Agreed.
Strong and weak Atheism.
- Thread starter aaqucnaona
- Start date
Agreed.
For one thing it's obvious you do a lot of texting. Might help if you were a little more deliberate in your writing. When you say you've only been an atheist for a couple of months. I have trouble with that. I was an atheist long before I was willing to acknowledge it. In grade school I wouldn't admit to it because I didn't want to be the only one that was different and I didn't really understand what I was feeling at the time. In high school atheist didn't get a lot of dates. Later I just didn't want to argue with my friends. I think the main problem was I just never met any atheist that I could talk to, to help clarify what it means to be an atheist, agnostic or theist. I started browsing science forums a few years ago, where there are many atheist and it wasn't long that I soon realized I've been an atheist in denial most of my life. So please tell us your story, so it will be easier for us to understand your background in relationship to what you are saying.
KJK, it sounds like you came to a long slow realization, whereas aaqucnaona may be having one of those brain-defragging moments?
Those are when you realize the main mental constructs of your life no longer make any sense and they suddenly fall apart on you, or you have some huge insight...and you suddenly have to refile half the crap in your brain.
Can be discombobulating.
Anytime someone says god talks to them I know they are crazy or they are liars. I usually go with the latter, and at that moment I lose interest in talking to them. After all what's the point of talking to a liar. As a matter of fact if you do continue talking to them, you give them hope that they can troll you.
No, just atheist.
Enmos
Valued Senior Member
Heh.. thanks for pointing that out. I just copy/pasted.
Hey...it's not like I've ever deniedthat
.I have come to think of the specific voice that tells me...erm...things...as a higher form of myself. Kind of the once and future me.
But what the h3ll do I know for certain about this stuff?
Believe what you want, or not. Whatever makes your boat float.
Hey...it's not like I've ever deniedthat
I have come to think of the specific voice that tells me...erm...things...as a higher form of myself. Kind of the once and future me.
But what the h3ll do I know for certain about this stuff?
Believe what you want, or not. Whatever makes your boat float.
Well if you have other personalities, why have you never introduced them?
It's a rather futile exercise to think that a poll will magically make someone understand weak and strong atheism. This very same topic cyclically repeats itself on sciforums and the best outcome to date is the OP making him/her-self feel better.
If you actually want to help people's understanding then you have to understand what your up against. Some people genuinely cannot comprehend the difference between "I don't believe X is true" and "I believe X is false". Other people, such as SAM, understand the difference very well and will purposely play dumb in an effort to invalidate the difference (which if successful would place you within a common definition of atheism which you would not identify with... and in someone like SAM's mind, that's one step closer to crushing atheism and sucking you into theism).
My suggestion would be an initiative to slightly alter the definition of atheism so it correctly applies to all atheists. A suggested definition could be:
Atheist - Someone who does not accept the statement "God exists" as being true.
I think it would correctly encompass what are presently weak atheists, strong atheists, and anything in between.
Yazata
Valued Senior Member
Could that be because... there isn't any difference?
There certainly is a difference between - a) believing in not-x, and b) not believing in x.
It's possible to imagine b) applying to somebody who has never heard of x and has no beliefs about it one way or the other. Or perhaps in b) we are talking about something like a stone that doesn't have beliefs, hence the stone doesn't believe in x (or in anything else).
But when a person actually comes out and says "I don't believe that x is true", they seem to be indicating that they do possess beliefs, have heard of x and reject its truth. And that seems to be very close to saying that they believe x is false. (Assuming that we accept two-valued logic etc.)
You tell me. One is acceptance and one is rejection. Do human beings process these identically? If they don't then there is a difference.
Think about the situation where evidence is absent or inconclusive. It's not uncommon for people to reject ideas but not accept that they are conclusively false.
Excellent post. Never has any single post cleared up the mess in my mind better than you have. Take a bow and a hat [and wear em both!]. Ok. Now, if we can still chart ourselves, somewhat like : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Inglehart_Values_Map.svg
Can we do it in like beilief and non belief of god on one axis and whether he is knowable on the other axis?
I told it:
http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=111277
and u were the first to comment! U dont remember? Or do u want me to elaborate?
Exactly. Thats it, that is all I wanted to say.
@ chimpkin & KillJoyKlown
He's just talking to himself and everyone does it all the time, its the primary way of making decisions or non reflective thinking. It isnt a voice in ur head or a personality in the normal sense. I wonder which one of the 3 [talking 2 1self, voice in head i.e. halucination, split personality] it is when religious people claim to have a revelation?
He's just talking to himself and everyone does it all the time, its the primary way of making decisions or non reflective thinking. It isnt a voice in ur head or a personality in the normal sense. I wonder which one of the 3 [talking 2 1self, voice in head i.e. halucination, split personality] it is when religious people claim to have a revelation?
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Yes, I do text some, but yes, atleast my OPs Must be much more well written. I think my best written post was on my journey to atheism and that was completely spontaneous! Can u give me some links on planning and writting a post?
And this practically means that you impose your own interpretation of their intentions and actions on other people, and then judge them according to that imposition?
That's what my therapist thinks too...I'm not nutty enough to have Dissociative Identity Disorder.
Now explain why I have several of them and they argue...
At least the ones that yelled at me incoherently shut up a while back...those would hit me and I'd jump painfully and wince.
I dunno, what's their diagnosis?
Sweet Zombie jesus on a stick! U really are over the edge. Someone take him away! He's gonna eat me! Help! Nooo........
I dunno, what's their diagnosis?
Idk, but its a hell lot better than urs.
Lols, I wonder if they ever consider if the voices are actually real.