Move Over, Atheists!

"Helmut Wabnig" *_.-_- wrote in
message ...
On 15 Dec 2005 01:55:38 -0000, Daniel Joseph Min
] wrote:

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BECAUSE ATHEISM IS properly defined as a "belief", e.g.,
quoting from Webster's New World Dictionary & Thesaurus:

"Atheism -
the *belief* that there is no God, or denial that
God or gods exist." [end quote, emphasis added]

Thus Atheism is properly a (ir)religious belief,

(newsgroups trimmed to 3)

"a nether world in which the dead continue to exist : (2) : the nether realm
of the devil and the demons in which the damned suffer everlasting
punishment."
(Merriam-Webster definiton of "Hell")

"the appearance of the sky when the sun starts to rise"
(Cambridge Dictionary definition of "sunrise")

Just wanted to show that dictionaries are usually about how words are
commonly used by their audiences, not necessarily whether the usage is a
correct concept.

I think this is why atheism is commonly defined in dictionaries as some kind
of disbelief or denial of a particular god because most people who buy
dictionaries are religious and this is probably how they commonly use it.

However if you go to alt.atheism and discuss this with atheists themselves,
it's generally agreed that *most* atheists are without belief in any gods.
Not an active disbelief or denial of any particular god or gods (which some
call "strong atheism"), so it's not an illogical position. There are a few
dictionaries that define atheism this way. Which dictionary is "right"
doesn't matter. For religious people or occasionally people just splitting
hairs philosophically, the disbelief/deny definition is fine for them,
although I think it's not correct.

Also someone can assert a functional opinion that something doesn't exist
without "believing" it doesn't exist, as long as their opinion is
falsifiable. This is common in scientific debate.

Don't want to debate the definiton of belief. The way it's used above is in
an unfalsifiable way as in the way most religious people believe. Also don't
want to debate whether the faith of religious people or the concept of
sacredness is unfalsifiable (can you tell I've discussed this before?).

I don't care to argue about the "correct' definiton of atheism here. It's as
ridiculous as heterosexual people arguing about whether strict homosexuals
or lesbians have a "choice" in their orientation. Of course, it's best to
take it up with the people in question.

Correspondingly, as I said, I think that anyone that wants to argue about
the definition of atheism should go to alt. atheism and take it up there
with the atheists rather than debate what atheist are thinking.

Peace and happy holidays to all...