Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ted Walter on November 1, 2012 at 9:33pm

I select A.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Monroe on November 2, 2012 at 8:38am

I like A best. It's a rejection, and B is an absolute statement I could never prove.

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Permalink Reply by Raving Hillbilly on November 2, 2012 at 10:00am

Someone suggests below that both A. and B. are correct. I would suggest that each individual would have to answer for him/herself.  I am convinced that all the gods created by humans are not unproven but rather impossible in their own terms.  So B for me.

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Permalink Reply by Mathew T. on November 2, 2012 at 10:43am

Michael Brice is correct - both A and B are good answers. I would add the caveat, that though I think most atheists would identify as A (agnostic atheists), that B is equally as valid (gnostic atheists). We simply divide into 2 demographics of atheism, much like agnostic and gnostic theists. 

The belief that there are NO gods (in my opinion), gnostic atheism,  and the assertion that places the burden of proof on us - is something I tend to stay away from altogether, because one cannot demonstrate a negative ;)

Love the poll, Dave! Some very interesting responses on here!

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Permalink Reply by John Aultman on November 2, 2012 at 12:53pm

C. There is no evidence of a god or god's as prescribed by any religion therefore I do not believe a god or gods exist.

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Wesner on November 4, 2012 at 7:57pm

atheism is:

A. the disbelief of gods
B. the belief that there are no gods
C. Other (explain.)

I'm afraid I don't understand the difference between A and B.  I disbelieve in gods, and I believe that there are no gods, though I prefer "agnostic" just in case -- for example, I wouldn't argue with Einstein's belief that some forces could be called gods as they participate in creation.  But gods as I think of them, I find unbelievable.

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Permalink Reply by Sonja M. Williams on November 4, 2012 at 8:30pm

I pretty much like the definition that "Freethought Today" (from the Freedom From Religion Foundation) uses for a freethinker (or atheist for that matter): A person who forms opinions about religion on the basis of reason, independently of tradition, authority, or established belief.

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Permalink Reply by Alan Perlman on November 5, 2012 at 12:29pm

Dave,

A and B seem the same to me.  In Hitch-22, Christopher Hitchens recounts Salman Rushdie's comment on the title of God Is Not Great: it's too long, by exactly one word.

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Permalink Reply by Joshua 'flobi' Hatfield on January 19, 2013 at 8:54pm

Don't know if you're still compiling data, but I'm going with revised A. 

I read the Wikipedia's atheism page recently and it outlines "weak atheism" basically revised A and "strong atheism" as B as a measure to clarify.  Myself I would consider revised A.

Regarding the original A, when I was in the process of investigating whether to reject Paul's books of the Bible (which I did a while before I scrapped the rest of it), I had to undergo a study of the prefix "dis."  While my study was hardly academic (it was just a few word comparisons), here is my conclusion: While "mis" "un" and "dis" are all similar, "dis" generally seems to indicate an active opposition like in disconnect and discover, "mis" seems to generally operate as some alternate wrongness like in misfire and misplace, and "un" seems to have a very passive negative as in uninterested and unavailable.  I understand there are words that don't fit this scheme entirely, but I think this is their general use.

A such, I would define the strong atheist (per Wikipedia's classification) as disbelief in gods, weak atheist as unbelief in gods and theist as misbelief in gods or misbelief in a god, lol. 

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Permalink Reply by Steph S. on January 20, 2013 at 12:29am

Lack of belief in a deity.

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Permalink Reply by Sgsupernova on January 20, 2013 at 7:44am

My answer is A

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Permalink Reply by Alan Perlman on January 20, 2013 at 9:54am

I see no diff. between A and B and would agree with either or both.

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