DominO123 Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 Just believing in something is not religion. Believing in something without a fundamentally sound way of believing in something is however. For example, I believe if I throw a ball in the air, it will land back on earth. That is not religion. It is a system of belief arrived at using the scientific method. I also believe that if I cut my arm off, it will hurt. It is not something I have experienced before but I have arrived at that conclusion based on fundamentally sound ways to reason about what would happen if I cut my arm off. However, someone saying "God doesn't exist" (or the opposite "God exists") is rather arbitrary and either requires faith or just a blind belief in that statement. No one can prove or disprove the existence of God and therefore taking either stance constitutes a religion (a system of thought). Being agnostic though is not a religion. It's being reasonable style_images/master/snapback.png You're my hero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anoushik Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 Athiesm is a religion. style_images/master/snapback.png No, it's not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anoushik Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 It believes the non-existance of a god/gos. style_images/master/snapback.png Non-existence of a traditional God. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DominO123 Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 No, it's not style_images/master/snapback.png It's a belief regarding god/gods... so it is. Agnosticism or multiuniversism on the other hand are not religions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anoushik Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 It's a belief regarding god/gods... so it is. style_images/master/snapback.png By your own definition, maybe, but it's not so How's a multiuniversism not a religion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DominO123 Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 Non-existence of a traditional God. style_images/master/snapback.png I have to disagree here, atheism doesn't require the negation of a traditional god... atheism is about taking position on the existance of a god. Only few exceptions may apply, an atheist pantheist, an atheit Buddhist, an atheist that believe that a mad scientist has simulated the universe or somethins such etc... any negation of a powerful creator, is atheism. Sip is a real skeptic, his position is the position of a real man of science... he profess ignorance in an issue where the rational methodology can not be applied. I on the other hand, profess multiversalism... because for me it's the only rational explanation of the how. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anoushik Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 Exactly, there is no set of beliefs for atheists to follow in order to consider atheism to be a religion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DominO123 Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 Exactly, there is no set of beliefs for atheists to follow in order to consider atheism to be a religion. style_images/master/snapback.png The same could be said about theism in general. But when the definition is applied, the same that would consider Buddhism, Daoism, etc. as religion... then all the branches of atheism will be classed as a religion, just like the branchs of theism etc. Don't forget that Buddhism itself can not be classed as a theistic belief. Atheism, Pantheism, theism... all the theism families shares a similairity, they are all a "taking position" on gods... Their branchs will be considered as religions... because unlike philosophy they are dogmatic... atheism can not really be modified, it is about non-believing of gods... etc. Science is the study of the pgysical world, philosophy is the study of the metaphysical world, and religion is about the taking position on spiritual matters... the difference in essance between philosophy and religion is that philosophy in essence is about questioning, the questions are more important than answers... religion is more about answers, but answers that are based on faith. Atheism is neither philosophy neither science, it tries to answer a question simply based on faith... so I hardly can see what it is if it's not religion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anileve Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 But their atheism is as irrelevant as Hitler’s being a vegetarian was. Wasn't Hitler also a Catholic and an advocate of altruism? How interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamavor Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 Wasn't Mao Dze Dun atheist, who believed in the Cultural Revolution? Isn't Bush fervent Protestant, suffering from racial capitalist altruism? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anileve Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 Wasn't Mao Dze Dun atheist, who believed in the Cultural Revolution? style_images/master/snapback.png Well that's to be expected from a pink commie, however Bush is a complete paradox if we consider the Christian doctorine as the devoted religious champions propagate. Some interesting trivia: Christians 32.71% (of which Roman Catholics 17.28%, Protestants 5.61%, Orthodox 3.49%, Anglicans 1.31%), Muslims 19.67%, Hindus 13.28%, Buddhists 5.84%, Sikhs 0.38%, Jews 0.23%, other religions 13.05%, non-religious 12.43%, atheists 2.41% Is it a secret why Christians and Muslims are such rivals? It's always a competition between the biggest powers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasun Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 For example, I believe if I throw a ball in the air, it will land back on earth. That is not religion. It is a system of belief arrived at using the scientific method. I also believe that if I cut my arm off, it will hurt. It is not something I have experienced before but I have arrived at that conclusion based on fundamentally sound ways to reason about what would happen if I cut my arm off. style_images/master/snapback.png In the same fashion one can practice certain techniques and discover God. And every time you practice the same technique you will see and commune with God, it never fails. This is a scientific method of knowing, rather than believing, God. All major religions have sprang from such discoveries by certain advanced founders who have known God directly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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