Atheists...

[boagie]

de budding,

"How do you qualify atheism as different from religion/belief systems?"

It is simply non-committment to the beliefs of others, it is not an activity. If someone claims to be a Christian does that mean Christianity is a systems of disbelief of every other belief system in the world. Christians are only slightly less atheistic than myself, Christians reject the entirety of all possiable gods accept one, I reject them all, the difference, one god. May Zeus be with you!!

[de_budding]

But what of this 'non-committment to the beliefs of others' why do you believe this? isn't this a belief system?

[boagie]

Originally Posted by de_budding

But what of this 'non-committment to the beliefs of others' why do you believe this? isn't this a belief system?

de budding,

Ask yourself, is everyone one not a Christian then defined by Christianity, in the negative of course, its ridiculous. Do I then have a non-belief system for every mythology in the world, I don't even know every mythology in the world. One evaluates from what one knows across the board, if something does not seem likely or even possiable it is not accepted, its called the process of the understanding.

[de_budding]

is everyone one not a Christian then defined by Christianity

No, but every one who is non-religious is defined by the other religions, notably their rejection of them.

or

We can speculate that you were born and never introduced to any other beliefs and developed yours independently of others believes (and you just happened to develop- independently of any other belief systems, an atheistic belief system.) Now your beliefs truly are independent of other religions and definitely not defined by Christianity or any other system but, they are still beliefs and you, albeit on your own, rationalized them into a system which explains why you don't' believe in a God/s

[boagie]

Originally Posted by de_budding

No, but every one who is non-religious is defined by the other religions, notably their rejection of them.

We can speculate that you were born and never introduced to any other beliefs and developed yours independently of others believes (and you just happened to develop- independently of any other belief systems, an atheistic belief system.) Now your beliefs truly are independent of other religions and definitely not defined by Christianity or any other system but, they are still beliefs and you, albeit on your own, rationalized them into a system which explains why you don't' believe in a God/s

de budding,

Does that fact the these belief systems are group activities, while on a independent level a man's belief and disbeliefs are of his own creation and a property of his consciousness make any sense to you? Sorry, I just cannot take your premise seriously.

[de_budding]

In that case your not an atheist your a boagiest surely? All I am implying is that no matter what we believe it is a belief system like all religions.

'Why must a person be dragged into being termed an atheist' because they have/share/use the atheistic belief system.

'all the connotations the righteous tend to attribute to THE GODLESS' that's life I don't listen to idiots.

'What would we be just left alone' Depends on your belief system, if it's 100% original it is Boagieism, if it is based on a system of no God it is probably atheistic and so on.

'I myself do not have outrageous supernatural beliefs, I simply do not believe theirs' If it is part of your belief system to highlight and deny Christians you are anti-Christian, if you highlight and deny all religion your anti-religious.

I am stating nothing radical or of-the-wall, just that, no matter what you believe, you believe something and have a belief- if you high light and then deny belief altogether that is still a belief system (anti-believist), just one that dictates we should not believe.

Dan

[Holiday20310401]

This is the kind of philosophy that I think is stupid. Who cares to be right about whether somebody has a definition right? That doesn't change who the person is.

[boagie]

That's alright Stanley, it has been enlightening.

[Holiday20310401]

Yeah what doesn't lighten your cigar boagie? lol just kidding with ya

[Zetetic11235]

Ill add my 2 cents
The new testament is interesting and very helpfull to some when taken as philosophic suggestion and looked at in the abstract. My mother has said to me very profound insights relating to the teaching of jesus, many of which affirm my own beliefs. I have not heard similar insights, however, and she came into christianity late (late fourties) so she is not typical and is in fact very skeptical. Since I have experienced good done by christianity, I cannot empirically refute that it can bring good ends, and remain convinced that it is the narrow scope and selfishness of most of its practitioners which bastardizes the philosophy of jesus, a most selfless philosophy.

I do not subscribe to the base and silly things that lie at the bible's(or any other text) surface , but rather listen to those who have had deep revelations in the words of that in which they believe, for it is a medium through which philosophy can move.

Personally, I can only accept god as that which forever evades human conciousness, that which we approach as we solve our problems and slide around with logical inquiry but cannot answer. If anything is god within the physical universe, it is the old god, the god of the gaps the god of the unkown. With each step we take towards him another few he takes back.