95% of Humans are Spiritual

Exoendo said:
the moment they believe in god, consciously or unconsciously, they cease being an atheist.

atheists do not believe in god. this is among the many stupid things you have said
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Prove to me what you believe please?

Go ahead, I can wait...

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...still waiting....

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...any day now....

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....*crickets chirping*

Okay, so we can establish that it is totally impossible for you to PROVE to me, what you CLAIM you believe. You can TELL me anything you want to! I can't discern whether you are being honest or not, I have to determine whether I trust what you have told me is the truth. If you SAY you are Atheist, does that MEAN you are? Do humans ALWAYS reveal their beliefs to others? If not, then you must admit there is at least a possibility that a person could dishonestly SAY he is Atheist, when in fact, he is not.

Do we need to start a new thread to discuss the most minute detail of every meaning of every word I have ever posted or used and all the various contexts those words can have? Maybe it would just be better if you and Damo pulled your heads out of your ass, and try to be engaged in the discussion?
 
Dixie said:
From the Dictionary of Philosophy:

Atheism: (Gr. a, no; theos, god) Two uses of the term:

1. The belief that there is no God.
2. Some philosophers have been called "atheistic" because they have not held to a belief in a personal God. Atheism in this sense means "not theistic."

The former meaning of the term is a literal rendering. The latter meaning is a less rigorous use of the term although widely current in the history of thought. -- V.F.

When I said "Technically, I am Atheist" it was intended in the 'less rigorous' sense. I do not believe in the theism's of organized religions, and I have said this on numerous occasions here. I am a "non-theist" or "atheist" ...I probably should have not capitalized it, that is my only error. However, you being the profound reader, should have realized which usage of the word I intended.
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Again, "technically" you would be atheistic and not an atheist, your definition was careful to separate the two terms as you should be as well. An atheist believes there is no god, somebody who is "atheistic" has no basic belief in a personal god. Words mean things, when you misuse them you cannot get a point across clearly because people assume you know the meaning of the words you are using.

Me, I'm Deist and a Buddhist, I believe in an impersonal god.
 
Damocles said:
Again, "technically" you would be atheistic and not an atheist, your definition was careful to separate the two terms as you should be as well. An atheist believes there is no god, somebody who is "atheistic" has no basic belief in a personal god. Words mean things, when you misuse them you cannot get a point across clearly because people assume you know the meaning of the words you are using.

Me, I'm Deist and a Buddhist, I believe in an impersonal god.
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This is the stupidest hair I have seen split on here...ever. The original title of the thread is, I'll bet dimes to donuts, is pretty near accurate; the majority of human beings are spiritual. I say it's because we were created that way...but really, does it matter?
 
Ice Dancer said:
This is the stupidest hair I have seen split on here...ever. The original title of the thread is, I'll bet dimes to donuts, is pretty near accurate; the majority of human beings are spiritual. I say it's because we were created that way...but really, does it matter?
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Actual meaning of words isn't hair splitting when the only form of communication you have is the written word.

The "splitting" began, however, when somebody decided they would "school" me on the actual meaning of the word they used when I simply pointed out it was misused. Technically, he would be "atheistic" not an "atheist" the two words have different meaning.

And I already stated I agreed with the percentages in the first post, as shown in the study later posted by another. I simply disagreed with the method. It's like saying 2 plus 2 is 4 because 5 minus 3 is 2... You got the answer right, but just because you were lucky.

Of people who are atheist, only a portion of them are nihilists.
 
PostmodernProphet said:
many do have a religion, if not a deity.....a person can revere "self" or "money" or "science" or anything else to the point at which it becomes the equivalent of a 'god' in their minds......there is no reason to presume that atheists are immune to that reality, since they have no acknowledgment of another deity, they are more likely to have that view......
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Stop abusing language and being an idiot.
 
Dixie said:
The other day, some pinhead challenged me when I said this... Dixie, where do u get this 95% bullcrap? I never responded, but I wanted to take this opportunity to thoroughly explain it. Really, it's quite a conservative estimate, when you think about it.

The only people who practice absolutely no form of spiritual belief, are nihilists. Nihilists make up less than 5% of the world population, and that is being generous. We don't really know how many nihilists are being honest about their innermost personal beliefs regarding faith, we have to take their word for it.

Many people are uncertain about what they believe, and so they adopt the "safe" viewpoint of claiming they don't believe in anything. To them, life is a never-ending journey to search for what they do believe, and to others, it is more comfortable for them to live in a state of denial, and refuse to acknowledge what they believe.

95% of all human beings believe in something greater than self, some greater power than man, something of a spiritual nature. It does indeed take many different forms, and it doesn't always result in positiveness, but this is a substantial fact of human nature we should learn to acknowledge. By and large, we are spiritual creatures.
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I'm a spiritual creature. :)
 
Damocles said:
Actual meaning of words isn't hair splitting when the only form of communication you have is the written word.

The "splitting" began, however, when somebody decided they would "school" me on the actual meaning of the word they used when I simply pointed out it was misused. Technically, he would be "atheistic" not an "atheist" the two words have different meaning.

And I already stated I agreed with the percentages in the first post, as shown in the study later posted by another. I simply disagreed with the method. It's like saying 2 plus 2 is 4 because 5 minus 3 is 2... You got the answer right, but just because you were lucky.

Of people who are atheist, only a portion of them are nihilists.
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Yes, we should all beware of schooling Damo, that's his job as father message board...:cof1:
My point was that the argument is STUPID therefore the split hair is stupid. Some things SHOULD be let go.
 
PostmodernProphet said:
Ass, it isn't an argument ad popularem because it isn't presented to convince you to become spiritual, it was presented to answer the specific question of what percentage of people are spiritual....certainly even you can see the difference.....well, maybe not you....but at least the guy sitting next to you who HAS a brain.......
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No. It's an argument ad popularem. He thinks that just because 95% of people express some kind of sprituality that it must be true.
 
What I can't and never will understand is why we spend so much time argueing about religion with people when we know it will not change anyone's oppinion. The only thing it is doing is finding ways to annoy people. Seriously! I don't give a crap about who's religious and what religion they are. I personally have a deep respect for Buddhism but grew up with a Baptist upbringing. I don't believe there is a god that created everything, but I read the Bible to my daughter every night. I also find it extremely cute when she prays, but I also think its cute that she believes in Santa Claus. I always felt if you want people to make a good decision, open all doors for them to see what is behind them. From there, they are free to choose which door to walk through. There is no need to argue with them, they've already choosen the door.
 
DigitalDave said:
What I can't and never will understand is why we spend so much time argueing about religion with people when we know it will not change anyone's oppinion. The only thing it is doing is finding ways to annoy people. Seriously! I don't give a crap about who's religious and what religion they are. I personally have a deep respect for Buddhism but grew up with a Baptist upbringing. I don't believe there is a god that created everything, but I read the Bible to my daughter every night. I also find it extremely cute when she prays, but I also think its cute that she believes in Santa Claus. I always felt if you want people to make a good decision, open all doors for them to see what is behind them. From there, they are free to choose which door to walk through. There is no need to argue with them, they've already choosen the door.
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I love the Buddhist philosopy. It's very inspiring.
 
And I already stated I agreed with the percentages in the first post, as shown in the study later posted by another. I simply disagreed with the method. It's like saying 2 plus 2 is 4 because 5 minus 3 is 2... You got the answer right, but just because you were lucky.

Of people who are atheist, only a portion of them are nihilists.
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I just now saw this, and I must have been asleep when I read it before.

Let's clarify what I said and what I mean. Atheism means "no theism" and a person who is Atheist, doesn't have any belief in a theistic-conceived God. You are correct that not all atheists are nihilists, but a nihilist would be the only true 'non-spiritual' human. Everyone else, to some degree, has some form of spirituality. Perhaps they do not define it as such, perhaps they do not recognize it as such, but unless you are a professed nihilist, you are spiritual.

I didn't get the answer right by luck, I got it right by being right. Your attempts to agree with me in some round about way, without giving me credit for the point I made, are indicative of your ass still being on your shoulder, and your personal grudge against me. I just wanted to clarify that for those who might not catch it, although I think you made it abundantly clear to anyone who knows you.
 
Dixie said:
I just now saw this, and I must have been asleep when I read it before.

Let's clarify what I said and what I mean. Atheism means "no theism" and a person who is Atheist, doesn't have any belief in a theistic-conceived God. You are correct that not all atheists are nihilists, but a nihilist would be the only true 'non-spiritual' human. Everyone else, to some degree, has some form of spirituality. Perhaps they do not define it as such, perhaps they do not recognize it as such, but unless you are a professed nihilist, you are spiritual.

I didn't get the answer right by luck, I got it right by being right. Your attempts to agree with me in some round about way, without giving me credit for the point I made, are indicative of your ass still being on your shoulder, and your personal grudge against me. I just wanted to clarify that for those who might not catch it, although I think you made it abundantly clear to anyone who knows you.
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Your last paragraph is funny.

At least you can understand that one can be an Atheist and not be a nihilist. The worth of life is not solely defined by God, many people think their life is valuable even though they don't believe in God.
 
Damocles said:
Your last paragraph is funny.

At least you can understand that one can be an Atheist and not be a nihilist. The worth of life is not solely defined by God, many people think their life is valuable even though they don't believe in God.
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The truth is often funny, Damo!

I have always understood an Atheist is not a nihilist, I have never said otherwise. I think some Atheists are bigger believers in God than some Christians, if you want to know the truth about it. I defined my own personal spiritual beliefs to be "atheistic" and I am not a nihilist. This all leads straight to the point of my thread, 95% of us believe in something and are spiritual creatures. Thanks for your dubious clarification of that point.
 
I can't believe someone brought this thread back. Obviously someone wanted to see Dixie make a fool of himself yet again.

2/3 soon to follow.
 
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