There is no evidence/proof you'll vanish into non-existence

AProudLefty said:
No.
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Neither have I. In fact, anyone using the descriptor "atheist" who did not express a "belief" that there are no gods...or that it is more likely that there are no gods...would not make sense.

That is why I suggest that using "someone who does not 'believe' in a god" is inappropriate as a definition of the word "atheist."

Fact is, that definition is used most particularly by atheists...who have a vested interest in using it. Using that definition makes the number of atheists MUCH greater.

All of this contingent upon your response of "no" above being your actual answer to my original question.
 
Frank Apisa said:
Neither have I. In fact, anyone using the descriptor "atheist" who did not express a "belief" that there are no gods...or that it is more likely that there are no gods...would not make sense.

That is why I suggest that using "someone who does not 'believe' in a god" is inappropriate as a definition of the word "atheist."

Fact is, that definition is used most particularly by atheists...who have a vested interest in using it. Using that definition makes the number of atheists MUCH greater.

All of this contingent upon your response of "no" above being your actual answer to my original question.
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The question does not apply to me because I am deaf. However I have met a few who said that they don't believe that god (usually Christian god) exists. Have you ever met an atheist who tells you he does not believe Allah or any other gods exist? See that's where the lack of belief comes in.

We were born atheists.
 
Cypress said:
No, that's just somebody who is traumatized and bitter that their parents used to drag them to a Fundy church.

Atheists aren't allowed to believe in Allah, Yahweh, Shiva, Brahman, or Vishnu either.
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The very word "atheist" means "without deity(ies)." Then we add layers of meaning on to that.
 
AProudLefty said:
I rarely ever met an atheist.
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Interesting. Why is that, do you think? My husband and four of my five kids, plus their spouses, have no belief in deities, a life after death, heaven, hell, nirvana, etc. They just live their lives w/o being troubled by things of a spiritual nature.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
Interesting. Why is that, do you think? My husband and four of my five kids, plus their spouses, have no belief in deities, a life after death, heaven, hell, nirvana, etc. They just live their lives w/o being troubled by things of a spiritual nature.
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It could be because of my life, my growing up and the fact that I am deaf.
 
AProudLefty said:
Lack of belief in any deity.

Do infants believe either way?
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Their minds are not developed enough to have knowledge of things that cannot be seen or experienced.

Object permanence involves understanding that items and people still exist even when you can’t see or hear them. This concept was discovered by child psychologist Jean Piaget and is an important milestone in a baby's brain development.

Before your baby develops object permanence, things that leave their sight are gone and don’t exist from their point of view. For example, you may notice that when your infant drops a loved toy out of view, they don't look around to find it. Once they start developing object permanence, they will begin to look for the item or express their unhappiness that they don’t have it.

Developing object permanence is important because it’s the first step to other types of symbolic understanding and reasoning, such as pretend play, memory development, and language development. This concept of things and people in their world having permanence is also important for their emotional development, including developing attachments.
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AProudLefty said:
It could be because of my life, my growing up and the fact that I am deaf.
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In my experience most people that we would label as atheists don't go around and announce that fact, any more than you would go around and announce that you have brown eyes or prefer salty foods over sweets. Most shy away from religious discussions because either they feel uncomfortable (usually because of cultural stigma in this country), or mostly because they just aren't interested.
 
AProudLefty said:
I rarely ever met an atheist.
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Most polls seem to show that around 8 percent of the population self identify as atheists.

As for me, I would be surprised if people don't change through life as they reassess, reconsider, reflect.

Anyone who spends their entire life clinging to dogma and never questioning themselves probably are unsophisticated and rather dull minded individuals
 
AProudLefty said:
The question does not apply to me because I am deaf. However I have met a few who said that they don't believe that god (usually Christian god) exists. Have you ever met an atheist who tells you he does not believe Allah or any other gods exist? See that's where the lack of belief comes in.

We were born atheists.
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Once again, not sure what you are intending here.

There certainly are people who designate themselves atheists in the Middle-East...or in Asia...or in Antarctica, for that matter.

BUT an essential to anyone using "atheist" as a descriptor has to be a "belief" (opinion, conjecture, supposition) that either there are no gods...or that it is more likely that there are no gods than that there is at least one.

If not...that would mean someone who "believes" there is a god or who thinks it is as likely that there is at least one god than that there are none...uses "atheist" as a descriptor.

That makes no sense that I can see.

If I am missing something in that regard, tell me what it is.

By the way...your comment "we are born atheists" is what atheists want to be true. That way, the ranks of atheism is greatly enhanced. But it is an artificial designation...occasioned by a grievous error in the etymology and derivation of the word.
 
AProudLefty said:
Actually that illustrates a point. The concept of deity is taught by parents and society. If they weren't, they wouldn't be looking for it!
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Very true!

Heh, reminds me of something funny. We visited some of the grands last week. My almost 8-yo g-daughter informed me that God isn't real, and neither is Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. I asked her how did she know this. "Well, last year at Easter my mom left her phone open and I saw a message from Aunt Rachel about hiding the Easter eggs and the baskets. So I said 'YOU'RE the Easter Bunny!' and they said they were." Apparently she extrapolated that to include Santa and God too. lol
 
Cypress said:
Most polls seem to show that around 8 percent of the population self identify as atheists.

As for me, I would be surprised if people don't change through life as they reassess, reconsider, reflect.

Anyone who spends their entire life clinging to dogma and never questioning themselves probably are unsophisticated and rather dull minded individuals
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Not necessarily. It could be due to trauma.
 
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