Does God exist:
Yes = Theist
No = Atheist
Undecided = Agnostic
You don’t get to “abstain.” Truth is not a vote.
Yes = Theist
No = Atheist
Undecided = Agnostic
You don’t get to “abstain.” Truth is not a vote.
Everyone knows this.
Everyone knows that atheists firmly believe there is no God.
There are few people who aren’t reasonably sure one way or the other, the agnostics.
You are an atheist if you spend hours every day on Twitter proclaiming “there’s no evidence for God!"
Everyone knows that atheists firmly believe there is no God.
There are few people who aren’t reasonably sure one way or the other, the agnostics.
You are an atheist if you spend hours every day on Twitter proclaiming “there’s no evidence for God!"
If you are aware that of God you act differently than if you are not aware of God.
The matter is whether you are living (however inadequately) in alignment with the divine plan, with God, or you are not.
Your epistemic attitude is irrelevant to whether one is Godless.
The matter is whether you are living (however inadequately) in alignment with the divine plan, with God, or you are not.
Your epistemic attitude is irrelevant to whether one is Godless.
One reason that the word “atheism” is not built as the “negation of theism” is that, historically, it is the other way around.
“Theist” is a word like “cisgendered”—it doesn’t need to exist, because it is the HUMAN NORMAL STATE.
“Theist” is a word like “cisgendered”—it doesn’t need to exist, because it is the HUMAN NORMAL STATE.
There is a need for words like “transgendered” or “atheist” because we need words for people who are NOT NORMAL.
Atheists say “atheism is a religion like bald is a hair color”—not really, but “bald” is a word like “atheist,” because we don’t NEED a word for “people with hair."
Atheists say “atheism is a religion like bald is a hair color”—not really, but “bald” is a word like “atheist,” because we don’t NEED a word for “people with hair."
Obviously, in this case, I mean “not normal” as simply that—not typically the case. It is simply a fact that MOST HUMAN BEINGS are not atheists, not bald, and not transgendered.
“Atheist” also resembles words like “blind,” “deaf,” “mute” etc. We don’t need a word for people who can see and hear, because, again, that’s the default state. If you are blind or deaf, something has gone wrong—an accident happened to you at some point.
“Atheist” pairs well with “blind” in another way—as far as I can tell, atheists seem to be, in fact, spiritually blind—although it’s not easy to sort out what is cause and what effect.
Spiritual blindness can lead to atheism, and atheism certainly worsens spiritual blindness.
Spiritual blindness can lead to atheism, and atheism certainly worsens spiritual blindness.
As Plato says in his Seventh Letter, there is no easy way to effect a “turning around” of the soul, a μετάνοια (which in the New Testament is “repent”):
A teacher cannot put sight into blind eyes. Knowledge does not work like that, not even ordinary knowledge.
Again, as Plato said, in his famous image, MOST PEOPLE are in a condition wherein they are chained facing the back of the cave. Of those who get free somehow (“By nature,” Socrates says), most STILL do not turn towards the light, because it is strange and painful to their eyes.
Here’s David Bentley Hart’s description of the Cave Image:
