Is Atheism a religion?

I believe all kinds of things. I believe in evolution, gravity, AGW... etc. etc. that's because these ideas have good evidence in favor of them. When someone argues that they don't believe in them, they attempt to show how my evidence is bad, or how the evidence really supports a conflicting theory. If they do so thoroughly, they can say "I believe there is no evolution".

When talking about something with no evidence one way or the other things become difficult because that strong position is unreachable. You can't have evidence against. But that does not mean that everyone who does not believe in God is attempting to support the stance "I believe there is no God". By the very design of religion, this position is unattainable and indefensible, and this has proven a great boon to religion in the past.

But I think it's a pariah. Where there is no evidence is perfectly OK to stop at I don't believe in God. The stronger position is unnecessary and doesn't really add much to belief. In light of this, it's religion and not atheism that is unsupportable.

Religion, IMHO, does not deserve the respect it believes itself is worthy of. It's silly, and deserve to be mocked. Freedom of religion does not mean freedom from criticism of religion.
 
Yurt said:
not the same at all....the only misconceptions on this site are by you and watermark claiming that unicorn's and god are the same.....last i checked unicorns do not have books written about them and in the books people claim to have actually seen, spoke etc with a unicorn.....

there is vastly more evidence for god than unicorns....it is also illogical to compare stories that people purposefully write and state are fiction to stories that people claim are real.....

but its nice of you to admit you have no logical proof or material evidence for you disbelief in a deity.....your post above proves your belief in atheism is faith
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You have as much evidence for God that the people who wrote the Iliad had that things happened exactly like that, and that there was really intervention from Gods etc... people believed these stories were literally true when they were written.

Ridiculous. Ridiculous. Ridiculous.


And what about ALL the religions with ALL of their conflicting accounts. It is so silly to claim the bible as evidence for your beliefs I don't think it's even worth my time to address. The bible is a work of fiction, written hundreds of years after the events involved by storytellers who thought they had a good tale.
 
Watermark said:
I fixed your argument.
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kind of the same thing... Isn't it dear little emo?

Why would you care if others believe in God or Fairies or the Easter bunny or Santa ?

Does it hurt you if they do?

Obviously we don't want those that do not believe to be forced to believe, but does it actually hurt anyone to see the ten commandments on a plaque? Does it hurt to see 'in God we Trust' on our currency? To me, the answer is quite simple. To each their own. Why get so worked up about it? Why so hostile that you feel the need to belittle their beliefs?
 
Topspin said:
cause all your republican morons want to impose it through the Goverment. You fucking fundamentalist Christian terrorist.:321:
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1) I am agnostic, not christian

2) I seem to recall many on the left trying to impose their BELIEFS on others as well. Hate crime legislation anyone? National Health care will save us?

3) Most people are going to want to create legislation that adheres to their values toppy. That is nothing new. The problem lies in that we 'the people' continue to allow the idiots in DC to grow their power base ever larger. It continues to take a firmer hold over more of our lives. The more control we let them have, the more they are going to screw us. The more capable they will become to force their values upon us.
 
Watermark said:
LOL. Now you are merely redefining words to fit your purposes.

Stupid beliefs are mocked all the time. I am no more an atheist evangelist than I am a fairy evangelist. If someone demands respect for their beilef in fairies, I am rightly going to consider them an idiot. If 99% of America does the same, I'm going to form groups on the internet and mock them. If they come up to me demanding I believe in fairies, I am going to explain why I don't.

You are just demanding that I don't share my ideas because you don't like them, because you're religious and believe in silly things. But sharing ideas is what makes us human.

I can accept the idea that fairies might exist, but wanting to tell others that I don't believe in them does not change that fact, and it's silly and trivial to state so.



LOL. No, that's not when atheism becomes a religion. I've made all kinds of threads mocking silly beliefs like conservatism, homeopathy, and Christianity. It's not a religion.
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Rubbish, I used the definition you (plural you) presented earlier. Your belief in this as a certainty with no evidence to back it up to that level makes it faith. Your action as evangelist makes it a religion as you promote a faith.
 
Watermark said:
Retarded. You are misrepresenting atheism.
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I've been led to believe that you are currently still in college....if so, perhaps you should wait until you start taking the 200 level classes before you speak out......you are wrong about the meaning of "atheism" and I am right.....it couldn't get much simpler than that.....
 
Damocles said:
Rubbish, I used the definition you (plural you) presented earlier. Your belief in this as a certainty with no evidence to back it up to that level makes it faith. Your action as evangelist makes it a religion as you promote a faith.
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not only that, but unfortunately like some other religions he advocates the death of all those who don't believe as he does....
 
Watermark said:
You have as much evidence for God that the people who wrote the Iliad had that things happened exactly like that, and that there was really intervention from Gods etc... people believed these stories were literally true when they were written.

Ridiculous. Ridiculous. Ridiculous.


And what about ALL the religions with ALL of their conflicting accounts. It is so silly to claim the bible as evidence for your beliefs I don't think it's even worth my time to address. The bible is a work of fiction, written hundreds of years after the events involved by storytellers who thought they had a good tale.
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IOW....watermark nor grind have any logical proof or material evidence that atheism is true....

all you're arguing is your beliefs that god might not exist....you have no proof that atheism is true....thus, it is your faith....

and your immaturity is quite evident....anyone who does't believe as you is a retarded, silly etc....you need to grow up, you're acting worse than the so called religious people you hate
 
Watermark said:
Ridiculous. I do not have to present evidence against God to say "I do not believe in God". All I have to do is point out the lack of evidence IN THE OTHER DIRECTION.

This is nothing more than an annoying philosophical error. If you aren't even going to listen to what I'm saying and are just going to repeat this point that's already been debunked quite thoroughly over and over and over again I see no reason to even argue with you. I'll just let it settle in that you're wrong.
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so you can't prove atheism.....thanks for admitting it is a faith
 
Thorn said:
I just read this week that the state constitutions of both North Carolina and Texas prohibit atheists (which is nothing more than an absence of belief in a god) from holding public office. These laws are currently being challenged, but it is situations such as these that presumably make atheists more concerned about the imposition of religion on their own lives. Proselytizing in any direction, either for or against beliefs, is equally offensive.
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I didn't realize that Texas prohibited atheists from holding office as well, Thorn. The North Carolina thing has been discussed here before. Also, there was an atheist elected to the city council in Asheville NC this year, and was affirmed into office just a week or so ago.

Apparently the state realized what a can of worms it would be opening if it challenged it.
 
Atheists do not make good jew servile underlings. They don't believe in that whole chosen people thing.

Ultimately faith is used mainly to justify the divine right of kings, or an elitist class of priests or rulers of some kind.

The God of Abraham is a racist dick.
 
Watermark said:
It's agnostic atheism, maybe.

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

Dawkins posits that "the existence of God is a scientific hypothesis like any other." He goes on to propose a continuous "spectrum of probabilities" between two extremes of opposite certainty, which can be represented by seven "milestones". Dawkins suggests definitive statements to summarize one's place along the spectrum of theistic probability. These "milestones" are:[2]

  1. Strong theist. 100 per cent probability of God. In the words of C.G. Jung, 'I do not believe, I know.'
  2. Very high probability but short of 100 per cent. De facto theist. 'I cannot know for certain, but I strongly believe in God and live my life on the assumption that he is there.'
  3. Higher than 50 per cent but not very high. Technically agnostic but leaning towards theism. 'I am very uncertain, but I am inclined to believe in God.'
  4. Exactly 50 per cent. Completely impartial agnostic. 'God's existence and non-existence are exactly equiprobable.'
  5. Lower than 50 per cent but not very low. Technically agnostic but leaning towards atheism. 'I do not know whether God exists but I'm inclined to be sceptical.'
  6. Very low probability, but short of zero. De facto atheist. 'I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there.'
  7. Strong atheist. 'I know there is no God, with the same conviction as Jung "knows" there is one.'
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once again you show you have no clue what you're talking about, no wonder you feel you have to mock others....

you said:

I do not believe in God. I do not believe in other deities. I do not believe in fairies.

I do not believe there is no God. I do not believe there are no other dieties. I do not believe there are no fairies.
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that is de facto agnostic according to your own link.....

Very low probability, but short of zero. De facto atheist. 'I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there.'
Strong atheist. 'I know there is no God, with the same conviction as Jung "knows" there is one.'
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you cannot be a strong atheist while stating i do not believe there is no god....
 
WinterBorn said:
I didn't realize that Texas prohibited atheists from holding office as well, Thorn. The North Carolina thing has been discussed here before. Also, there was an atheist elected to the city council in Asheville NC this year, and was affirmed into office just a week or so ago.

Apparently the state realized what a can of worms it would be opening if it challenged it.
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those prohibitions will easily be struck down....i wonder how long they have been on the books....
 
PostmodernProphet said:
I've been led to believe that you are currently still in college....if so, perhaps you should wait until you start taking the 200 level classes before you speak out......you are wrong about the meaning of "atheism" and I am right.....it couldn't get much simpler than that.....
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LOL no you're wrong. If your college professor taught you something different he obviously didn't understand atheism either.
 
Yurt said:
those prohibitions will easily be struck down....i wonder how long they have been on the books....
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I would argue that since the writers of those constitutions violated their own oath of office in writing those parts, they are completely illegitimate, and so aren't even really legitimate parts of those constitutions.

It would be like if the senate had a 49-51 vote and the people who had 49 votes claimed they won... it's illegitimate, so it doesn't matter. The law they would have passed isn't a law.
 
Yurt said:
once again you show you have no clue what you're talking about, no wonder you feel you have to mock others....

you said:



that is de facto agnostic according to your own link.....



you cannot be a strong atheist while stating i do not believe there is no god....
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I am not a strong atheist. I am a de facto atheist, which has as little agnosticism mixed in as is possible.
 
Watermark said:
I would argue that since the writers of those constitutions violated their own oath of office in writing those parts, they are completely illegitimate, and so aren't even really legitimate parts of those constitutions.

It would be like if the senate had a 49-51 vote and the people who had 49 votes claimed they won... it's illegitimate, so it doesn't matter. The law they would have passed isn't a law.
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what is rather humorous is the key wording is "no religious test"....

if atheism isn't a religion, then you can have a test that says no atheists...

lol
 
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