Why all atheists believe there is no god.

One thing I forgot to mention is that some atheists seem to worry that by saying that they believe there is no god they will then have atheism accused of being a belief system. Well that's just crap and we know it. Not even theism is a belief system; that's just religion, pure and simple.

Another thing I forgot to mention (thanks, Clutchology) is that the atheist is worried that they are going to be accused of having faith that god does not exist. You don't need faith to believe the non-existence of something if there is no evidence to suggest that that something exists, you only need faith when there is no evidence to support the claim that something does exist, in this case, god.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Strong
• Weak
• Atheist
• Atheism
• Theist
• Theism
• Believe
• Belief
• System
• Religion
• God

[DaltonMunnal]

@mungbeanman Will continue in a PM then.

[mungbeanman]

@DaltonMunnal

"you asked 5 different questions in a medium that gives me a limited character count"

Answer them in a PM then.

"If you have a problem with that and want to tell me that our dictionaries are wrong"

I made two points to you which I guess I'll have to again. The first being that most dictionaries list atheism as a belief so why would I think that the dictionaries are wrong and that this isn't about the meaning of the word but the entity that is atheism.

[DaltonMunnal]

@mungbeanman I didn't reply to all of your points because you asked 5 different questions in a medium that gives me a limited character count to reply with. Only so much I can discuss at a time on here without causing a flood of hard to follow comments. And my only argument is that our dictionaries know what they're talking about. If you have a problem with that and want to tell me that our dictionaries are wrong, then go for it. Fine by me.

[mungbeanman]

@DaltonMunnal

Also, I'm not confused in the slightest and I resent the suggestion. Using logical arguments (and by that I mean actual formal logic) to support one's argument helps remove any confusion.

You haven't really addressed the points I point put to you which suggests that you know where your argument is heading; nowhere. Which is hardly going to convince me that formal logic is wrong now, is it?

[mungbeanman]

@DaltonMunnal

4. Where in the dictionary do I find the term "weak atheist" by the way?

The problem with words is that they can mean whatever people want them to mean. Words change meaning. But that doesn't mean that the entity they denote changes. For example if we all started using the word 'tree' to mean 'blue frog' does that mean that all trees in the world have become blue frogs? Clearly not.

Atheism, the entity, can only be what it is: a belief.

[mungbeanman]

@DaltonMunnal

1. Dictionaries do not define words. They record their popular usage.

2. Many dictionaries define atheism by what it is, i.e. a belief or doctrine.

3. 'What does the word atheism mean?' and 'what is atheism?' are two different questions and the answers are derived in different ways. I am answering the latter while you the former. For some reason known only to you.

[DaltonMunnal]

@DaltonMunnal Theist: To believe there is a god. Atheist: To not believe there is a god.

Where does this bring you confusion? I'd suggest you watch this video, instead of trying to convince people that you understand words better than the dictionary does. watch?v=akCbE91l81A

[DaltonMunnal]

@mungbeanman You can argue for your own definition of atheism, or you can look it up in a dictionary, where you will always find that it either gives two definitions (the ones I provided) or it only gives one definition (the second one I provided). I'm going to go with the dictionary.... (continued)

[mungbeanman]

@DaltonMunnal

"The problem is, you're assuming that atheist means the opposite of theist"

Can you demonstrate that it doesn't?

"when it really just means to not be a theist"

So babies, animals, plants, bacteria, viruses, rocks, non-existent entities etc. are all atheists? No dice.

Anyway, your original comment divides atheism into two parts. What is the whole that is just plain old atheism? What then is "weak" theism?

[DaltonMunnal]

@mungbeanman The problem is, you're assuming that atheist means the opposite of theist, when it really just means to not be a theist. I, for one, do not believe in a god, but I also don't believe there isn't one. This still makes me an atheist. An agnostic atheist, but an atheist nonetheless.