Tab
Just call me Eris.
Oh, stop playing the victim. You just learned a valuable lesson here. It is good to have you back here for now.
Is that a good example, Tab? I do not have to “believe” in those numbers nor the result. I know them. They exist.
This may not be a good example but I will use it anyway. Let us take for example the fact that you have not been on this forum for quite some time. No one saw you. You did not post under your old username{s}. There was enough evidence and knowledge to say that, in fact, Tab has not been here. Why would I choose to simply “believe” this as opposed to “knowing” it? Yes, I know. We ought not to assume.
Anyway, is it not more logical to say that I have experienced and observed the absence of something? Where does belief come into play there?
I am not an atheist but an agnostic …BUT I hold the below views.
Atheism is one thing: A lack of belief in gods.
Atheism is not an affirmative belief that there is no god nor does it answer any other question about what a person believes. It is simply a rejection of the assertion that there are gods. Atheism is too often defined incorrectly as a belief system. To be clear: Atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods.
Older dictionaries define atheism as “a belief that there is no God.” Clearly, theistic influence taints these definitions. The fact that dictionaries define Atheism as “there is no God” betrays the (mono)theistic influence. Without the (mono)theistic influence, the definition would at least read “there are no gods.”
[b]Atheism is not a belief system nor is it a religion.
While there are some religions that are atheistic (certain sects of Buddhism, for example), that does not mean that atheism is a religion. To put it in a more humorous way: If atheism is a religion, then not collecting stamps is a hobby. lol
Despite the fact that atheism is not a religion, atheism is protected by many of the same Constitutional rights that protect religion. That, however, does not mean that atheism is itself a religion, only that our sincerely held (lack of) beliefs are protected in the same way as the religious beliefs of others. Similarly, many “interfaith” groups will include atheists. This, again, does not mean that atheism is a religious belief.[/b]
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atheists.org/activism/resou … t-atheism/
The dust shall never clear.