The atheist's worst nightmare!

[Phanerothyme]

It's true if you simply don't answer "yes" to the question. That is all that is required to be an atheist.

 

http://www.atheistnexus.org/profiles/blogs/you-are-agnostic

 

Belief is now binary? How convenient.

 

It is possible to believe two contradictory things simultaneously. It does require some mental acuity to recognise the fact, but not much.

 

There are degrees of belief. I believe Paris is a bit of a dump. That's not a strongly held belief. From time to time I believe a sentient, organizing principle permeates the universe, but that's not a strong belief either, considering how it waxes and wanes.

 

The idea that belief in god is somehow binary and absolute smells like utter monads to me.

 

I don't believe in monads, personally.

[Drone]

Belief is now binary? How convenient.

 

It is possible to believe two contradictory things simultaneously. It does require some mental acuity to recognise the fact, but not much.

 

There are degrees of belief. I believe Paris is a bit of a dump. That's not a strongly held belief. From time to time I believe a sentient, organizing principle permeates the universe, but that's not a strong belief either, considering how it waxes and wanes.

 

The idea that belief in god is somehow binary and absolute smells like utter monads to me.

 

I don't believe in monads, personally.

Their all beliefs but agnosticism is nothing to with beliefs, it's saying you don't know.. That is not a belief and under no circumstances comes under religion ..so I can not be an agnostic atheist as theist is to believe and atheist is not to believe, it doesn't give you the option of saying you don't know, despite people now saying atheist can mean that your not sure.. The Bible has already been altered alot but was meant to be the truth originally so why change it?? Your should think of that

[MrSmith]

My own definition is simple, a supernatural creator of everything. It is indeed unfalsifiable, and yet I lack belief in it ... hence my atheism. I don't think concepts need proper definition or be unfalsifiable to lack belief in them, although I accept that it is necessary to assert that it does not exist.

 

Like you, I would like to hear somebody's own definition before passing judgement, and so far any attempts with god have made it less believable than my simple definition, except for Mr Smith's table, which I don't accept as a god. Any attempts to define it beyond my definition just make it more unbelievable.

 

I don't simply lack belief in the god of Abraham, I actually think that god is nonsense due to all the failed attempts to describe it.

 

I think the concept of ignosticism, which you seem to like, is useful to communicate your unwillingness to assert positive belief in whether you believe something exists, or something does not exist, but I think it is over-complicating things. I think that what Ryedo40 said earlier is all that is required:

 

So you don’t know if the thing you can’t define exists, yet you can assert that it’s not a table, how can you know what it isn’t, if you don’t know what it is or whether it even exists.

 

I would think the logical answer to the question; do you have a belief in God? Would be, I don’t know, what’s God? Unless you are a theist in which case would know what it is and be able to define it.

[RootsBooster]

And that is deemed agnosticism as you remain open minded because you don't know the answer.. ....this is to rootsbooster

 

And you are also an atheist, unless you have a belief in God/gods.

[RootsBooster]

 

I would think the logical answer to the question; do you have a belief in God? Would be, I don’t know, what’s God? Unless you are a theist in which case would know what it is and be able to define it.

 

Daft as it sounds, there are many people who believe in some kind of god they can't define. Regardless, they call it a god and they believe in it. Therefore they are theists.

[RootsBooster]

Belief is now binary? How convenient.

 

It is possible to believe two contradictory things simultaneously. It does require some mental acuity to recognise the fact, but not much.

 

There are degrees of belief. I believe Paris is a bit of a dump. That's not a strongly held belief. From time to time I believe a sentient, organizing principle permeates the universe, but that's not a strong belief either, considering how it waxes and wanes.

 

The idea that belief in god is somehow binary and absolute smells like utter monads to me.

 

I don't believe in monads, personally.

Belief may or may not have degrees, but it still has a status of either there or not there. If you are unsure about your belief, if you cannot say "I believe" then you don't currently believe.

[MrSmith]

Daft as it sounds, there are many people who believe in some kind of god they can't define. Regardless, they call it a god and they believe in it. Therefore they are theists.

 

So because I have a belief that God is in fact a table, which would make me a theist, and because the majority of theists don’t know what God is, they can’t prove I’m wrong.

[anywebsite]

Their all beliefs but agnosticism is nothing to with beliefs, it's saying you don't know.. That is not a belief and under no circumstances comes under religion ..so I can not be an agnostic atheist as theist is to believe and atheist is not to believe, it doesn't give you the option of saying you don't know, despite people now saying atheist can mean that your not sure.. The Bible has already been altered alot but was meant to be the truth originally so why change it?? Your should think of that

 

Atheism isn't a belief, it's a lack of belief. Belief & knowledge are different things, theist or atheist refers to your belief or lack of belief in a God, gnostic or agnostic refers to your knowledge or lack of knowledge about the proof of a god. You can be an agnostic atheist (doesn't believe in gods & doesn't know whether they exist or not), an agnostic theist (believes in a religion, but has no proof of a god), a gnostic atheist (who is certain there is no god) or a gnostic theist (certain there is at least 1 god) - those are the 4 possibilities, everybody fits into one of those categories.

 

Just like "not collecting stamps" isn't a hobby "not having a belief in god" isn't a religion.

 

It's possible to lack belief in god & lack knowledge to prove to yourself one way or the other at the same time, that would make you an agnostic atheist.

[quisquose]

Belief is now binary? How convenient.

 

It is possible to believe two contradictory things simultaneously. It does require some mental acuity to recognise the fact, but not much.

 

There are degrees of belief. I believe Paris is a bit of a dump. That's not a strongly held belief. From time to time I believe a sentient, organizing principle permeates the universe, but that's not a strong belief either, considering how it waxes and wanes.

 

The idea that belief in god is somehow binary and absolute smells like utter monads to me.

 

I don't believe in monads, personally.

 

By using the word "contradictory", aren't you admitting to the binary nature of belief? By using the words "waxes and wanes" aren't you also admitting to the binary nature of belief.

 

When a jury says "guilty" or "not-guilty" it doesn't reflect the conviction or strength of the belief, but merely that there are only two options.

 

If you think that Paris is a "bit of a dump" then that doesn't prevent you from also thinking it is the most wonderful city on the planet, because they are not contradictory beliefs.

 

From time to time you might believe a sentient, organizing principle permeates the universe, and this belief might wax and wane ... but this also suggests that from time to time you lack belief in this concept. It is still a binary belief, and the strength of your belief is reflected in the frequency of change.

 

Even beliefs that wax and wane are binary. I believed in God twenty years ago, and today I lack belief. I might believe in God again tomorrow. As my doubts grew whilst at University I remained a believer for some time, and a theist, but as my doubts grew stronger it was at the moment I actually thought "I don't know" that I became an atheist. It is likely that I switched from theist to atheist and back quite frequently for some months until my eventual dismissal of the arguments for the Christian God, before deciding there is probably no gods at all.

 

I would argue that theism and atheism are binary positions.

 

Do you believe there is a God? Yes or not yes.

[Drone]

Atheism isn't a belief, it's a lack of belief. Belief & knowledge are different things, theist or atheist refers to your belief or lack of belief in a God, gnostic or agnostic refers to your knowledge or lack of knowledge about the proof of a god. You can be an agnostic atheist (doesn't believe in gods & doesn't know whether they exist or not), an agnostic theist (believes in a religion, but has no proof of a god), a gnostic atheist (who is certain there is no god) or a gnostic theist (certain there is at least 1 god) - those are the 4 possibilities, everybody fits into one of those categories.

 

Just like "not collecting stamps" isn't a hobby "not having a belief in god" isn't a religion.

 

It's possible to lack belief in god & lack knowledge to prove to yourself one way or the other at the same time, that would make you an agnostic atheist.

That's what your like to say now but theist. And atheist originally means to either believe or not believe, they is not a 3rd answer which it can mean you don't believe in god but are open minded. They changed the meaning but that does not make me an agnostic atheist, because I didn't want to be forced to either believe or not believe ( the original meaning ) , because they was not a concrete answer I go with science which describes that I'm agnostic alone.