Reply #191: Wow. I can look up definitions too.

[theemu]

Look, here's the thing. Ever since the pre-Socratics, definitions have been the most debated element of philosophical and theological discourse. What is 'free will'? What is 'good'? What is 'evil'? Entire philosophies have been built upon slight differences in the definition of one word.

So when you pull out a bullshit argument concerning a dictionary definition, you're either being intellectually dishonest, or an intellectual dipshit. As an above poster noted, there are many ideas of what exactly atheism is, the two most prevalent in theological debate being 'the absence of belief' and 'the belief in absence'. I personally cannot accept the former notion of atheism, as it projects a theological/metaphysical opinion onto objects which clearly do not hold opinions (a chair is absent of the belief - are all chairs atheist?) To me, the latter definition holds more water, and thus the 'belief in an absence' held by atheists constitutes a specific dogmatic stance which is analogous to those which many theists hold.