Comment by ty on September 2, 2008 at 3:37pm

Well done... but I'd be somewhat less willing to give atheism even a rudimentary or superficial label of "religious" ...

Comment by Jeffrey Hunter on September 2, 2008 at 5:10pm

I loled.

On a more useful note, however, one of the most common misconceptions is that "atheism" actually defines anything at all...in all truth, it literally means "Without god".

I guess, in a sense, you actually COULD proclaim yourself an atheistic Christian, if you were to observer the rituals but decide that god itself does not fit. Typically, once you've removed god, however, there is little to no reason to continue practicing somewhat pointless rituals...for some who grew up in the church, however, I understand that these rituals give them comfort, even though they have given up the idea of a god.

Personally, I believe this to be a rare case, and likely is not a case that lasts very long...either the person will return to Christianity as a believer (likely caving to social pressures of their church and family), or abandon it altogether (either because of the false promise that is inherent in it, or due to the same social pressures trying to pull them back having the opposite effect of making them feel so uncomfortable that they are compelled to leave).

This is why I define myself more as a scientist than an atheist...atheism is a definition of absence, sort of how black is a definition of lacking any color, or void is a definition of lacking any matter. Scientist is the more interesting definition, and tells more about me than the other definition.

I will stop rambling now ;)

Comment by ty on September 2, 2008 at 9:31pm

hmmm... i'd say atheist means, more literally, not a theist... which i am certainly not... what bugs me, though, is what people think you mean when you use the term atheist...

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