religion

  • Total voters
    119
Re: Is atheism a religion

obvious Child said:
All that is, is a help site for people to get ordained to perform weddings/funerals.

Calling this a "Church" is a perversion of the word.
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Atheists perverting words? Whaaaaaat?
 
Re: Is atheism a religion

obvious Child said:
I hope he's joking, but if serious, he's scrapping the underside of the barrel.
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To be 100% honest, I actually thought the main thrust of that page was satire.
 
Re: Is atheism a religion

obvious Child said:
You would think so, but a few people here are arguing that any belief, any lack of belief and any rejection of a belief is a religion.

I have a belief that your vase in your avatar picture is ugly. That is now a religion.
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It's not vase ...it is a ewer ( a water pitcher) with a dollar on it... Get it? ...Buck Ewer...? In any case there is no accounting for people's taste, but there is accounting for not understanding the language.
The absence of religion can never be correctly construed as a religion.
It's like saying that silence is a kind of sound.
 
Re: Is atheism a religion

Peter Grimm said:
Yeah, why not. Let's look it up so you can feel smart.

FOLKLORE:
Noun
1. The traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth.
2. A body of popular myth and beliefs relating to a particular place, activity, or group of people.


Well, since the Bible is not myth, it doesn't qualify under the definition of "folklore."

Nice try though.
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I like how you skipped definition one and went straight to two. Then you went and bolded the word myth and asserted that the bible isnt a myth. True the bible exists but the stories inside are indeed myth, that is unless you could prove otherwise.

Oh wait all that you have is faith though. Oops guess you cant prove the bible is anything more than just a collection of myths. The sad part was that i left you an out but you dont know too much about the word folklore so you missed it. oh well good day.
 
Re: Is atheism a religion

Jerry said:
Atheist chaplins.
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"Chaplain"

I'm sorry. I just... It's chaplain, not chaplin.

*snip*
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The rest of your post is chock-full of the type of reasoning one sees in a child, unfortunately, and is thus worthy of no response besides derision.
 
Re: Is atheism a religion

Xsnake1 said:
Is atheism a religion
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Hmm. I would say yes but no. Atheism is the equivalent of monotheism in this regard. It's a category of religion but is not a religion in and of itself.

I'm speaking of "atheism" as I believe that term is generally understood.
 
Re: Is atheism a religion

TheGirlNextDoor said:
Aw, come on Jerry.

I could start a "church" if I wanted to, and could probably scrape up some followers. Church with juice and boobs, maybe?

Would that be considered a "true church"... a belief, so to speak?

Come on.
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Sure it would and I'd happy to join said church.

When you have Unitarian humanistic socialist churches just about any culture with sufficient believers could be considered a religion. There has to be something to believe in however; thus boobs and juice. (Very tangible I might add, an excellent choice)
 
Re: Is atheism a religion

SmokeAndMirrors said:
Most atheists don't believe that no god exists.

They simply don't believe claims made by the religious, because there's no evidence for them.

Rejecting someone else's positive claim is not a belief.
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Not sure if there is some official definition everyone is supposed to live by, but based on the first definition f the first site that comes up in a google search, Atheism is
"Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities.[1][2] In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities.[3][4][5] Most inclusively, atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist.[4][5][6][7] Atheism is contrasted with theism,[8][9] which in its most general form is the belief that at least one deity exists."

You sound like you are more defining agnostics...people that just dont know. Atheists are more like "hey...religious people...**** you!!! Yeah!!!"

Personally...I dont believe in atheists.
 
Re: Is atheism a religion

Jerry said:
Atheist chaplins. You have to belong to a religious institution in order to become a chaplin. The very word "chaplin" means a member of the chappel or church.

In order for an atheist chaplin to exist, there has to be a church of atheism.
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It's an atheist chaplin!

charlie-chaplin.jpg
 
Re: Is atheism a religion

VanceMack said:
Not sure if there is some official definition everyone is supposed to live by, but based on the first definition f the first site that comes up in a google search, Atheism is
"Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities.[1][2] In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities.[3][4][5] Most inclusively, atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist.[4][5][6][7] Atheism is contrasted with theism,[8][9] which in its most general form is the belief that at least one deity exists."

You sound like you are more defining agnostics...people that just dont know. Atheists are more like "hey...religious people...**** you!!! Yeah!!!"

Personally...I dont believe in atheists.
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Notice it gives two definitions and you choose to believe only one of them: the one that suits you.

You're incorrect. Agnosticism is a completely different subject. Atheism and agnosticism are not part of a continuum.

Agnosticism is addressing the question of what kind of knowledge is possible. Atheism is not. It is only addressing what knowledge we have. For the overwhelming majority of atheist, that conclusion is that there is presently no reason to believe in a deity -- the positive claims made by theists. It is not that we can make a positive claim that there are no deities for certain.
 
Re: Is atheism a religion

SmokeAndMirrors said:
Notice it gives two definitions and you choose to believe only one of them: the one that suits you.

You're incorrect. Agnosticism is a completely different subject. Atheism and agnosticism are not part of a continuum.

Agnosticism is addressing the question of what kind of knowledge is possible. Atheism is not. It is only addressing what knowledge we have, and reaching a conclusion from that. For the overwhelming majority of atheism, that conclusion is that there is presently no reason to believe in a deity.
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1-A lack of belief in deities. 2-The specific position that there is no deity. Two descriptions...same intent. Atheists = there is no God. Agnostics = there could be a God...dont know, dont really care. I dont see how anything you felt the need to write is ANY different than what I said.
 
Re: Is atheism a religion

VanceMack said:
1-A lack of belief in deities. 2-The specific position that there is no deity. Two descriptions...same intent. Atheists = there is no God. Agnostics = there could be a God...dont know, dont really care. I dont see how anything you felt the need to write is ANY different than what I said.
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Then you don't understand what you're reading, and you don't understand the difference between knowledge and what is knowable.

Tell me something. Are these the same question?

"Is it possible to time travel?"

"Has time travel ever occurred?"

Are those different questions to you, or are they the same?
 
Re: Is atheism a religion

SmokeAndMirrors said:
Then you don't understand what you're reading, and you don't understand the difference between knowledge and what is knowable.

Tell me something. Are these the same question?

"Is it possible to time travel?"

"Has time travel ever occurred?"

Are those different questions to you, or are they the same?
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Atheists do not believe in a God. Period. Agnostics do not know if there is a God. Period. If an atheist were to say.."I dont believe there is a God but there COULD be a God...I just dont know" then they would not BE an Atheist...they would be agnostic. But then...being an agnostic isnt as much fun as being an Atheist.
 
Re: Is atheism a religion

VanceMack said:
Atheists do not believe in a God. Period. Agnostics do not know if there is a God. Period. If an atheist were to say.."I dont believe there is a God but there COULD be a God...I just dont know" then they would not BE an Atheist...they would be agnostic. But then...being an agnostic isnt as much fun as being an Atheist.
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I see that you never answered my question. Do you plan to?

Atheists do not believe in a god. However, that does not mean they claim to know if one exists. They just have no compelling reason to believe in any of the proposed gods at this time.

An agnostic does not know if KNOWLEDGE of a god is possible to acquire.

Do you see how that is a different subject altogether?

Are you going to answer my question?
 
Re: Is atheism a religion

SmokeAndMirrors said:
I see that you never answered my question. Do you plan to?

Atheists do not believe in a god. However, that does not mean they claim to know if one exists. They just have no compelling reason to believe in any of the proposed gods at this time.

An agnostic does not know if KNOWLEDGE of a god is possible to acquire.

Do you see how that is a different subject altogether?

Are you going to answer my question?
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No...I wont be answering your silly question. If however you would like to stay on topic and ask questions that are relevant, that will be fine. All of the commonly accepted definitions are very clear. Atheists dont believe in a God or religion. Agnostics dont know. So...what are you?
 
Re: Is atheism a religion

VanceMack said:
No...I wont be answering your silly question. If however you would like to stay on topic and ask questions that are relevant, that will be fine. All of the commonly accepted definitions are very clear. Atheists dont believe in a God or religion. Agnostics dont know. So...what are you?
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The reality is, nobody knows. Knowledge requires some basis upon which to make that determination and nobody has a shred of evidence whatsoever. Therefore, using that definition, everyone is an agnostic and the word becomes pointless. The only valid use of the word therefore is the "availability of knowledge". Is it possible to know? And that has nothing whatsoever to do with belief, thus, agnosticism is not a replacement for atheism or theism, it's an entirely different concept.
 
Re: Is atheism a religion

Cephus said:
The reality is, nobody knows. Knowledge requires some basis upon which to make that determination and nobody has a shred of evidence whatsoever. Therefore, using that definition, everyone is an agnostic and the word becomes pointless. The only valid use of the word therefore is the "availability of knowledge". Is it possible to know? And that has nothing whatsoever to do with belief, thus, agnosticism is not a replacement for atheism or theism, it's an entirely different concept.
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That is a fair statement, which is why I said earlier I dont believe in atheists. Most atheists just like to piss Christians off. I DO find people that make the statement "I KNOW beyond any shadow of a doubt that there is a God" to be as annoying as those that claim unequivocally "there is no God". It is NOT dishonest to say that many people so greatly embrace their faith and belief that to them there is no room for question.
 
Re: Is atheism a religion

VanceMack said:
That is a fair statement, which is why I said earlier I dont believe in atheists. Most atheists just like to piss Christians off. I DO find people that make the statement "I KNOW beyond any shadow of a doubt that there is a God" to be as annoying as those that claim unequivocally "there is no God". It is NOT dishonest to say that many people so greatly embrace their faith and belief that to them there is no room for question.
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I don't care what they say, I care about what they can prove. They can say they "KNOW" that aliens are running the government, that doesn't make that claim of knowledge credible. No matter how strong one's faith happens to be, that doesn't mean that they have any actual knowledge, otherwise it wouldn't require faith. I don't see very many people claiming that they *KNOW* that there are no gods anywhere, although there are certainly some gods we can know don't exist because they are logically contradictory.
 
Re: Is atheism a religion

This whole thing goes back to divisions within:

gnostic theists
agnostic theists
agnostic atheists
gnostic atheists

The question is about knowledge versus belief. "I've never seen a reason to believe there are deities," versus, "I have evidence that there are no deities." Same with the religious folks and faith versus knowledge.
 
Re: Is atheism a religion

I do not understand why theists keep trying to define atheism to atheists.
 
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