To be clear: Atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods.

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Sherlock Holmes

To be clear: Atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods.

Post #1

Post by Sherlock Holmes »

To be clear the title of this thread is false.

There are currently several purported definitions of atheism, personally I always use the real one, the established one, the one used historically in books on theology, philosophy and so on, the one that's been around for hundreds of years.

But there are some who like to use a different definition one made up one afternoon by Antony Flew in the 1970s in a rather obscure book The Presumption of Atheism.

Nobody paid much attention to this until relatively recently where it became fashionable amongst militant atheists, some of whom even insist that Flew's definition is the true definition.

You can read more about this hand waving and other foot stamping here.

It's also worth noting that there are plenty of atheists who rely on the historic definition and do not agree with this attempt to redefine it, so any pretense that all atheists adopt the "lack of belief" view is false, many atheists do not share that definition at all.

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Re: To be clear: Atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods.

Post #181

Post by Bust Nak »

[Replying to William in post #180]

Yeah, it would be different, less funding on military for a start.

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Re: To be clear: Atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods.

Post #182

Post by William »

[Replying to Bust Nak in post #181]

So you reduce military funding worldwide?

Where would you direct the $?

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Re: To be clear: Atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods.

Post #183

Post by Bust Nak »

William wrote: Wed Feb 16, 2022 12:26 pm So you reduce military funding worldwide?

Where would you direct the $?
Into renewable and nuclear energy, phasing out carbon based fuel, and into general scientific research on all fields.

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Re: To be clear: Atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods.

Post #184

Post by William »

Bust Nak wrote: Wed Feb 16, 2022 1:00 pm
William wrote: Wed Feb 16, 2022 12:26 pm So you reduce military funding worldwide?

Where would you direct the $?
Into renewable and nuclear energy, phasing out carbon based fuel, and into general scientific research on all fields.
What do you envision the main changes the ripple effects of that order would manifest into the world?

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Re: To be clear: Atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods.

Post #185

Post by Bust Nak »

[Replying to William in post #184]

Slowing down global warming in the short term, and reversing it in the medium term, then spacefaring civilisation in the long term. I would like to ask you, where are you going with this line of inquiry? Perhaps you should skip to your point, if it wasn't just out of simple curiosity.

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