Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Unseen on June 8, 2012 at 10:58pm

One can be a nontheist.

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Permalink Reply by kOrsan on June 9, 2012 at 4:27am

You know what the a in atheism means right?

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Permalink Reply by Amy L. Cook on June 9, 2012 at 4:35pm

Nontheist is a broader in meaning than atheist. It encompasses many diferent viewpoints other than just "there is no god".

 

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Permalink Reply by Unseen on June 8, 2012 at 11:18pm

Why did you use the phraseology "Agnostic doesn't count btw, its not a position of faith, its a position of knowledge; a separate issue" instead of "Agnostic doesn't count btw, its not a position of belief, its a position of knowledge; a separate issue"?

The way we talk on this board the dichotomy is typically belief vs knowledge not faith vs knowledge.

When one uses belief vs knowledge, the issues are not necessarily totally separate.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Diaz on June 9, 2012 at 12:15am

I think a person can be in a position were they don't know what to believe. Anyone who has been very religious (as I was for some time) will have this problem for some time. Until they pursue answers more ambitiously.

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Permalink Reply by Amy L. Cook on June 9, 2012 at 4:44pm

That is pretty much what agnostic means.

 

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Permalink Reply by Fluffy McDeath on June 9, 2012 at 3:11am

No.

Can a person be both a Catholic and a Non-Catholic? No. It's a definitional thing. The line is drawn by the meaning of the word and it's exclusive. If you are a theist then you believe that there is at least one god. If you don't believe that then you are an atheist. If you are unsure that there is a god then you don't believe that there is a god - so you're an atheist. If you say that there is some remote possibility that there might be a god then you don't believe that there IS a god so you are an atheist. If you say you are agnostic and we can't know either way and you like to call yourself an agnostic then you do not believe there is a god so you are an atheist.

If you are a theist then you are convinced that there is a god to the same degree that you believe that you exist and to the same level of confidence you have that the wall you lean against exists.

If you are in any way unconvinced, if you don't just KNOW there is a god - you are an atheist.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Diaz on June 9, 2012 at 9:35am

I disagree to some level. There was a point were I was confused and did not know what to believe. I was neither a theist nor an atheist. I was trapped between the argument of intelligent design and the arguments that refute intelligent design. I just did not know where to go, and one day, out of the blue I just could not believe anymore. No real choice on the matter it just happened.

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Permalink Reply by Doug Reardon on June 13, 2012 at 11:44pm

Well, I'm sure the catholic church still claims me, but I don't claim them!

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Permalink Reply by Michael on June 9, 2012 at 7:19am

I don't think you can. Its a binary position.

You either hold a belief in gods or you don't.

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Permalink Reply by Karen Lollis on June 14, 2012 at 9:42pm

I'm with @Eric - it's not necessarily binary. I was in that betwixt and between for awhile. I couldn't say whether I believed there was a god or not. And I wasn't quite agnostic either - because I take agnosticism to be more objective - not "I don't know" but "it's not knowable." So I was, for awhile, neither theist nor atheist.

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Permalink Reply by Shabaka Tecumseh on June 9, 2012 at 11:06am

Depends on how one defines Atheist.  

"Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in theexistence of deities.^[1] In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities.^[2][3] Most inclusively, atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist."

However one can believe that there's a SPIRITUAL connection to all things WITHOUT the presence of a deity. Would they then be atheist?

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