I give up, what the H is an atheist?

[thylacine]

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the term atheist shouldn't exist

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What about anti-theism/anti-theist? (Compare with anti-slavery, anti-genocide, anti-indoctrination, etc. etc. etc.)

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That would imply an opposition to religion rather than simply not believing in it. It's entirely possible for an atheist not to be hostile to religion.

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Yes of course anti-theism is not supposed to be a synonym for atheism. The real point is that the existence of theism (which is a bad thing) means there is a need for anti-theism and atheism (and their names).

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I soooo disagree with this. I think the way to combat what's wrong with religion in the world (not necessarily theism), is to refuse to kowtow to it. To not even think it credible enough to merit discussion. And I don't mean like the debates we have on here. I mean by not worrying about offending the sensibilities of the religious when it comes to things like throwing out intelligent design from public schools, etc.

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There are many beliefs held by some people that are so patently absurd that these beliefs should not merit discussion.

As a consequence of such beliefs, some people are driven to do extremely evil things (including propagating these patently absurd but extreme-evil-causing beliefs).

So what do you think is best way to deal with this?