[ExI] Fw: Re: atheists declare religions as scams.

[Ben Zaiboc]

Adrian Tymes <atymes at gmail.com> wrote:

> 2011/1/25 Amon Zero <amon at doctrinezero.com>:
> > On 25 January 2011 17:04, Adrian Tymes <atymes at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >> Technically, what you speak of is agnosticism.
> >>
> >> Agnostic = absence of belief
> >> Atheist = belief of absence
> >> That's the difference between the terms.
> >
> > That's one definition, but not the only possible one.

I 'believe' that is wrong.

Agnosticism has nothing to do with belief, but with knowledge.  An agnostic says it's not possible to know certain things, either in principle or in practice.

Agnostic = absence of knowledge
Atheist = absence of belief


 
> It is the one I find in certain online dictionaries:
> 
> http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/atheist
> a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a
> supreme being or
> beings.
> 
> http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/agnostic
> a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate
> cause, as god, and the
> essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or
> that human
> knowledge is limited to experience.


I think you are over-interpreting this.

"An atheist is one who denies the existence of a deity or of divine beings"

"a person who does not believe in God or gods"

That's not the same thing as "a person who believes there are no gods".

It may seem a trivial distinction, but I think it's a very important one, as theists tend to use the argument "well, you atheists Believe there is no god, so yours is a Belief as well.  Ner ner."

This is a totally invalid argument, as long as you understand that atheism is NOT a Belief.  It's just the opposite, a lack of Belief.

To be honest, I think it's just down to whether people are capable of/willing to think for themselves or not.  People who are, don't have Beliefs, because they're not necessary.  People who aren't, usually do.

You either think, or you Believe.

Luther was right when he said that "Reason is the greatest enemy that Faith has".

Ben Zaiboc