Florida atheists unveil monument to nonbelief in God to sit alongside slab of Ten Com

Well if you can't figure it out then don't reply to it.

 

Well good then.

 

Oh, I can figure it out just fine. It has nothing to do with this topic. It was a rhetorical question to expose your attempt at dodging my question which you are not going to answer because you can't.

 

So, in your opinion, the dictionary definition is just...well, too "common" to be useful?

Some people might consider that to be an arrogant and elitist attitude...

 

The Dictionary.com reference is *exactly* what people are trying to explain.

One who disbelieves in a deity. This is not the same as one who believes there is no deity.

I can believe a statement to be not true without believing the opposite to be true.

A jury can find someone to be "not guilty" without finding them "innocent".

 

Yes, one who "denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings" is a very good working definition of an atheist.

If one disbelieves something, that is just another way of saying that one believes it to be untrue.

If one is merely uncertain, the proper description of that is agnosticism...

 

Agreed....if only those of a certain faith understood the difference.

Just because I understand YOUR version of God is improbable, if not impossible...does not mean I think I "Know" of something better.


I simply admit I do now know...and claim they do not either.

 

The Christian tablets DO NOT ATTACK anyone, yet the atheists bench DOES ATTACK Christians.

More double-standard bullcrap, in the name of PC.

 

Care to explain how it attacks Christians oh resident paranoid PF poster?

 

A religion requires three things.
1. Believing
2. Behaving
3. Belonging.

Belief--a shared faith or understanding of the universe. It doesn't have to be identical but at least a shared basic faith tradition, Often around a sacred set of stories.

Behaviors--rituals, shared practices. This could elaborate like mass, Seder, Hajj, or simple practices like keeping Kosher and putting up a tree.

Belonging--being part of a collectivity. Like a church, synagogue, Temple community or a world wide group of shared ideas.

Since atheism barely has one of these it is not a religion. The law classifies the idea of atheism as a religion for legal reasons but it is not in any way a religion. Now there are atheist groups that operate like religions but most are not.

 

Which does not believe they mean the opposite is true.

If, for instance, some random stranger tells me that my house burned down, I cannot say for certain they are wrong. Thus I disbelieve them, but maintain the possibility that they are correct.

Theism refers to belief. Gnosticism refers to knowledge.

If you don't have knowledge of whether a god exists (as I don't), and as a result do not believe in a god (as I don't), you are an agnostic atheist. Which is still an atheist.

 

Then it would be much more accurate to describe you as an agnostic than to declare that you are an atheist.

 

It would be a mistake to declare that you "disbelieve" the "random stranger" who has informed you that your house has burned down, if you are merely uncertain as to whether to believe him (or her, as the case may be).

The Gnostics (who claimed some esoteric knowledge) were an early Christian sect--indeed, a Christian heresy.

Why would we wish to bring this sect into the discussion?

No. One who fits the description, above, is merely an agnostic. (An "agnostic atheist" can be found in the same place as square circles.)

 

Apply the same rhetoric to the Ten Commandments Monument, which I might add looks like it cost around the same amount, give or take a few bucks..

Hypocrite.

 

So you believe everything a random stranger tells you.

I'm not. There is a difference between the "Gnostics" and a "gnostic". Gnosis is Greek for knowledge. A gnostic is someone who knows. An agnostic is someone who doesn't.

One who fits the description above is not a theist. Therefore, they are an a-theist. That is essentially what atheism is - not theism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic_atheism

 

If an assertion is made--whether by a "stranger" or anyone else--and is free of any evidence to back it up; and if I have no previous view, based upon other evidence; then I remain uncertain--i.e. agnostic, as regarding the matter at hand.

To declare that one must be either a theist or an atheist is roughly tantamount to declaring that all colors must be either red or blue. Or that all animals must be either dogs or cats.

 

Of course you remain agnostic. I didn't ask what you know about the situation, I asked what you believe about the situation. Anything?

No it isn't. It is a binary position. Like declaring all colours must be blue or not-blue. Which is true.

Belief (theism), and a lack of belief (atheism).

Life (biotic), and a lack of life (abiotic).

Typical and atypical.

Political and apolitical.

 

Well, you are half-right, anyway.

Theism is, indeed, a belief in the existence of a divine being.

Atheism, on the other hand, is a positive belief that no divine being exists.

If one thinks that a divine being probably does does not exist--that there is just no compelling evidence to suggest that one does exist--then one is not an atheist. Rather, in that instance, one would be an agnostic.

- - - Updated - - -

Well, you are half-right, anyway.

Theism is, indeed, a belief in the existence of a divine being.

Atheism, on the other hand, is a positive belief that no divine being exists.

If one thinks that a divine being probably does does not exist--that there is just no compelling evidence to suggest that one does exist--then one is not an atheist. Rather, in that instance, one would be an agnostic.

 

I don't see any reason to continue this discussion if you aren't willing to listen.

Using the dictionary.com reference:

a·the·ism
[ey-thee-iz-uhm] Show IPA
noun
1.
the doctrine or belief that there is no God.
2.
disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings.


dis·be·lief
[dis-bi-leef] Show IPA
noun
1.
the inability or refusal to believe or to accept something as true.
2.
amazement; astonishment: We stared at the Taj Mahal in disbelief.


Atheism is thus the inability or a refusal to accept the existence of a supreme being as true.

Atheism does not require one to hold the belief that a supreme being doesn't, or couldn't, exist. Only that a person doesn't accept the existence of a deity as true.

Again, agnosticism refers to knowledge, not belief. It is not a half-way house between belief and not-belief.

 

Solid point. Take Catholicism, for example. There are many Catholics who are somewhat left.

But sill, many leftists do bash Christianity. So it's funny hearing these kind of people whine about bigotry, when they are loaded and seething with it.

 

Ayn Rand was an atheist.

 

And... upon reading that, I am supposed to....

Sorry, but as a person who reads/listens to anything/anyone from Srimad Bhagavatam to Joel Osteen to Ayn Rand to Zig Ziglar, on matters of behavior, attitude, and in some cases spirituality, I fail to see what I am supposed to get excited about upon reading your statement about Ayn Rand.

Perhaps you can enlighten me with your brilliance.

 

Realize all this "leftist" bashing is uninformed drivel. Church attendance and God are just tools for the elite to manipulate the masses. Our two most religious presidents in recent memory were Carter and George W. Only Carter really walked the walk though. Everyone else has used it to play partisan hacks like a fiddle.

 

And that does what to refute my claim that many leftists bash Christianity? Hint: NOTHING. NADA. ZILCH. Is there a point of mine you were attempting to refute, or just a random rant?

Oh and FYI, Barack Obama is a Christian, regular church attender and claims to "pray to Jesus every night", so I'm not sure why you excluded him from your list of most religious presidents.

Oh that's right... it's that "partisan idiot" thing you claim to be so against.... LOL.

 

Being atheist only requires that you not be theist, as has been pointed out to theists ad nauseam. An atheist lacks a belief in one more god than a theist does.