On Atheism
May. 11th, 2009 12:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sethgrayA long while ago I posted a comment on a youtube video. I don't recall exactly what was said, but just today I noticed in my youtube inbox I had a reply to that comment. Basically it amounted to "even Atheists have religion because they believe there is no god." (Emphasis mine.)
No. No, no, no. Religion is not just the belief in something, it is the specific belief in a higher, supernatural power of some sort. It is not an umbrella term for belief of any kind. I believe the sun will rise tomorrow. That does not make me religious.
Not to mention that their reply was flawed at the very deepest level. Atheism is not about belief, it is about the absence of belief. Atheism is not "I believe in no god." That would imply there is something out there to not believe in. Atheism is "I do not believe in god." There has been no evidence I've yet come across to induce belief of any sort, negative or otherwise. It's not that I'm choosing not to have belief in any one god, it's that I do not believe any kind of god exists in the first place.
To go back to my first example, I believe the sun will rise because I've seen it do so every day of my life. This is based on an objective reality that will not change if I choose to not to believe in it. God has no objective presence, and thus there is no belief. I'm not choosing to not believe, it's simply that no belief exists.
It's a subtle but important distinction, and one I wish more people would become aware of before they go engaging in debates. But this is the internet, after all, and expecting people to actually know what they're talking about before their mouths open is pretty much a lost cause to begin with.
No. No, no, no. Religion is not just the belief in something, it is the specific belief in a higher, supernatural power of some sort. It is not an umbrella term for belief of any kind. I believe the sun will rise tomorrow. That does not make me religious.
Not to mention that their reply was flawed at the very deepest level. Atheism is not about belief, it is about the absence of belief. Atheism is not "I believe in no god." That would imply there is something out there to not believe in. Atheism is "I do not believe in god." There has been no evidence I've yet come across to induce belief of any sort, negative or otherwise. It's not that I'm choosing not to have belief in any one god, it's that I do not believe any kind of god exists in the first place.
To go back to my first example, I believe the sun will rise because I've seen it do so every day of my life. This is based on an objective reality that will not change if I choose to not to believe in it. God has no objective presence, and thus there is no belief. I'm not choosing to not believe, it's simply that no belief exists.
It's a subtle but important distinction, and one I wish more people would become aware of before they go engaging in debates. But this is the internet, after all, and expecting people to actually know what they're talking about before their mouths open is pretty much a lost cause to begin with.
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no subject
on 2009-05-12 03:13 am (UTC)dumbpeople could've mixed that up.