[extropy-chat] Putting God to Rest

[Damien Broderick]

At 08:32 PM 4/24/2007 +0100, ben zaiboc wrote:

>Later on, when i realised what 'belief' actually entails, i decided i
>was an atheist. As in someone free of beliefs about gods. Atheism is
>/not/ a belief system. Just the opposite. I don't 'believe there are no
>gods', but i do have a lack of belief in them. Completely different
>thing. If some strong evidence turns up for their existence, i may
>change my mind. That's not belief.

Well said.

Unless "belief" is decomposed to something like (1) "hold that the 
likelihood of X approaches 1.00". If it just means (2) "feel strongly 
that X must be true because my pappy done tole me, and he wouldn't 
lie, and I'll fight any dirty dog who says otherwise," or (3) "feel 
strongly that X is true because a transcendently impressive thing 
happened to me leading me to this conclusion," atheism is indeed an 
absence of belief. On his blog, the sf writer John C. Wright provides 
copious articulate and generally well-mounted but entirely incredible 
comments derived in part from (3). He is not stupid, far from it, 
although what he feels impelled to defend--his interpretation, that 
is, not his raw experience--is, on its face, asinine (he has become, 
of all silly things, a "Christian Scientist"; well, I suppose he 
might have embraced the E-meter instead).

Damien Broderick