Today, my mom said...

Atheism is an oxymoron.

I can only assume she views atheism as a religion. Any other conclusions? Arguments?

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Permalink Reply by Dustin on January 5, 2011 at 10:56pm

The statement your mother made makes absolutely no sense.

Even if Atheism WAS a religion - it would still make absolutely no sense as you can still be part of a religion and NOT believe in a Deity.

She failed on both counts. But I'm sure you still love her :)

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Permalink Reply by Dave G on January 6, 2011 at 12:41am

I suspect that she didn't didn't think it through. An oxymoron requires two mutually contradictory aspects of a whole concept. Atheism is a single aspect, the absence of a belief in a deity. There's nothing for it to be self-contradictory with. To do so, you'd have to add an additional aspect, such as an atheist who believes in a god.

Perhaps she's simply falling for the common misconception that atheists actually believe in a god, but are just angry at him/her.

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Permalink Reply by Eoganacht on January 6, 2011 at 8:34pm

I think a slap the face is the sound of a one handed clap. Just saying

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Permalink Reply by Mo Trauen on January 6, 2011 at 5:50pm

I suspect the "contradiction" in her mind is between a. god exists and b. you think he doesn't. That would actually be an example of irony, but I don't think she understands that.

Religious people think that the existence of god is "obvious" and "undeniable" because there is "no other explanation" for the universe. They treat the two issues as one in the same and engage in very circular reasoning regarding them.

http://goodatheistarguments.blogspot.com/2010/09/believers-ask-well...

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Permalink Reply by Alex on January 8, 2011 at 11:08am

I think Dave G summed it up pretty good.

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Permalink Reply by Adrian Quantum on January 6, 2011 at 5:58am

she should explain her logic and complete the sentence..

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Permalink Reply by claudio fernando maciel on January 6, 2011 at 8:05am

Atheism is a religion as much as NOT collecting stamps is a hobby, or NOT smoking a habit.

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Permalink Reply by Laura Foster on January 6, 2011 at 10:57am

This is why oxymorons consist of two words, like "silent scream" or the humorous "military intelligence."

Or "Microsoft Works"

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Permalink Reply by Mo Trauen on January 6, 2011 at 2:22pm

That's a good one!

Moria, if you really want to get your digs in, just say:

"Do you even know what an oxymoron is? It's a phrase containing two inherently contradictory concepts, like 'religious logic', not a word that stands for single concept, like 'atheism'."