May I request a definition of "atheist"? — Garth
don't believe in the existence of God — BBQueue
You call out a generic universal God here? we, atheists, usually claim we do not belief the existence of certain definitions of God depending on the religion to talk about (Dawkins usually refers to christianity).
If we start like playing with the word God, and say... God is the laws of physics or God is what has
created the quarks... then the basis of the argument change... — Raul
I'm agnostic atheist because the evidence for the existence of any god isn't strong enough to convince me but I don't claim to know there are no gods. — GTTRPNK
Therefore I really don't know why atheists are so often criticized and thought to have a baseless set of beliefs, when their reasoning may indeed be more credible than that of someone who basically has no more than faith in the existence of God. — BBQueue
There are no moral differences between atheists and theists - both camps seem to be doing fine in the ethics department as far as I can tell. — TheMadFool
So I guess not believing in any kind of God goes further than “not having any proof of his existence” — javi2541997
Untrue - Islamic State, just one example, demonstrate that religions - which all have their fundamentalist expressions - cab be ethically repulsive. And there are any number of vile acts committed by religions of all sorts from sexual abuse to bigotry. — Tom Storm
I haven't ever encountered a man of the cloth taking the position that mere belief amounts to a moral act, an act of goodness, an act that would be equivalent to established good actions such as charity or saving someone for example. — TheMadFool
Nevertheless, there are also another kind of atheists who think there is nothing afterwards. — javi2541997
Not many believers have read much scripture and often traditions don't come form this source. Actually it is pretty common for a Christian, Jew or Muslim (especially the latter) to see the atheist as making an immoral choice right out of the gate. In fact in Islam (in 13 countries), atheism is punishable by death. — Tom Storm
Well, this in no way proves that believing in God is, in and of itself, a moral act in the same category as saving someone's life or helping the poor, right? — TheMadFool
Don't see how they are not the same. Remember moral behaviour for God is simply that which pleases him. The fist step is belief. Tick. Not believing has been traditionally seen as an immoral position by many believers. Hence, believing is a moral position. — Tom Storm
A Buddhist canonical reference for this, please.I'm second-guessing the Buddha's rationale behind his "no comment" attitude towards God — TheMadFool
Well, I'm approaching the issue from a Doestoevskyian point of view, the view that "if god didn't exist, anything would be permissible" — TheMadFool
I don't see how believing in the existence of Socrates has anything to do with the merits/demerits of his philosophy? — TheMadFool
A Buddhist canonical reference for this, please. — baker
Well, Socrates isn't God, so the analogy is not apropos. We are not talking about a man's ideas. We are talking about the intrinsic moral position inherent in God belief which I have already addressed. Perfectly fine if you disagree, but I see no way out of it. — Tom Storm
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