stuffwotifink
Excellent post. Thank you for providing a truly rational and honest response to the question and topic.
2. Theists will claim that skepticism or atheism is its own “religion” or belief system.
But some skeptics/atheists respond in a different way. Some think that even acknowledging that they hold a belief is too much. In order to avoid the charge of “having a belief system”, some will claim to merely “lack a belief” and therefore don’t have a belief or belief system at all. This is a mistake. This will very quickly come back around to bite us on the ass. All a theist has to do is get you to admit that you do in fact believe that, say, Joseph Smith was a con man, or that Mormonism is false, or that Jesus was not God in the flesh, etc. Once the skeptic/atheist admits of having better evidence against the theistic claim, this shows the presence of a mental belief of the negation of that claim, and the “lack of belief” position is thereby undermined.
It is not too much to admit that we hold beliefs about the world. If we are going to actively fight against primitive superstitions and mythical beliefs, and if we think we can show good evidence or argument for holding our skeptical position, we’d better also believe it.
2. Theists will claim that skepticism or atheism is its own “religion” or belief system.
But some skeptics/atheists respond in a different way. Some think that even acknowledging that they hold a belief is too much. In order to avoid the charge of “having a belief system”, some will claim to merely “lack a belief” and therefore don’t have a belief or belief system at all. This is a mistake. This will very quickly come back around to bite us on the ass. All a theist has to do is get you to admit that you do in fact believe that, say, Joseph Smith was a con man, or that Mormonism is false, or that Jesus was not God in the flesh, etc. Once the skeptic/atheist admits of having better evidence against the theistic claim, this shows the presence of a mental belief of the negation of that claim, and the “lack of belief” position is thereby undermined.
It is not too much to admit that we hold beliefs about the world. If we are going to actively fight against primitive superstitions and mythical beliefs, and if we think we can show good evidence or argument for holding our skeptical position, we’d better also believe it.
An excerpt from the link provided and worthy of consideration for the atheist position. Your input is not a waste of time, though I fear the emotion of posters with regard to honestly discussing the position will obscure any real discussion. A shame really.