[youtube]http://youtu.be/A41WZBcmnfc[/youtube]

Appeal to authority...

And anti-vacing authority.

Is that what it's meant to be?

I love it when I'm singled out by someone making a fool of themselves. Since when does Bill Maher's opinion carry any more weight than your first grade teacher?

Edited by afromanGT: 21/2/2013 02:25:45 AM

Teacher isn't on TV :)

P.S. "First grade"?

Ugh Americanisms.

-PB

You've got it right about first grade teacher, since only that level of brain functioning is required to understand the point.
"Atheism is a religion (belief system), like abstinence is a sex position" :lol: :lol: :lol:

Yuck. People from Melbourne really don't know how to talk.

Well I could have said "Year One" except it's not year one in the states that have a preparatory class.

i don't know where this all originated from (the whole vs afro thing) but i actually disagree with maher (and ozboy) in this whole thing.

religion is defined a few ways, and how you interpret the actual word can decipher whether atheism is actually a religion. google define gives you two main results for the word religion:
1 - The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods.
2 - Details of belief as taught or discussed.

if you take it from number 1, you can say that atheism is actually anti-religion. if you take it from 2, you can say that atheism is a religion as your details of belief as taught or discussed are that you believe that there is no such thing as a superhuman controlling power. another word relating to religion are denomination, meaning a group that fly under the same religious views - which atheism falls into.

when i ask someone "what religion are you" i'm actually asking "what are your religious views", and believing there is no such thing as a superhuman controlling body is your view on religion, and hence your religious view, or your religion.

if i had a sentence to define religion in my own words, i'd say: religion is the view of a person or group on the existence of a god, or form of god.
atheism fits into my definition, as they believe there is no god.

i have a question - do i have to stop putting down Jedi as my religion in the census, as they do not worship a superhuman controlling body, but rather believe in the existence of the force - a non-entity that is everywhere?

Atheism is defined as the lack of a belief in god. Religion is defined as a system of beliefs.

"Do you believe in god?"
"No."
So you believe there is no god?"
"yes."

Hence belief. Hence religion.

So if I was to say, I believe Afro is a tosser.

Does that make it a religion?



































































:)

-PB

ITT: People don't understand the difference between the ag/gnostic & a/theist spectrum.

Yeah, but has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

Atheists don't necessarily believe that there is no god, that's a huge misconception.

Saying that you do not believe in a god is different from saying that you believe there is no god.

Just the same as when a jury finds someone "not guilty"; it's not declaring them "innocent", just that there is no enough evidence to determine guilt.

How am I supposed to define myself? Is there a term for someone who just doesn't care about any of it? Not religious, not atheist, just don't care.

Human.

Why wouldn't you say that you're an atheist? Is it the unfair stigma attached to a word that really has a simple belief, or do you have a belief in a higher power but don't let it concern your life (deist).

The simple answer would just be "non-religious", I guess.

Or... Apatheist... The crossing over of apathy and Atheism :)

Religion is a belief in god, of whatever style, number or format.

If you do not believe in a god 'system' then you cannot be religious.

I believe that the sun will rise again in around 8 to 10 hours. I believe it due to my knowledge of the universe, gravity, the solar system, the rotation of Earth around the solar system, and the knowledge that something to stop the sun from rising is extremely unlikely to happen.

Is that religion?

Edited by macktheknife: 21/2/2013 09:10:52 PM

Not a topic I know a lot about, but is there a term for someone who actively does state that there is no god, different to an Atheist, or are there different beliefs, for lack of a better word, amongst Atheists.

I myself don't worship a god or religion, but I'm not willing to state their isn't one until someone can prove to me there's not. I'm not anti-religion though, even if I don't agree with certain aspects of their beliefs, like them being against gay marriage, I also see that for some people religion is what they need in their life, and can help them to build a pretty good set of core values.

Haven't heard him say for a while but K.Rudds go to word when the Kevin07 campaign was happening was "I Believe" when he explained the reason behind his policies.

I think thats called agnostic, or you could say you're a skeptic.

wat

atheism is the belief that no diety exists.

not believing in a diety, but not specifically saying that there is no diety in existence, is agnostic.

That's not what Atheism is. It may be your perception of what it is, but not what the definition of the word is either literally or etomologically.

Gnosticism and Theism are not mutually exclusive. There are gnostic and agnostic theists and atheists. Gnosticism relates to knowledge, theism relates to belief.

This is a good diagram that gives a visual reference of what I'm talking about

http://actok.org/faqs/what-is-the-difference-between-atheism-and-agnosticism/agnosticvgnosticvatheistvtheist/

I shouldn't have let myself get sucked into this. I'm going to be angry with drunk afro when this goes 10+ pages

It's still a series of hypothetical rules that govern your actions (regardless of whether they're written in a text or not), whether that's of a sun-related observance or an un-theistic inclination.

There is still a core concept, inclination and belief that governs your actions. Hence religious observance.

The only other way to define it is an obsessive behaviour and thus, verging on insanity.

originally you said that saying atheists do not believe in god is a misconception. that diagram you linked, in both instances of atheist, indicate that both forms of atheist do not believe in god.

in my original post i literally said "atheists do not believe in god" and you interpreted it as me saying "atheists say they do not believe in god", which i didn't. whether they say it or not, atheists do not believe in god.

you've taken something really simple, and made it super complicated. for no seemingly reason. whether you're an atheist because you just don't believe in god (broadcastable or not), or whether you're an atheist because you're taking that really cxxx approach where you say "cmon theists, run at me with facts or i'm gonna stand here with my arms crossed" - you still believe there is no god.

and your belief is still a religious view, and a religion, in my opinion.

fwiw i'm an agnostic atheist, according to that chart you linked. i don't have a religion, don't really believe in god (but i'm open to the idea of god, if i see a miracle i can't explain except for god being real), but i don't go around debating the existence of god, and i don't judge people based on their religious views - i judge people on their actions instead.

You said that atheists believe there is no god, there's a distinct difference between that and not believing in a god. It's really not complex. And I didn't interpret what you said, I quoted it directly.

If someone is found not guilty, it doesn't necessarily mean they are found innocent.
If someone doesn't support the ALP, it doesn't necessarily mean that they support the LNP.
If someone doesn't like vanilla ice cream, it doesn't necessarily mean that they prefer chocolate.
Et cetera.

I don't understand how you can call yourself an agnostic atheist and non-religious in the same post as incorrectly asserting that "Atheism is a religion".

Somewhere, ozboy is having a chuckle :lol:

-PB

So... By your definition, all people are either religious or insane. Right.