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Annoyed with Terms and Symbols
Does anyone else feel like falling into a category such as "atheist", etc. is a bit annoying? Doesn't having to use a term to define yourself in society feel like buying a shredder because credit card companies sending you junk-mail with your information printed within?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jaume on -
Well, yes. If we were all atheists, there would be no need for that label. This 'category' is actually a meta-category: the category of people who don't belong to a religious category.
For this reason, when I have to fill a form with the question "What is your religion?", even when the list of possible choices include items like
◘ atheist/agnostic
◘ other: ........................
I usually refuse to check a box (since I don't have a religion, right?) and instead write a huge N/A all over the list. Makes me feel good for about an hour.
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Permalink Reply by Jim DePaulo on -
I usually write under other - Zen Baptist
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Permalink Reply by Tom Thompson on -
If you don't like the label then don't use it. I don't. The label has come to mean something quite apart and quite a lot more complicated that what the definition in the dictionary would have you think. I prefer a more accurate label.
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Permalink Reply by Tezcatlipoca on -
Non-theist?
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Permalink Reply by Tom Thompson on
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Do you define yourself in terms of what you are not? If so, then I guess the label fits.
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Permalink Reply by Tezcatlipoca on
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No, I don't define myself in terms of what I'm not. Not usually. I don't think it'd be a sufficient definition.
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Permalink Reply by Secular Forces 2013 on -
sure we've all heard the term, 'watch whatya ask for...'
Mountain Dew and adult rated holy books will turn your toenails yellow; cigarettes too
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Permalink Reply by Asa Watcher on -
Tezcatlipoca;
Why do you think you should define yourself in terms of something you lack (i.e. faith)?
Is your life so empty that you have nothing you really believe in to define your existence?
Atheism should not define anyone’s life.
Even so,
Tom Thompson observes:
***”The label has come to mean something quite apart and quite a lot more complicated that what the definition in the dictionary would have you think.”
That’s because we’ve let it.
Atheism is a perfectly good and concise word to describe someone who has no faith in the existence of a supreme being.
Even dictionaries don’t agree on the definition.
We are the ones who let others hang all sorts of miscellaneous crap on the word.
But I guess that is to be expected from people who won’t, themselves, accept the simplicity of atheism.
Go out and live for something you believe in.
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Permalink Reply by Keia on -
I must agree with what you said in the first paragraph. Labeling is something that must be done. Whether someone assumes something about me because of a specific label is not my problem!
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Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on -
I think I actually shied away from atheism for awhile b/c it seemed kind of "extreme". When I became atheist, though, it was accurate and I was proud of it.
Some of the smaller labels annoy me a little b/c they're like splitting hairs, and people have come up with so many different ways to describe the same or similar things. Some concepts are also too abstract to have much of a practical application, and so I don't care that much about arguing about them.
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Permalink Reply by Adia Lynette on -
No. I'm in lots of categories. I feel mulling over definitions is just as annoying as having them forcibly placed on you. My life is complicated enough.
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