Atheism doesn't have to be a belief!

[Archon_Wing]

A few years ago I thought that atheism was just a religion like all the other religions.

Why?
-It ended in -ism. Which was a dumb idea, since "Communism" isn't a religion. Well... for the most part.

-In regards to the question "Is there a God?" they have certainly taken a position.
- It is simply a reaction to religion; a rejection
- It's easy to put people into categories. Especially people who aren't you.

But I had made a fatal mistake here. I had assumed that everyone had an opinion about God. I had failed to look past my own way of thinking. What if the person simply never thought of the question, and doesn't care? You don't label people as antipinkskyists or ASantaClausists?

I think it might have been hard for people to realize that others simply do not care about the question. There are obviously atheists who have thought about it, and said no, but it's not all of them. My family is of East Asian descent; God in the western sense is largely irrelevant in their eyes, but they're not going to go out of their way to label themselves as atheists. I believe it is easier to see this in a society where monotheism isn't the default.

[beeny]

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- It is simply a reaction to religion; a rejection

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Religion and atheism are both independent thoughts. Atheists deny God's existence; They aren't denying that religions claim God exists.

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I think it might have been hard for people to realize that others simply do not care about the question.

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People realize it. I think agnosticism is the word for it.

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My family is of East Asian descent; God in the western sense is largely irrelevant in their eyes, but they're not going to go out of their way to label themselves as atheists.

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Are you saying God in the eastern sense, as opposed to the western sense, is largely relevant to them? Wouldn't you still label your family as theists then?

[tarheeljks]

in your previous thread someone said atheism wasn't a belief system b/c it is based on a lack of belief (i think that was the argument). i view it more as believing that god doesn't exist, which is still a belief. perhaps i'm just making a semantical argument here, but i don't see how it makes sense to say that atheism isn't a belief system. it may not have as many tenets as the three major religions, but it is still based on a fundamental "belief."

[Archon_Wing]

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Atheists deny God's existence

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I do not believe the sky is pink. But would you really assign a belief to me simply because I deny this? What would a person that does not believe in a deity and has never been confronted with the question of an existence of a deity fall under? To an athiest, both the sky being pink and a deity existing falls under the same thing.

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People realize it. I think agnosticism is the word for it.

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I disagree. Agnostics realize it, but it means that they have already been confronted with this possibility and thought about it. Some people may not have or have not given any real thought whatsoever despite being exposed to this idea.

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Are you saying God in the eastern sense, as opposed to the western sense, is largely relevant to them? Wouldn't you still label your family as theists then?

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They may have various supernatural beliefs, but not necessarily a deity. My labeling of them is irrelevant; it doesn't affect what they believe. Their own labeling of themselves matters though. But if you were to ask them to label themselves as as a theist/athiest/whatever it just wouldn't occur to them naturally.

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it may not have as many tenets as the three major religions, but it is still based on a fundamental "belief."

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Put two random atheists together. Ask them to talk about what beliefs they have in common. What kind of conversation can they have about their beliefs, besides "Yea, God doesn't exist." ? It's even possible it doesn't even come up for discussion! Does it have much relevance to their life? If you put two Christians together, or two Anarchocapitalists I believe they will find more in common.

Edit: bad wording

[revots33]

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in your previous thread someone said atheism wasn't a belief system b/c it is based on a lack of belief (i think that was the argument). i view it more as believing that god doesn't exist, which is still a belief. perhaps i'm just making a semantical argument here, but i don't see how it makes sense to say that atheism isn't a belief system. it may not have as many tenets as the three major religions, but it is still based on a fundamental "belief."

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In this case your nonbelief in the FSM, tooth fairy, santa claus, etc. must also be a belief system. Must the rejection of every nonverifiable claim that comes down the pike be considered a belief system?

[beeny]

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in your previous thread someone said atheism wasn't a belief system b/c it is based on a lack of belief (i think that was the argument). i view it more as believing that god doesn't exist, which is still a belief. perhaps i'm just making a semantical argument here, but i don't see how it makes sense to say that atheism isn't a belief system. it may not have as many tenets as the three major religions, but it is still based on a fundamental "belief."

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In this case your nonbelief in the FSM, tooth fairy, santa claus, etc. must also be a belief system. Must the rejection of every nonverifiable claim that comes down the pike be considered a belief system?

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I do not believe that you, revots33, exist. Isn't that a belief system? To what extent can you verify/disprove my claim?

[godBoy]

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In this case your nonbelief in the FSM, tooth fairy, santa claus, etc. must also be a belief system.

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Well you don't believe in the FSM, tooth fairy or santa claus do you?
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Must the rejection of every nonverifiable claim that comes down the pike be considered a belief system?

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If you believe it.

I don't see why so many people have wasted time arguing about this. Atheists have labeled themselves so to let other people know that they don't believe in God.
I can only think that the reason why so many 'people with non-belief in a God... jeesh' like arguing points like this is that they enjoy speaking in a way that's confusing, I think it makes them feel a little smarter than average joes who don't see the point in arguing moot points. I'm one of those joes I guess.

[Prodigy54321]

"A person should not believe in an ism, he should believe in himself. John Lennon said that. He was the walrus. I could be the walrus, that still wouldn't change the fact that I don't own a car."

[Prodigy54321]

FWIW, I believe that tremendous damage has been done to the public's view of atheism by the fact that most people believe atheists believe that there is no God in same way that people believe that there is a God.

although there are some atheists who would say that the position, "There is no God" describes them best...most would say the the position, "I do not currently hold a belief that a god or gods exist." describes them better.

unfortunately, I don't think that most theists would see the difference between these two statements..let alone attempt to discern them both from the term, "atheist"

[yukoncpa]

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In this case your nonbelief in the FSM, tooth fairy, santa claus, etc. must also be a belief system.


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Well you don't believe in the FSM, tooth fairy or santa claus do you?

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Must the rejection of every nonverifiable claim that comes down the pike be considered a belief system?


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If you believe it.

I don't see why so many people have wasted time arguing about this. Atheists have labeled themselves so to let other people know that they don't believe in God.
I can only think that the reason why so many 'people with non-belief in a God... jeesh' like arguing points like this is that they enjoy speaking in a way that's confusing, I think it makes them feel a little smarter than average joes who don't see the point in arguing moot points. I'm one of those joes I guess.

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Godboy,

If I state that I don’t believe that 2 plus 2 equals 5, I suppose I’m onto a profound belief system.