Is Atheism a religion?

mooliki

I'm sorry, I don't understand a thing anyone has said. But then being an Adictionarist, I don't follow the dogmatic mythology set down by the Dictionary you all seemingly worship in your use of Language.

...this thread is surely some form of atheistic purgatory.

Gbear

mooliki wrote: »

I'm sorry, I don't understand a thing anyone has said. But then being an Adictionarist, I don't follow the dogmatic mythology set down by the Dictionary you all seemingly worship in your use of Language.

...this thread is surely some form of atheistic purgatory.

The name we give it is in the tags

DuPLeX

Gbear wrote: »

Calling myself those things is a label but so is "male", "white", "tall", "irish". I can't escape from those labels and trying to do so would be childish.

all those things are out of your control yes they are not labels they are (presumably) physical facts which you cant escape and may be used to define you. But they differ from label Like Atheism in so far as any "ism" is matching and fitting your beliefs to those of the given group ((Groupthink)) . The belief that you can't escape from labels is your opinion and insisting on applying them to yourself is your right .
But is in my opinion a product of the herd mentality.
I choose not to have those labels applied to me.

MagicMarker

DuPLeX wrote: »

all those things are out of your control yes they are not labels they are (presumably) physical facts which you cant escape and may be used to define you. But they differ from label Like Atheism in so far as any "ism" is matching and fitting your beliefs to those of the given group ((Groupthink)) . The belief that you can't escape from labels is your opinion and insisting on applying them to yourself is your right .
But is in my opinion a product of the herd mentality.
I choose not to have those labels applied to me.

Whatever you say DuPLeX.

Christ there is some amount of stupidity displayed in this thread.

DuPLeX

MagicMarker wrote: »

Whatever you say DuPLeX.

Christ there is some amount of stupidity displayed in this thread.

again with the personal attacks .. my point is beginning to prove itself over and over . ...
My work here is nearly done .

MagicMarker

DuPLeX wrote: »

again with the personal attacks .. my point is beginning to prove itself over and over . ...
My work here is nearly done .

What point is that? I think I missed it.

DuPLeX

MagicMarker wrote: »

What point is that? I think I missed it.

Yes I think you did ......:rolleyes:

Gbear

DuPLeX wrote: »

all those things are out of your control yes they are not labels they are (presumably) physical facts which you cant escape and may be used to define you. But they differ from label Like Atheism in so far as any "ism" is matching and fitting your beliefs to those of the given group ((Groupthink)) . The belief that you can't escape from labels is your opinion and insisting on applying them to yourself is your right .
But is in my opinion a product of the herd mentality.
I choose not to have those labels applied to me.

You can't choose what you believe. It's like the fallacy of Pascal's wager where you pretend to believe in God just so on the off chance that he does exist, he won't make you burn in Hell(as if he couldn't see through your charade).

You either believe it or you don't. Being an atheist is no more a choice than being tall or any of the other adjectives I've mentioned.

That isn't an opinion and it isn't up for debate. Continuing to bury your head in the sand about it, doing semantic gymnastics around it and trying to maintain your sense of superiority won't change that.

DuPLeX

Gbear wrote: »

You either believe it or you don't. Being an atheist is no more a choice than being tall or any of the other adjectives I've mentioned.

Nonsense

That isn't an opinion and it isn't up for debate.

Dogma !

Continuing to bury your head in the sand about it, doing semantic gymnastics around it and trying to maintain your sense of superiority won't change that.

Pabulum!
If I wanted to feel superior I'd just Chime in with the Atheists Sneering at the Christians Or the Hindus sneering at the Sikhs .... or ....

Sarky

I think you DO want to feel superior. I think you want it really badly. So badly that you'll try and put other people down just so you can pretend you're a little higher. That you'll ignore facts and reality in the hopes that they'll go away and stop making you feel so small. So badly that you'll whine, and yell, and repeat the same old nonsense over and over again as if that will be enough to make it true. So badly that you'll stamp your foot, throw your toys out of your pram and declare yourself persecuted when you realise how wrong you are.

I could be wrong, of course. But you'll have to show me some evidence that I am. And I don't think you can do that.

Gbear

DuPLeX wrote: »

Nonsense

So you can choose what you believe?

You can fool yourself. You can do mental gymnastics to avoid facing home truths, but you can't truly choose to believe something.

The other possibility is that you're still debating what the word "atheist" means and at this stage it doesn't even matter what a dictionary says because we've quite clearly outlined what we mean when we say it, as is often required for words in debates, and that definition (incidentally, the actual definition) conforms with what I said.

DuPLeX wrote: »

Dogma !

Dublin is the capital of the Republic of Ireland.

Oh ****. There I go again with my facts dogma.

Opticom

DuPLeX wrote: »

again with the personal attacks ..

http://www.atheist.ie/ - Promoting atheism, reason, and an ethical, secular state

You need to get with the programme buddy

Gbear

Opticom wrote: »

http://www.atheist.ie/ - Promoting atheism, reason, and an ethical, secular state

You need to get with the programme buddy

Again, that doesn't make it a religion and not every atheist is a member of Atheist Ireland.

In fact nearly no athiests are members of Atheist Ireland.

That includes all the religious atheists in Japan who practice Shinto - a religion based on non-theistic spirituality.

Opticom

Gbear wrote: »

Again, that doesn't make it a religion and not every atheist is a member of Atheist Ireland.

In fact nearly no athiests are members of Atheist Ireland.

That includes all the religious atheists in Japan who practice Shinto - a religion based on non-theistic spirituality.

Atheism IS NOT a religion and you do not have to paid up member Atheist Ireland to be an Atheist and share its ideals, and you forgot Buddhism which is also a religion / philosophy that can be based on non-theistic spirituality.

Gbear

Opticom wrote: »

Atheism IS NOT a religion and you do not have to pay to be a member of Atheist Ireland to be an Atheist and agree with its ideals.

Ok. I thought you were suggesting that because there's an organisation that promotes atheism that would make it a religion.

You're shocked at the suggestion I know but we've already seen such fallacious reasoning in this very thread!:eek:

Bannasidhe

Gbear wrote: »

Ok. I thought you were suggesting that because there's an organisation that promotes atheism that would make it a religion.

You're shocked at the suggestion I know but we've already seen such fallacious reasoning in this very thread!:eek:

Being generous there Gbear to call some of the stuff we've seen here 'reasoning' of any kind .

Gbear

Gbear wrote: »

You're shocked at the suggestion I know but we've already seen such fallacious bullsh*t vortices in this very thread!:eek:

Fixed my post.

DuPLeX

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Being generous there Gbear to call some of the stuff we've seen here 'reasoning' of any kind .

Quite true! thinly veiled religious dogma, most of it :P :P :P

DuPLeX

You don't like to have your religion challenged I get it . But the name-calling. that is just laughable ..

Bannasidhe

DuPLeX wrote: »

You don't like to have your religion challenged I get it . But the name-calling. that is just laughable ..

Did someone call you a troll then?

It is my opinion that you are a troll.
A troll on a mission.
A troll who is pursuing their goal with a religious zeal.

DuPLeX

Opticom wrote: »

http://www.atheist.ie/ - Promoting atheism, reason, and an ethical, secular state

You need to get with the programme buddy

Wow ! What did I say about Group-think ? you may just as well have quoted me chapter and verse .you are so funny .

DuPLeX

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Did someone call you a troll then?

It is my opinion that you are a troll.
A troll on a mission.
A troll who is pursuing their goal with a religious zeal.

Troll, is that a word for someone who doesn't share your opinion?. I thought this thread was called Atheism is a religion ? Discuss .
Discuss must mean follow the herd ?

endacl

DuPLeX wrote: »

You don't like to have your religion challenged I get it . But the name-calling. that is just laughable ..

'Challenged'? Is that what you did there?

DuPLeX

endacl wrote: »

'Challenged'? Is that what you did there?

Yes. what did you just do there ?

endacl

DuPLeX wrote: »

endacl wrote: »

'Challenged'? Is that what you did there?

Yes. what did you just do there ?

Wondered whether you were referring to a previously delivered challenge, or some brainfart still in the pipeline....

DuPLeX

endacl wrote: »

Wondered whether you were referring to a previously delivered challenge, or some brainfart still in the pipeline....

Brainfart ? Is that the bovine catch-all term for concepts not yet accepted or understood by the herd ?

Delirium

Opticom

DuPLeX wrote: »

Wow ! What did I say about Group-think ? you may just as well have quoted me chapter and verse .you are so funny .

It's not group think, it's just rational and only based on what can only be proven scientifically, if you don't like Atheist.ie here's another link : http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/atheism/

endacl

DuPLeX wrote: »

endacl wrote: »

Wondered whether you were referring to a previously delivered challenge, or some brainfart still in the pipeline....

Brainfart ? Is that the bovine catch-all term for concepts not yet accepted or understood by the herd ?

Nope. The ones that have been examined and discarded. Keep 'em coming all the same.

If you're casting herd mentality accusations about you might want to consider changing the avatar, by the way....

DuPLeX

Opticom wrote: »

It's not group think, it's just rational and only based on what can only be proven scientifically, if you don't like Atheist.ie here's another link : http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/atheism/

LOL

I remember once a Christian,telling me that he could prove that God exists and that the proof was written in the bible.
Even the craziest cults seem rational to those who are indoctrinated into them. in fact they don't even see them as crazy cults at all.To them it all seems perfectly logical ........

DuPLeX

endacl wrote: »

Nope. The ones that have been examined and discarded. Keep 'em coming all the same.

If you're casting herd mentality accusations about you might want to consider changing the avatar, by the way....

well I have examined Atheism and discarded it with all the other religions . as for the avatar ... well.. no I wont be changing it and for good reason ..
bye folks.. I'll check in on you all in a few days

endacl

DuPLeX wrote: »

endacl wrote: »

Nope. The ones that have been examined and discarded. Keep 'em coming all the same.

If you're casting herd mentality accusations about you might want to consider changing the avatar, by the way....

well I have examined Atheism and discarded it with all the other religions . as for the avatar ... well.. no I wont be changing it and for good reason ..
bye folks.. I'll check in on you all in a few days

Bye for now.

Opticom

DuPLeX wrote: »

Brainfart ? Is that the bovine catch-all term for concepts not yet accepted or understood by the herd ?

You're not getting it are you ?

"For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack

NOW this is the law of the jungle, as old and as true as the sky

And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die."

Dades

DuPLeX wrote: »

I'll check in on you all in a few days

No you won't.

DuPLeX taking a longer break to familiarise himself with the term "discussion".

No more quoting his posts, please.

mcmoustache

Can we not just all agree that atheism is in fact an ice cream?

Pretty please?

This thread has melted my brain.

Galvasean

Well, that was an ordeal.

Bannasidhe

Galvasean wrote: »

Well, that was an ordeal.

We can offer it up and bask in our collective State of Grace.

Oh. That's right. We can't.

:pac:

pauldla

Bannasidhe wrote: »

We can offer it up and bask in our collective State of Grace.

Oh. That's right. We can't.

:pac:

We can choose to believe we can, if we want.

I'm still trying to figure out how asking how faith can be removed from religion shows that faith can be removed from religion. I suppose now I'll never know...

Penn

Question is... If Atheism is a religion, and you reject it along with every other religion... What are you? An Irreligionist? Surely if all Irreligionists share the same ideal.... then Irreligionism is itself a religion? Meaning that everyone with no religion has a religion.

*head explodes*

VinLieger

Penn wrote: »

Question is... If Atheism is a religion, and you reject it along with every other religion... What are you? An Irreligionist?

This is something ive been thinking about, why must every form of belief be labeled? Im sure in some cases people just arent bothered with any religion or form of belief, they dont see it as being neccessary in their lives however they wouldnt consider themselves an atheist, agnostic or whatever else. They just dont and thats it.
We start life without any labels as far as religion goes why then cant we go back to that?

Dades

Well if there is an accepted term and definition, you can't really avoid falling under it if you meet the criteria.

Of course you have the right to not label yourself, although this won't change the fact that you are what the term entails.

Penn

Dades wrote: »

Well if there is an accepted term and definition, you can't really avoid falling under it if you meet the criteria.

Of course you have the right to not label yourself, although this won't change the fact that you are what the term entails.

'xactly. It's not like the label defines you in any way. It's just a name given to describe that particular trait.

xerces

It's not a religion. It merely indicates that I do not believe that god/s exist. That's it. There are no necessary tenants, no dogma, no essential teachings. Any amount of spin and desperate attempts to alter words in the dictionary are not going to change that.

Being an atheist says nothing about my defining characteristics, personal interests, likes/dislikes, physical attributes etc. If I'm afraid of heights, I'm acrophobic. If I have no hair on my head, I'm bald. If I don't believe god/s exist, like it or not, I'm an atheist. I don't see a reason to avoid a term that fits, it's not an all-encompassing term.

Long Legged Mack Daddy

Sarky wrote: »

And as soon as you do any of those things we'll let you know.

As soon as you are able to do anything other than reply with smartarsery I'll give evolution another look!

Yeah I'm going to completely ignore gravity until people I don't know on the internet are nice to me

legspin

Yet another numpty wrote: »

As soon as you are able to do anything other than reply with smartarsery I'll give evolution another look!

My word, the crazies really are out in force in this weather.

Long Legged Mack Daddy

bluewolf wrote: »

What difficult questions? All you do is tell everyone they're fundies, refuse to engage in any meaningful discussion, throw around more ad hominems, complain that you're being persecuted because nobody agrees with you

I never used the word persecuted. Show me where I did. If you were not given to those classic charachteristics of religion ie. a need to to twist the words of others to suit your own agenda and a weakness for self delusion, you would have noticed that what I take exception to is suggestions that I should be excluded from the general discourse and confined to the CT forum. I've never once complained that you or your fellow flock memers don't agree with me. I've also pointed out that I have no desire to confine myself to a forum in which many people would readily agree with alot of what I have to say on many issues.

I think it is you and your friends, like all religious people, who like to be part of a nice comfy love-in. Take a look at my other posts. I've only ever posted once on the CT forum and it was neither to seek the agreement of others or to agree with others. You will not find any evidence of participation in these comfy love-ins in any of my activity on boards.I wonder if I were to take a look at yours, could the same be said of you.

Long Legged Mack Daddy

legspin wrote: »

My word, the crazies really are out in force in this weather.

Childish mockery, such as refering to people with whom you don't agree as crazies, is a classic charchteristic of religious fundamentalism.

Dades

Long Legged Mack Daddy (aka Malpaisian) banned for sock-puppetry.

legspin

Dades made my post unneccessary.