The "religion" thread..

[STINNETT]

I agree that starting an atheist organization under "religious" status simply for tax exemption status is not the way to go, and could be prone to tax fraud and IRS investigations. That was just the first thing that came to my mind where religion gets special treatment from the government, and therefore has an advantage of power over the non-religious. I just think we should have an equal opportunity that every religion seems to have.

I agree that atheism is a complete absence in superstitious belief. Only by a small technicality in definition do I think atheism could fall under the religious category, not that I agree it should belong there! Until now, the best category I could place atheism in was a belief, but perhaps now after reading your comments a better category would simply be that atheism is an opinion.

I understand those frustrations, and from that perspective I could say I agree.

My personal opinion is that the word "atheist" is largely meaningless and pointless beyond the social stigma that it carries, and by that I mean that most people don't draw any other conclusions from the term but those. It's a label that theists require us to carry, and it perpetuates that devisiveness that James summed up so well.

I am an atheist, because I don't believe in any sort of God, but I generally choose not to define myself as such. I am "not-religious", or even "irreligious" when the question comes up.

 

[STINNETT]

i chose Atheist here because it was the closest choice.. i'm not actually an atheist. "Agnosticism" should have been included in this poll. in "Dawkins" parlance, i'm about a 6.5 on the TAP scale of agnosticism. Dawkins himself says he's a 6.9, a rating of 7 being total, 100% certainty of the non-existence of "god".

but like Dawkins, Hitchens, Ehrman, etc., i'm 100% sure the bible is bullshit.

If pinned down, I have to admit with full honesty that I am necessarily agnostic. But I am agnostic only to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies! (another Dawkins gem).

 

[James Murphy]

If pinned down, I have to admit with full honesty that I am necessarily agnostic. But I am agnostic only to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies! (another Dawkins gem).

yep, love that one!

 

[SocialNumb]

I voted "Atheism" because there is no Agnostic regardless of the fact that neither are a religion. It was me that gave the 1 star rating to the thread because of the obvious fail.

 

[Erkan]

My religion is:

 

[Metaltastic]

HAhahahhahahahaahahahahahahaha, nice Erkan

 

[motomoto]

I think you are all ignorant.


Atheist is a band:



See???

 

[STINNETT]

Okay, I change my vote because it could be said that I worship Atheist. hahaha

 

[drew_drummer]

Technically, atheism can fall under the religious definition, however a more accurate title for it would simply be a "belief."

It is the lack of a belief. End of story. Clue is in the name.

 

[paladin shredder]

It is the lack of a belief. End of story. Clue is in the name.

I could argue that "a non-belief is a belief" with the question, "do you believe there is no god?" in which case the correct answer is yes if you are an atheist, which I am. However, I understand this is simply word-trickery (used by Christians), and I don't feel like playing devil's advocate over technicalities in an imperfect language.

Also note that I said a belief is a "more accurate" category than religion, not that it is a good category to define atheism.

We completely agree the definition of atheism is the non-belief in a deity or the supernatural. My previous post made it clear that I should rethink the idea of atheism as a belief.

 

[Chryst Krispies]

I don't think we need any more "religion/belief" threads. I'm pretty sure we are beating a dead horse by now.

Most of the forum doesn't prescribe to a deity.

Will basically wins every one of these threads....

 

[Felix Neumann]

I´m member of the Glen Benton Church

 

[GarethSE]

really??

cheeky bastard haha

 

[mick thompson]

im a half christian half muslim - my irish birthcert says im catholic & my turkish birthcert says im muslim - im a bloody mess!

 

[Erkan]

im a half christian half muslim - my irish birthcert says im catholic & my turkish birthcert says im muslim - im a bloody mess!

This means you will go berserk any of these days and cause a massacre! YOU UNSTABLE RELIGIOUS TERRORIST!

 

[Line666]

This means you will go berserk any of these days and cause a massacre! YOU UNSTABLE RELIGIOUS TERRORIST!

Pretty sure I made this joke three months back.

Edit: Yep I did:

Irish Muslim? You've got twice the terrorist in you. Stay away from my house!

 

[lordtech]

This means you will go berserk any of these days and cause a massacre! YOU UNSTABLE RELIGIOUS TERRORIST!

Hope fully dat only goes for Mick

 

[Harry Hughes]

Atheist

 

[ahjteam]

(currently passive) lutheran


btw, I find it really funny that the evangelic-lutheran church in finland has a subdomain called http://www.evil.fi it redirects to the main site http://www.evl.fi

 

[garry666]

raised christian sent to private christian school for most of my life converted to tibetan buddhism about 2 years ago, specifically i follow the teachings of the sakya lineage.