I think all of those things can fall under the category of Atheist. So the word is still useful. Its like if someone is a carpenter. Mayne their build chairs, maybe they build houses. They are still a capenter. Thats why the word Atheist is just a starting point. The other descriptions that you have made are strong atheists, weak atheists and agnostics or just general non-theists. I would say that those terms are actually less useful than atheist, because most people aren't at all in tune with the different types of atheism, so its better to start with a general word like atheism. As for what type I am, I'm a weak atheist. But thats only a philosophical position about a deistic God. About the Judeo/Christian/islamo God, I feel comfortable making a positive assertion that that being does not exist. . If we are going to talk about a useless word, lets talk about the word God, which means a billion things to billions of different people.
If you thought thay was insulting, maybe I see the problem. Get thicker skin. The Christians were fed to the lions and turned the other cheek. You can deal with internet snark.
This is the problem, you have a total double standard for Christian and Atheist behavior. If prostletizing isn't insulting, neither is that comment. They are both just statements about what the person believes. Most atheist insults don't come out of a bubble, but are a natural reaction to people like you who are constantly insulting them and then saying that they aren't. Also unicorns are mentioned in the bible, so it's a fair comparison.
I have yet to introduce myself to a fellow non-theist. I am not a libertarian. I am an old fashioned liberal type mild sort of atheist. It would never have occurred to me to join an atheist forum. I suspect my views of theism and theism are too respectful and tolerant for a forum like that. I hope you aren't one of those atheists that scream flying spaghetti monster all over the place.
Okay. I do not know if unicorns exist or not; I see no reason to suspect unicorns CANNOT EXIST...that the existence of unicorns is impossible; I see no reason to suspect that unicorns MUST EXIST...that unicorns are needed to explain existence; I do not see enough unambiguous evidence upon which to base a meaningful guess in either direction... ...so I don't.
If you want to talk about the word "god"...do it. I made a comment about the word "atheist." My comment was correct...as you verified with your comments...after you claimed they were not correct.
It seems to me that the term "Atheist" may need two separate definitions Religious Atheist~ An individual who does not accept the "God" created by man in literature. Universal Atheist~ And individual who does not accept the concept of a supreme being. Religious people have decided to create an enemy of the Atheist just as they have for other religions....their choice is working and their God is fading because of it.
I would not word it like that, Tec, but I agree with the sentiment. I want to be sure that everyone understands I am not an enemy of atheists or atheism. I simply am NOT an atheist. I have not an enemy of theists or theism. But I am not a theist either.
I actually agree with this to an extent, though it may be semantics. What stops me from embracing atheism -- well, there are several things, but to your point -- I don't think the Judeo Christian faiths posit god as so much a "being" as a force, an origin of the cosmos, that has instilled a moral sense in all but the sociopaths among us, and that causes us to sense right from wrong. Atheists I know do not acknowledge "right" and "wrong" and "morality," but instead what is expedient, profitable and beneficial to the discrete society one happens to belong to. Now, as to why they don't acknowledge it, my experience is that they see it as a slippery slope towards acknowledgment of a supreme being. And they do go hand in hand. If it could be proved to my satisfaction that there is no moral order, that it makes absolutely no difference whether we rape and murder, for example, mentally retarded toddlers -- let's face it, they contribute nothing to society, they never will, and we have to expense energy and time to take care of them -- then I'd have to admit that it isn't "wrong" to do so. But it is wrong -- now, why is that?
I haven't encountered an atheist who doesn't so scream. Not right out of the chute, but sooner or later, here it comes.
And consider the answers provided to be an attack on your God/Religion. When people compare your chosen God to unicorns or call it a sky fairy it is because that is analogous to the literature that explains it to anyone of disbelief. A magical entity living in the clouds = Sky Fairy An entity of fable without tangible evidence of existence = Unicorn
As In said, "I haven't encountered an atheist who doesn't so scream. Not right out of the chute, but sooner or later, here it comes."
I guess the question would be did we laugh at Zeus? Did we laugh at Neptune and all the other gods? These are all made up stories to explain things we don’t understand
What a despicable description of atheists. I know people who profess to be Christians who have no morality at all and will say things so bigoted against a group of people like atheists What do you mentally retarded toddlers have to do with atheists or Christians or any religion?
Gee, you cited about three people and now you are an expert in how atheists think..and you have the nerve to say they shouldn’t insult believers? I guess you don’t realize that you are insulting atheists. But then again I have met religious people who are intolerant of atheists and they depress me.