Oh I see.... so if I asked some people on the street, what is the definition of theist, and they responded, a stupid moron with his head stuck up his ass, that would make it true????? "Ask any layperson on the street and "atheist" will mean a disbelief of god." "Disbelief in god" would fit the definition. "Disbelief in the existence of god", is very different, and is the strong atheist position, which would not fit. peace axeman
The line of reasoning so far has simply been: "It must be the definition because some dictionaries say so". Do you guys actually believe this? A sad state of affairs. I guess the dictionary is never updated and is never wrong too, huh? peace axeman
You simply chose to ignore the ones I gave links to. For example: "If you look up 'atheism' in the dictionary, you will probably find it defined as the belief that there is no God. Certainly many people understand atheism in this way. Yet many atheists do not, and this is not what the term means if one considers it from the point of view of its Greek roots. In Greek 'a' means 'without' or 'not' and 'theos' means 'god.' From this standpoint an atheist would simply be someone without a belief in God, not necessarily someone who believes that God does not exist. According to its Greek roots, then, atheism is a negative view, characterized by the absence of belief in God. Michael Martin - author of "Atheism: A Philosophical Justification (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990). (A)" " Credentials --------------------- Name: Michael Martin Position: Professor of Philosophy Academic Address: Department of Philosophy, Boston University 745 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, Massachusetts 02215 (617) 353-2571 Education: Ph.D. (Philosophy) Harvard University, 1962 M.A. (Philosophy) University of Arizona, 1958 B.S. (Bus. Ad.) Arizona State University, 1956 Teaching Positions: Professor of Philosophy, Boston University, 1975 - Associate Professor of Philosophy, Boston University, 1969-1975 Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Boston University, 1965-1969 Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Colorado, 1962-1965 Major Areas of Interest: Philosophy of Religion Philosophy of Social Science Philosophy of Law Post Doctoral Research Grants I guess a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Harvard doesnt qualify you as an expert. To make my point again.... THIS is the definition atheists, atheist organizations, atheists in general, and even Harvard PHD philosophy professors maintain is the correct definition. But noooooooo..... SOME dictionaries which contradict this must be right, "just because". We can just disagree then. peace axeman
Who would be a better judge of mental health of an individual or homogeneous group of individuals? The individual or group themselves, or an objective independent body who observed the group and evaluated their health according to accepted standards? Yet only the atheists know what atheism really is? Only atheists can properly define atheism? 1 is a positive number. 0 is a neutral number. -1 is a negative number. -.000001 is not a weak negative number. +.000001 is not a weak positive number. Theist is positive belief in God. Agnostic is neutral or no belief in God. Atheist is negative belief in God. It really is that simple.
Leave it ART to come up with a completely fallacious analogy. Your analogy is flawed, because in my case, the "group" contains experts in the field, and in your case, it does not. Further, the mental health of the atheist group forming the definition is NOT even in question. Experts in atheism have the same authority to define the word as medical experts have to define medical terms. Your analogy is also a strawman, because in fact, an independent body, in this case, philosophy professors DO support this definition. "Theist is positive belief in God. Agnostic is neutral or no belief in God. Atheist is negative belief in God. It really is that simple." The only thing "simple" here is your complete misunderstanding of these terms. You clearly dont know what an atheist OR an agnostic is. Atheist is NOT a negative belief in god. This is just your silly theistic strawman definition. peace axeman
And sometimes you meet people on the street who hear voices in their head and think they are the SOLE person who can directly communicate with god through his magical pokey mon powers of faith! LMAO Tell us Art.... what do these god voices sound like? I mean really. peace axeman
O.K. that guy might qualify as an expert if there were a true issue as to philosophy. But as a good academic he is not arguing that atheism is defined as "a lack of belief in God" only that some atheists prefer that definition and that it makes sense if you examine the greek.
The real expert in defining a manic depressive schizophrenic episode would be: A. The manic depressive schizophrenic. B. The Clinical psychologist.