My opinion is that atheism is not a belief. It is a belief in no belief.
Quilsky summed in up on the very first post 5 pages back: It is a belief in no belief. Bohm, I believe in submarines. Does that count as a belief in sandwiches?
Posts by JWoods
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243Let's settle this for once and for all...... is atheism a belief, a non-belief or an anti-belief?
by Quillsky inmy opinion is that atheism is not a belief.
it is a belief in no belief..
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JWoods
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243
Let's settle this for once and for all...... is atheism a belief, a non-belief or an anti-belief?
by Quillsky inmy opinion is that atheism is not a belief.
it is a belief in no belief..
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JWoods
And with that statement they reveal that they are not actually atheists, but are agnostics, even if they are not informed enough to realize it.
But, the problem is, that many Athiests are as steadfast about preaching their belief as a die-hard JW. The term agnostic simply is not hard-line enough for them.
A perfect example was Murray-O'Hair from right here in Dallas - she actually created a self-made "church of Atheism", complete with meetings, literature, a mailing list, and made herself its grand old lady and collected donations for her work. Another example is the San Francisco guy who made his little girl sue the school system to prevent them from having the flag salute because it said "one nation under god".
That kind of Athiest kind of wants to have the cake and eat it too - they don't want to admit a belief system, but definately do want to spread their belief of "no god" to everybody in sight.
Agnostics that I have known (self described Agnostics, I mean) in general do not care what others believe so long as they live lawfully and are tolerant of other people's rights and freedoms.
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243
Let's settle this for once and for all...... is atheism a belief, a non-belief or an anti-belief?
by Quillsky inmy opinion is that atheism is not a belief.
it is a belief in no belief..
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JWoods
Brotherdan, I think LeavingWT makes the distinction between Scientific Principle and all the vague so-called Scientific "theories" out there -
It also took faith to believe in cold fusion. Very few still claim that faith nowadays, and nobody calls it Scientific Principle.
Back on the topic - I think that the adamant "Atheist" - that is, one who truly "believes" that there MUST be no creator-God - has either wittingly or unwittingly bought into a belief system of their own.
Many of them do not like to admit that - hence the plethora of threads in which self-pronounced atheists say they believe there is no God, but at the same time deny that they have any "belief" on the subject.
I just don't know why they view the term "agnostic" as so abhorrent - if they truly have no belief, one way or the other.
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92
There is no such thing as Agnosticism. Agnostics do not exist!
by nicolaou inmany here seem to believe that the position of agnosticism is somehow more reasonable than theism or atheism.
nonsense!
it is a misconception to believe that belief or non-belief in the existence of god/s are the two extremes which glare at each other over the fence of agnosticism.
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JWoods
I'm too lazy to make the same posts over again so I hope you'll all forgive me for bumping this up in response to the current slew of topics trying to define atheism.
Nic'
I don't blame you. I am sick of this, too. Even though I count myself as a non-existent agnostic.
Dictionary definition is good enough for me - each person can pick theist, atheist, or agnostic for themselves as far as I am concerned.
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26
Is Outlaw OK?
by cantleave indon't think i have seen him post for a while.
i knew he was having problems with mutley.
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JWoods
I miss the beer fairy...
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46
Do you smoke anything?
by asilentone ini was very disappointed in one of my friends near here.
he is df'd.
he started smoking cigs.
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JWoods
PrimateDave forgot to picture Hugh Hefner and Sherrif Andy Griffith's friend Howard (when Howard's mother moved out of town and he bacame a playboy for two weeks).
Actually, I agree that occasional pipe or cigar is not nearly so offensive as the constant cigarettes.
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46
Do you smoke anything?
by asilentone ini was very disappointed in one of my friends near here.
he is df'd.
he started smoking cigs.
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JWoods
It is probably a dying habit in the U.S., at least. I saw a poll statistic on the news that says 50% of U.S. men smoked in the 1950s, but only 25% smoke today.
It is increasingly difficult to be a smoker if you work in an indoor office environment, like I do. I have noticed a large number of our employees who quit just because it is so difficult to go down to the ground floor and outside the building to light up.
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46
Do you smoke anything?
by asilentone ini was very disappointed in one of my friends near here.
he is df'd.
he started smoking cigs.
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JWoods
Never have touched anything to smoke ever - before or after the witnesses. I think it is expensive, unhealthy, filthy, and pointless. Just as a minor personal issue - it has single handedly RUINED many fine vintage or collectable cars over the years.
However, this serves as a good a place as any to say that the JWs are judgemental NUTJOBS for calling this demonics and disfellowshipping people who choose to smoke, or even who might raise or sell tobacco.
It is not in the bible - they just dreamed it up one fine day, or perhaps copied it from the Mormons or another fundie religious group.
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6
Science Channel had very interesting program on the Star of Bethlehem last night -
by JWoods inthis is apparantly still a great theological/archeological/astronomical mystery (at least for those who insist on the literal truth of the story).
this show did not try to deny the legend - rather, it brought up several theories by modern historical astronomers as to what this "star" might actually have been -.
of the several theories, these seemed to be the main candidates:.
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JWoods
Strange that they would suggest most come from binary star systems.
The reason, I think, that they were insisting on the binary star system is that they also suggested that perhaps these could flash in a sort of preliminary explosion and be visible in stages before the actual big supernova.
This was supposed to show that maybe the wise men saw an initial burst, and then the real thing later on...again, the whole theory sounded a little "off" from other references I have read on supernovas.
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Science Channel had very interesting program on the Star of Bethlehem last night -
by JWoods inthis is apparantly still a great theological/archeological/astronomical mystery (at least for those who insist on the literal truth of the story).
this show did not try to deny the legend - rather, it brought up several theories by modern historical astronomers as to what this "star" might actually have been -.
of the several theories, these seemed to be the main candidates:.
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JWoods
And I always thought it was a glowing demon.....
Pretty much the JW idea - But, I thought that Jehovah kind of imprisoned the demons after the flood so that they couldn't really appear directly in public? And why wouldn't god just put a stop to it if it was really designed to facilitate the murder of the baby Jesus? Makes no sense to me - BTW - this show also made a point that I never had noticed before: The NT story does not directly say there were three wise men - it just mentions that there were three presents. There could have been a dozen Magi, for all we know - given that it was such a hard desert journey all the way from Persia.