Sir lastnail wrote on Feb 12
th, 2011 at 5:03pm:
muso wrote on Feb 12
th, 2011 at 11:23am:
Sir lastnail wrote on Feb 11
th, 2011 at 10:28pm:
Lisa Jones wrote on Feb 11
th, 2011 at 10:07pm:
But atheism is the absence of belief that ANY deities exist.
not according to the dictionary definition
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/atheist Quote:a·the·ist
/ˈeɪθiɪst/ Show Spelled[ey-thee-ist] Show IPA
–noun
a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings.
You see, we all have common ground. TLN has an irrational belief too - Lexicophilia - the belief that the dictionary (any dictionary) will enable us to derive precise meanings for any term, religious included and solve the deepest philosophical quandaries, stop interpersonal conflicts, global nuclear wars and annoying personal itches.
what's the point of debating an issue if you keep wanting to change the meaning of the words to suit your argument ??
Also you should refrain from using fallacies in your replies
The meaning of words like religion, God, believe, etc depend very much on the religious position of that person. A Muslim will define and comprehend these terms differently from an Atheist or a Buddhist.
I used to be an active member of Atheists.com a long time ago, until I realised that I can't take a position on something that is cognitively meaningless to me. These recycled arguments are meaningless too.
Your arguments are not very subtle, and I have a strong feeling that the subtleties of the cosmological argument would be lost on you.
You choose a single definition from a dictionary that usually has many, and you expect everybody else to agree that the definition is the one true definition. It's a dishonest position to argue from. You don't apply your own principles, but expect others to.
If I were a theist, I'd probably give a damn. I was an atheist once, and as I see it, the quality of atheists has gone downhill since then.
"De gustibus non est disputandum" is my personal opinion. A statement like "I believe in God" or "I don't believe in God" has as much relevance to me as "I take two sugars in my coffee".
Belief in God is by necessity a personal thing. I won't debate whether somebody takes two sugars in their coffee or not, and I certainly won't waste my time debating an equally personal position, such as "I believe in God" where God and religion can really be whatever you choose to define them as.
Fallacy of special pleading.