Theist or Atheist?

A public poll so members will know whether or not you're religious, I for one would die before worshiping fantasy!

 

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Too ambiguous. What god are we talking about, here?

 

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Are you being serious? :bugeye:

 

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Yes.

 

I would think that believing in any God makes you a theist.

 

I agree, but that given, the poll is still too ambiguous (as are most polls).

 

Is theism calling something that you believe exists a god? Or, is it defining what a god should be and then deciding whether or not you believe that definition represents anything real? And if it's the latter, then what is the definition?

A former member here deified Fallout Boy. I'm pretty sure about the existence of that god. Does that make me a theist?

 

It's the former. Few theists bother to do the latter, preferring a vague undefined faith in "something higher".

 

Do you believe him to be God and praise or hate him as such?
Do you acknowledge him as a deity?

 

Suppose I believe a sentient being created the universe, and that it is called God by most, but I neither praise, hate, nor revere it as anything special. Am I a theist?

Suppose I have a sense of overwhelming awe and reverence at the splendor and vastness of the universe that bore me. Am I a theist?

Suppose I call myself a theist. I worship and pray to a snowball that I have kept in my freezer since 1992. I believe the Judeo-Christian God, and all other so-called gods, are mere fantasies, on the other hand. Am I really a theist?

Suppose I believe there is some kind of ultimate reality that is mostly beyond our comprehension. Do I believe in God? If so, that would make me a theist, regardless of whether I actually worship this reality, wouldn't it?

 

Yes.

No.

No.

No.

No.

 

Then to you, spidergoat, I am probably an atheist. On the other hand, by one_raven's reckoning, or my own, I might be a theist. Unless there's a more agreeable rationale for establishing theism than this, the only meaning we can get out of this poll is what the members here call themselves. That would make theism nothing more than an arbitrary, useless label.

 

I should say, with the snowball thing, it depends if you think the snowball has supernatural properties.

 

What about limiting theism to the God described by the vastness of theological texts?
This would thus differentiate it from Deism etc.

 

The vastness of theological texts also disagree on what God is. I guess if you at least picked one, though, that would make you undoubtedly a theist.

Still, the question is far too ambiguous. And now we're talking about following a religion, not believing in a god. So the indication still isn't really theism, but something else strongly associated with it.