Let’s Talk About Atheism, Agnosticism and Theism!

Chipz himself may not be on crack, but he's either suffered some sort of psychological atavism, or has had his forum account "borrowed".
 
Aqueous Id,

Socrates was accused of atheism for belief in a single God. Some people confuse theism with Deism.

On the face of it there is no difference between ''theism'' and ''deism'', they both believe in God.


But what seems odd to me are that segment of (mostly Christian, usu. fundamentalist) believers I encounter who deny that they practice a religion, as if, in their eyes, it somehow invalidates the "truth" of a person's beliefs to acknowledge that it is in fact a religion.

The practise of ''religion'' are lessons in how one should live their life according to what they believe, so some practises of ''religion'' are undesirable (not different to attending a school where the integrity and enthusiasm are lacking or perverse), because people find that the establishment has nothing to do with God (a good example, although a little extreme, is the Jim Jones movement, who was in fact an atheist, but preached about God), and more to do with the cult of personality.


They will tend to call themselves Theists, as if any other label devalues those beliefs.


They call themselves ''theists'' because that best describes them. It has nothing to do with devaluing or the devaluing of beliefs.


To me it's partly semantics and it's partly something akin to dishonesty - at least a form of denial - to refuse the label at face value.

It is what it is. Dishonesty is when you say or do something knowing it not to be correct but try to give the appearance of correctness. Some, if not most, religions have become something other than ''God-centered''. They talk like God is the object of their worship, but the religion itself, and the people who profit from it, are the objects of worship.

A good case of this is in the Bible. Cain offered to God very elaborately, but God wasn't impressed because he could see that Cain worshiped himself at heart and so his offering was tainted. Either you believe in God or you don't, there is no middle ground, and the ''belief'' is etched into your moment to moment activities, even your sub-conscious ones.


jan.
 
A more scientific way to define what is religion, atheism and agnosticism should be base on the side of the brain being used. Concepts like God come from the right brain. But, there are other perceptions that are also generated this way. Mother nature is a right brain concept but is not called religion using the current subjective standards that can be manipulated with politics.

The brain side would create an objective standard not subject to the liars and con arts of politics. Below is a chart that shows and compares the types of perception as a function of which side of the brain processes which types of information.

If we compare conservatism and liberalism, liberalism is about feelings whereas conservative is about ideas and logic. That is the first criteria and results in liberalism scoring one for religion, and conservative is more scientific.

The next criteria is detail versus big picture. Liberal is more ends justifies the means including using crime with the IRS; win at all costs even by cheating. The score is liberal is religion=2 conservative=0.

The third is facts rule (left) versus imagination rules (right). Progressive is about unproven changes that don't have the facts yet. Conservative stick with what has the data due to longevity. Liberal is religion=3.

The fourth is words (left) versus symbols. I would give the left brain to liberals since PC control is big on language. Conservative is more about mom and apple pie, family, liberty, freedom which are all symbols. Liberal=3 Conservative=1

The fifth is present and past versus present and future. Conservative clings to the past while progressive is about the future; so liberal=4 and conservative=1

Maybe others can continue this as an exercise. But my calculations have the liberals more right brained and therefore religious. However, neither get a perfect right brain score, therefore both are agnostic, with liberalism having a more religious agnosticism.
left-right-brain2.gif
 
Back
Top