Can you be an atheist?

[Wootah]

We are either simply part of the world existing for a brief time, in a massive universe, with death waiting and no purpose and meaninglessness and not in control of anything or we can create something and be something. This is atheism on one end and creation on the other.

Nope. Atheism is the lack of belief in god/gods.

It's why I don't believe there are atheists. No one can truly hold that view and I certainly don't think any atheists on this site really drink that cup to the full. I tried. Once. A long time ago.

Wrong again. I am an atheist and there are a whole bunch of us.


Tcg

All right clearly this is too far from me. So some corrections, please.

1. Everything is defined by its properties.
2. Atheism is defined as not having a property (a lack of belief in god/gods).
3. Atheism isn't possible.

Literally can't be an atheist it is the absence of a belief. It's like defining an apple by it not having a banana attached to it.

Is anything else defined by not having a property? Flaws, counter-examples, in this critique please?

I went searching on the internet and found a past version of me here. I posted this back in 2012 lol: https://forum.philosophynow.org/viewtopic.php?t=9013

So a hole might be a counter-example?
Atheist.
Bachelor.
Counter-example.
Doppelganger.
Ex-Catholic.
Foreigner.
darkness is the absence of light
cold is the absence of heat
happiness is the absence of misery

I'll circle back to these counter examples later after thinking about them.

So, Can you be an atheist?

[rstrats]

edit: ...there is no word for the lack of belief in the easter bunny...

How about aeasterbunnyist.

[Wootah]

- Soft drinks lack alcohol, as opposed to hard drinks.
Nah.

"Nah?" Look it up.

Oh hey, this might be a language thing. In Australia, a soft drink is Coke or Lemonade, but yes also hard drinks are alcoholic and soft drinks are non-alcoholic.

I had the first usage which come to think of it is the second usage. But my nah was because I thought to myself, 'no one defines Sprite/Coke/Fanta/Dr Pepper as without alcohol'.

[PolytheistWitch]

There are spiritual practices that involve no belief in gods. There are witchcraft, yoga, Reiki and meditation to name a few. So not only can you be an atheist you can be a spiritual one.

[TRANSPONDER]

There are spiritual practices that involve no belief in gods. There are witchcraft, yoga, Reiki and meditation to name a few. So not only can you be an atheist you can be a spiritual one.

Indeed. It has been asked 'can an atheist believe in the supernatural?' Technically, by definition, yes, provided that supernatural thing does not fit the definition of a god. The definition of atheist excludes belief or even reasonable crediting of anything that fits the god - definition (aside from waggish defs,like 'Cosmic physics' or 'the workings of nature').

In practice, however, atheists , particularly 'thinking' (rather than tabula raxa ) atheists, tend to be rationalists and do not subscribe to 'supernatural' claims, which by their very nature, are scientifically unverified.

[PolytheistWitch]

In practice, however, atheists , particularly 'thinking' (rather than tabula raxa ) atheists

Well that took less than 24 hours.

[TRANSPONDER]

In practice, however, atheists , particularly 'thinking' (rather than tabula raxa ) atheists

Well that took less than 24 hours.

Indeed. Atheism is in fact very simple. As indeed for that matter is Christianity (One who believes in Jesus as Christ). But a lot of supplementary questions can be put about both, including, I suppose, misunderstandings and misrepresentations.

[Tcg]

There are spiritual practices that involve no belief in gods. There are witchcraft, yoga, Reiki and meditation to name a few. So not only can you be an atheist you can be a spiritual one.

I've practiced both yoga and meditation. Neither are spiritual. The first is physical and the latter is mental which is actually also physical.


Tcg

[TRANSPONDER]

There are spiritual practices that involve no belief in gods. There are witchcraft, yoga, Reiki and meditation to name a few. So not only can you be an atheist you can be a spiritual one.

I've practiced both yoga and meditation. Neither are spiritual. The first is physical and the latter is mental which is actually also physical.


Tcg

Yes. the term 'spiritual' is being used loosely here, but I don't want to get argumentative about it. I have dome meditation Buddhist style and still do. Not in hopes to be 'enlightened' but as a mental practice. How it seems is that the'supernatural' is just the 'natural' that we don't understand (if it exists at all), and may well be regarded as 'science' at any time it is validated and understood. This is why I am very chary of efforts (as I believe I sniffed not too long ago) to use Woo - end cosmological physics to try to market the case for the miraculous.

[PolytheistWitch]

[Replying to TRANSPONDER in post #26]

I meant being insulted for being a theist. You guys never fail.

[PolytheistWitch]

[Replying to Tcg in post #27]

They certainly can be for people who are inclined to that I'm sorry that you don't find any sort of spiritual application for it if your life.