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Sure, but rejecting one specific god doesn't make one an atheist. There are lots of specific gods that I reject, yet I'm still a theist. You might reject some specific gods, but you still claim to believe that *a* god might exist, you just don't know. Hence, you are agnostic.
"Atheist" is rejection of ALL gods, not just some. If you think there may be gods but don't know, you are agnostic. Rejecting some specific gods does not change that, no matter how much you want it to.If I don't believe the basic description of a certain God exists, then I am indeed an atheist towards that God.
"Atheist" is rejection of ALL gods, not just some. If you think there may be gods but don't know, you are agnostic. Rejecting some specific gods does not change that, no matter how much you want it to.
Christianity has produced more love and goodness than any other religion. Look at almost everything good about Western civilization, including the concept of human rights, comes from Christianity.The only evidence I need that the "belief" based faith is false is to just look at the representatives who are trying the hardest to push it. They lack the love and works that their faith is supposed to produce, so that their "arguments" will never gain any momentum. Those with true love and works are either not religious, or they are not pushing their religion on anyone.
Religious people believe what they want to believe. Why? Because it's popular to believe those things.
As far as listening to him. From what I read about the speaker, he is a jerk. I have no desire to listen to what he has to say. Just another right wing idiot bigot living in spiritual darkness.
"Atheist" is rejection of ALL gods, not just some. If you think there may be gods but don't know, you are agnostic. Rejecting some specific gods does not change that, no matter how much you want it to.
Irrelevant. Whether or not my faith might be wrong has no bearing on whether or not "atheists believe there is no god" is a straw man fallacy.
Ah, so the difference "believe there is no god" and "lack belief in god" is just splitting hairs. If it's just splitting hairs, then there's no meaningful difference. If there's no meaningful difference, then you can't whine about "atheists believe there is no god" being a straw man fallacy.
Great. So instead of "atheists believe there is no god,", it's actually, "atheists believe there is no god until proven otherwise." Yeah, cuz that's totally a meaningful difference completely justifying all the straw man whining. Totally.
Right. So, atheists can go on acting & arguing as if there is no god, they're just forbidden from saying the words "there is no god." I'm still waiting for the meaningful difference.
When Richard Dawkins started his “There’s Probably No God” ad campaign, he came right out and said that he would have rather not had the word “probably” in there - what he really wanted it to say was simply, “There’s No God.” So, there we have one prominent atheist who isn’t afraid to say he believes there is no God. Dawkins has bunches of awards from multiple atheist organizations. The Atheist Alliance International even gives out a “Richard Dawkins Award”. Clearly other atheists respect and share his views.
I have a Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. I think Webster's has more authority than the atheists here to define what words mean. “Atheism” is defined as “the belief that there is no God, or denial that God or gods exist.” And “atheist” is defined as “a person who believes that there is no God.”
So, you’ll just have to forgive me if I take Webster’s word over the atheists here. You’ll just have to forgive me for thinking this whole idea that “atheists don’t believe that there is no god - they only lack the belief that there is one” is pure bunk.
I said there's a clear distinction and the two shouldn't be lumped together.
I
SAID
THERE'S
A
DISTINCTION
AND
THEY
SHOULDN'T
BE
LUMPED
TOGETHER
Good job on completely missing the point and zeroing in on a completely irrelevant detail. The point was about his beliefs in regards to "all" vs. "some" gods. Whether it's a rejection or a lack of acceptance has absolutely no bearing on that whatsoever.Wrong, it is a lack of belief in all gods. No rejection.
Apparently you have some lack of understanding of certain concepts as well. Anyone making a positive claim, which many atheists do, brings on a burden of proof.The burden of proof is of course on theists and they have not been able to meet their burden. If you can find evidence for your God atheists will change their mind. Sadly most theists do not understand the concept of evidence.
Good job on completely missing the point and zeroing in on a completely irrelevant detail. The point was about his beliefs in regards to "all" vs. "some" gods. Whether it's a rejection or a lack of acceptance has absolutely no bearing on that whatsoever.
Apparently you have some lack of understanding of certain concepts as well. Anyone making a positive claim, which many atheists do, brings on a burden of proof.
Prove it.btw: hi, I'm an atheist who does not make the claim that no gods exist. I'm an atheist only because I don't accept god claims as true.
Context matters. It was an atheist who was attempting an argument that had the necessary conclusion that there wasn't a meaningful difference. If you can't follow a discussion, don't participate."NOT believing there IS a god"
and
"believing there is NO god"
Are, in fact, two very different beliefs. In fact, only one of them is actually a belief.
"not believing claim x", is not a belief. It is the lack of belief.
Do you understand how both statements are different answers to different questions?
It sounds like you don't.
Still failing to follow the discussion, I see.Still failing to see the difference between "I don't believe X" and "I believe the opposite of X is true", I see....
What would help is you actually following the discussion.Maybe a black and white analogy might help here....
Then why pretend "no gods exist" is NOT atheism when I've presented facts showing atheists making that exact claim? Are those atheists not authoritative on what they themselves believe? Why pretend atheists haven't been backpedaling trying to avoid burden of proof when I've shown atheists admitting to exactly that? Oh, it must be, "atheists are an authority on what they believe, until they claim to believe something I don't agree with".I think that, when it comes to what individuals believe, nothing has a higher "authority" on the contents (or lack thereof) of the beliefs then the individuals themselves.
I claimed NOTHING about any "Merriam-Webster" dictionary. You're citing a completely different dictionary. To act like I was citing the same book when I specifically named a different source is rather dishonest.It doesn't even say anything about "believing that no gods exist", like you claimed.
Of course there's a difference. And with atheists, the difference seems to be, "is anyone going to challenge me with burden of proof? If no, I am the latter. If yes, I am the former."Do you understand the difference now between:
- I don't believe a god exists
and
- I believe no gods exist?
Could you explain the difference between both, to prove that you understand it?
I understand your "correction". It's simply a completely irrelevant "correction" that has no bearing on the statement being made.I missed no point. You made a false statement. I got the supposed point, you apparently did not understand the correction.
Oh, gosh, an atheist claims I'm not doing well. How upsetting.Wrong again, you are not doing to well here.
Are you seriously attempting to deny that atheists have claimed there are no gods?? I've already cited that exact claim being made by atheists.What positive claim do you think that atheists have made that they cannot support?
I understand your "correction". It's simply a completely irrelevant "correction" that has no bearing on the statement being made.
Oh, gosh, an atheist claims I'm not doing well. How upsetting.
Are you seriously attempting to deny that atheists have claimed there are no gods?? I've already cited that exact claim being made by atheists.
Christianity has produced more love and goodness than any other religion. Look at almost everything good about Western civilization, including the concept of human rights, comes from Christianity.
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