Why do NeoAtheists deny the practice of atheism is a religion?<<MOD WARNING>>

Discussion in 'Religion & Philosophy' started by Kokomojojo, Apr 25, 2019.

  1. edna kawabata

    edna kawabata Well-Known Member

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    That is an assumption on your part but...........the possible is not impossible.
     
  2. yabberefugee

    yabberefugee Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    With God, all things are possible! and it doesn't take trillions upon trillions of years.
     
  3. tecoyah

    tecoyah Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    And yet, he does nothing for anyone, anywhere beyond what they attribute to him and would happen anyway.

    You can pray all day and night, but cancer will kill you regardless.
     
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  4. edna kawabata

    edna kawabata Well-Known Member

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    Have you noticed that belief and reality are not always the same thing, but belief can quiet the cognitive dissonance.
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2019
  5. JET3534

    JET3534 Well-Known Member

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    You don't have a clue what atheism is. Their main (if not only) point is not believing in something that can't be proved. If you assert a claim you provide the proof. Someone not making a claim does not have to provide proof.

    You don't have a clue what religion is. Let me help you out with a definition.
    the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.
     
  6. JET3534

    JET3534 Well-Known Member

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    The so called cult that provides the computer you type on, the Internet that sends your message, and the medical technology that probably has allowed you to live, and the technology in general that separates us from primitive societies of goat herders and spear chuckers. That cult?
     
  7. yabberefugee

    yabberefugee Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I have a question I would like you to expound on so that I can better understand the frame of reference from an atheist perspective.

    What do you find as the "meaning" to life and your purpose of being here? We are given the ability to reason and examine yet we have such a short lifespan. Is it all for naught? I know this question spans beyond science.....but is it something an atheist would ever contemplate?
     
  8. yabberefugee

    yabberefugee Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Doesn't that same technology rob us of human relationship? and in many instances it also causes us to die?? I see technolgy, though it is used for good in some instances, is also a god to many. It is an addiction, a bondage.
     
  9. Kokomojojo

    Kokomojojo Well-Known Member

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    Thats not true, unless they claim to be atheist, which I have not seen yet, have you?
    vague disbelief? thats the problem when you use a 2000 year old vastly outdated useless definition (etymological fallacy) that the rest of the world has abandoned a century ago and try to apply it to todays standards.

    An etymological fallacy becomes possible when a word has changed its meaning over time. Such changes can include a shift in scope (narrowing or widening of meanings) or of connotation (amelioration or pejoration). In some cases, meanings can also shift completely, so that the etymological meaning has no evident connection to the current meaning.[2]

    Ancient Greeks believed that there was a "true meaning" of a word, distinct from a common use. There is evidence that a similar belief existed among ancient Vedic scholars. In modern days this fallacy may be found in some arguments of language purists.[2]

    Not every change in meaning leads to an etymological fallacy, but such changes are frequently the basis of inaccurate arguments.

    An example of a word which has greatly changed its meaning is decimation, which originally referred to reduction by a tenth, but now usually means a drastic reduction or complete destruction.[4] Insisting that only the original meaning is "true" constitutes an etymological fallacy.[2]


    Neoatheists popular argument using the 'atheos' definition for atheism tramples and wrongfully characterizes agnostics and non-theists, therefore for the sake of correctness should be abandoned.
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2019
  10. JakeStarkey

    JakeStarkey Well-Known Member

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    All of the atheists above have clearly shown they do not have the language, symbols, and logic to disprove the existence of deity.

    a·the·ism
    /ˈāTHēˌizəm/
    noun
    1. disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods.
    https://www.google.com/search?q=ath.....69i57j0l5.4284j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

    Nope, atheistos and, -as, you have no power or authority to change definitions that you don't like.
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2019
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  11. Kokomojojo

    Kokomojojo Well-Known Member

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    I dont think you find this problem so much in academia 'except' for atheist evangelists on some of these forums that we see beating their drums to gain support for atheism.


    In academic settings (peer review etc.), atheism is consistently understood as the belief that God does not exist. After all, consider…

    The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy:

    [Atheism] denotes a belief that there is no God; this use has become the standard one.”

    Notice how it specifically excludes the non-theist definition as being standard.

    • However, few dictionaries of philosophy even mention the non-standard “lack of belief” use, despite wide-spread use by some communities on the internet and YouTube. (This is presumably for the same reason most biology dictionaries do not mention definitions of evolution which include the origin of the Universe or first life—despite widespread use of this definition by Young Earth creationists online.)

    • A few academic atheists have suggested changing the standard definition to mean non-theist, but to no avail.1,

    2 Today still, “The theist is commonly regarded as one who believes theism; the atheist believes atheism.”3

    "Lack of belief" incorrectly characterizes atheism, additionally it attempts to overwrite other legitimate religious options.

     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2019
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  12. edna kawabata

    edna kawabata Well-Known Member

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    Existential angst has been a psychological problem since Adam first realized he was mortal. Dealing with it involves, for some, a leap of faith or an irrational belief in reincarnation or some afterlife. But for me, sometimes the wind blows cold and that is one reason I do not like talking people out of their religious beliefs.
    The best I can do is try to make the world a better place, love my family and be remembered fondly.
     
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  13. yabberefugee

    yabberefugee Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    How can you define love? It would seem that without a true, universal, defining of what love is, the pursuit of pleasure would be all that is left? Everyone does what is right in their own eyes to the dictates of their pleasure. I contrast that with the Christian precept of looking to the needs of others as more important than our own. Isn't there an order as to how we should live? An order that is equal to and parallel to the order we see in nature?
    Isn't "being remembered fondly" something completely out of our realm of knowing if it is over when life ends?....or is that a matter of "hope"? The Bible defines Faith as....."the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen". Is it possible to be an atheist and have faith?
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2019
  14. JakeStarkey

    JakeStarkey Well-Known Member

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    Of course an atheist can have hope and faith for a better world.
     
  15. pitbull

    pitbull Banned Donor

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    That's wrong, bro. An atheist rejects any beliefs regarding to any Gods.
     
  16. JakeStarkey

    JakeStarkey Well-Known Member

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    Sorry, pitbull, you have no authority to reject accepted definitions. An atheist believes that there is no god.
     
  17. Arjay51

    Arjay51 Well-Known Member

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    Which would include "any gods", hence your comment is null.
     
  18. JET3534

    JET3534 Well-Known Member

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    Feel free to avoid technology and go live in a hut in the woods like the Unabomber. What is your basis to romanticize primitive living? The hippies tried it in the sixties and then took the bus back home. Of course one can pitch a tent on the sidewalk in one of these liberal cities and more or less avoid technology.

    It is an absence of science that kills people. How many people were saved by preying during the Black Plague that killed 75-200 million people?

    Many of can function without a belief in an invisible sky man.
     
  19. JET3534

    JET3534 Well-Known Member

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    More like rejects any beliefs that cannot be proved.
     
  20. Robert

    Robert Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    i start with the belief in the Universe. As to the Bible, it causes no harm. As to thinking GOD manages your lives, true or not, it causes no harm.

    We have the fable of the egg on the fence. It caused no harm. We have one of the chicken believing the sky is falling. I see no harm there. A lesson of course can be harmful. Such as the lesson that shucking all of your possessions into the community pot is for your own good. Democrats are a collective. I am an individual.
     
  21. Robert

    Robert Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Invisible you declare? What about the universe? Did it up and self create?
     
  22. JakeStarkey

    JakeStarkey Well-Known Member

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    Nope, your comment is redundant, as well as mendacious Atheists (or believers, for that matter) do not get to change traditional definitions.
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2019
  23. Capn Awesome

    Capn Awesome Well-Known Member

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    I define a religion as needing a clergy, temples, and supernatural beliefs.

    Your definition is just..well I'm not sure, anybody who asserts anything and it's a religion? In that case we all have tons of religions.

    Atheism obviously isn't a religion.
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2019
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  24. Capn Awesome

    Capn Awesome Well-Known Member

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    You are an atheist about Zeus, and Odin etc. You make a positive assertion they don't exist.

    That, according to you is a religion. God wants you to have only one religion.

    Checkmate. Enjoy hellfire.
     
  25. JakeStarkey

    JakeStarkey Well-Known Member

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    Define all you want. The professional world will stay with traditional definitions.
     

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