atheism is a religion, the same way abstinence is a sexual position.
this sparked a debate, he said:
- atheists believe there is no god.
I said:
- atheists don't believe in god.
I think there is a difference in those two statements and how our brains process them.
A true believer can't process the second statement because it is founded on the premise that there is no god to begin with and his existence must be proven.
eventually my buddy said by his definition abstinence was a sexual position, we also agreed that car companies were missing a marketing opportunity to call reverse and neutral a 'speed' thereby selling 7 speed transmissions instead of 5 speed.
It all goes to a commonly accepted definition. There is no definition of God or the lack there off that will be accepted by both camps. As such, each camp will argue their "proof" off their definition.
Folly.
Don't waste time trying to convince people who believe different than you over something that can't be proved.
I know you mean well but it comes across as a bit highhanded. Unilateral respect is just about all one can expect. I would love to live and let live but I am part of a society that values deistic justification over logic and reason.
No government gives up their weapons while they still have enemies.
To be fair, I at least, actively disbelieve in all gods that I am aware of. I hold no position on the gods that I am unaware of, both states are godless, one is active while the other is passive.
Maybe I'm more of an agnostic but I don't believe or know there is no god. I can't say there is no god, I just don't know if there is and I see no reason or evidence to believe in him at this point.
If someone said, do you believe there is a monkey living in your backyard? I would say no, as I have no reason to believe it since a) I live in California and b) I have seen no physical evidence of it.
I'm not saying its not possible or that I KNOW for sure there are no monkeys hiding back there, I just don't believe they are. I'm certainly open to it, but I simply need better reasons to believe in it before coming to that conclusion.
I prayed thousands of time to this God, and He never bothered to show up and say hi to me.
That's my perspective.
There is no point arguing on terminology and word games. God is what He is.... created in Man's image of power and ideals. Sadly, also used as a TOOL to control others by fear and intimidation.
God is guilty of mass genocide, plural marriage, obfuscating "religions", dead-beat father, favoritism ( read starving children), fickle-minded, etc
Just like Mormonism, its easier to admit He may not be "true" after all. That would explain all the discrepancies.
Perhaps we had the powers within us all along.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2013 11:25PM by mostcorrectedbook.
I spend very little time not believing in God. My non-worship is enacted primarily here on this board writing posts like this one. Or could it be that I spend almost all my time not having God on my mind? Hmm.. there's a thought.
It's been so long since I was religious that I can't even remember what I was thinking to convince myself. It seems so much like mythology now, though I realize a mythology is just an obsolete religion and people were really, really sure those were true too at one time.
I think these definitions of believing there is no god or lacking belief in a god are confusing only to people who want to be confused. Being an atheist for me means that gods are completely absent from my world view. My son and I order each other around saying "Jesus wants you to make your bed!" and "Jesus wants you to get me some ice cream!" It's so ridiculous, I have no idea why anyone would believe in something so obviously made up.
So yeah, maybe I believe there is no god. Whatever, man. Who cares. ;)
I suppose not every square inch of the North Pole has been searched to prove conclusively that there is no Santa Claus. Maybe I should say that I lack belief in that being too.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2013 11:38PM by Makurosu.
Theists can not process the second statement "atheists don't believe in god" because they think you must replace the belief in God with some other belief.
How many times have we atheists heard, "Well, if you do not believe in God, what do you believe in?". Clearly in such a mind, the belief in God MUST be replaced with the Easter Bunny.
Maybe whether there is a God or not is really irrelevant . Humans by nature become bored fairly easy . So if this world is a pre-programmed amusement park ride , most of us might actually get mad at the ride operator if he were to suddenly just put on the brakes and stopped the ride.
In the tailspin of my disaffection I had to come to terms with god. If he was there I had no way of knowing. There are feelings but feelings can be manipulated. In the end my honest conclusion had to be I don't know. There probably isn't a god.
The problem with messing around with words and their definitions is that words MEAN things. In order to communicate, we agree together what a word means. We can't just go using them however we want, or they lose their usefulness. If he wants to define the word "religion" as "any group of like-minded people," then the word "religion" is no longer a useful way of referring to a group of people who attend meetings and/or preform rituals together to worship a supernatural being. And since that's what most people are referring to when they say the word "religion," carrying on communication with normal people who have a normal definition of the word becomes much more complicated.