Being an Atheist.. I don't care for terms like "Don't believe in God? or...

[BlueJazz]

.."Do you believe in God" or any wording that assumes I know there is a God but I just don't happen to believe in Him/Her.
It's rather like saying: :You don't believe in other Planets?"

I ..and many atheists take offense at (trying) to put words in our mouths.

The correct and logical statement or question is "Do you believe in A God?"

I guess my point is..I cannot NOT believe in something that I think exists.

End of little rant.

[rgbecker]

1. Well put.

[Xipe Totec]

2. Noted.

This, from a Deists.

(not the Deist) :hi:

[yella_dawg]

3. I don't know what you see at the bottom of the post stack...

But I see an ad for a film that "irreverently" makes the case that Jesus never existed.


I guess the makes your point.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. How would a pantheist address this question to you, then?

The question "Do you believe in A God?" assumes there is separation between God and Other. Those of a pantheistic bent see everything as God, so to us the question is meaningless, because it implies there is separation. Of course, as pantheists, our concept of God is a bit different than some old man in the clouds monitoring every human's move, judging them, controlling them or events, etc. etc. Would it be not offensive if a pantheist asked you "Do you have a God concept?" That way, it is not saying anything about belief, but gives one an idea where you are coming from so that a discussion can ensue.

[BlueJazz]

7. Would it be not offensive if a pantheist asked you "Do you have a God concept"

Nope..Not at all...
I have a concept of life and Science that is much more in common with a Pantheist than (probably) anyone else.

Most People that do ask the loaded question..Do you believe in God usually mean "Do you believe in OUR God. :)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

14. I would agree with you about life and science

and thanks for the reply.

[Juche]

5. The term 'god' it itself loaded

'God' is a diety, but I think in our culture we assume our diety and the concept of any diety are the same. It is like people in norse culture asking 'you don't believe in Thor' and applying it to all dieties.

[alfredo]

6. I don't believe in the Easter Bunny either.

[Kazak]

8. I've scrapped the whole theist/atheist dichotomy for...

...a, I believe more favorable, naturalist/supernaturalist dichotomy.

My response to the question, "do you believe in God?" is first define "God", because it is possible to define "God" in such a way that, yes I do believe.

[Kazak]

9. Perhaps the more relevant question is

Do you believe in the Supernatural? :shrug:

[LisaLynne]

10. I suppose it depends on what the person posing the ...

question is really trying to get at because, yeah, there are lots of people who don't believe specifically in any "god" and certainly not the one that many people in this culture would be referring to, but who do believe in things that would be called "supernatural".

I've been asked if I'm "spiritual", but that, too, can be a little loaded and confusing.

Edited to add that I just remembered that this one very Christian woman I worked with asked me if I went to church, which actually, now that I'm thinking about it in this context was more likely to get the information out of me that she wanted. :)

[Kazak]

11. I believe in god...in the Einsteinian sense!!!

Just like everybody else... :shrug:

[Joe the Liberal]

12. Good point.... nt

[rocktivity]

13. Yes, there is difference between not believing in a god

and not believing that there IS one.

:headbang:
rocknation

[donco6]

15. "I believe in God . . . just not yours." n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

16. Seeing as hardly any two people seem to agree 100% on what the word "God" means,

I agree.


Nevertheless, the sound-bite nature of our current political discourse sometimes requires shorthand, and I understand why statements like "I don't believe in God" are useful in that context.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

17. I don't believe in unicorns.

To say "I don't believe in X" *is* making an acknowledgement, but what it's acknowledging is "I understand roughly what is meant by X", not in any way that X exists.

I don't believe in unicorns, but I wouldn't say "I don't believe in fnurkles".

"God" is a relatively simple concept, so "I don't believe in God works fine".

I'm afraid I think that refusing to say "I don't believe in God", when you clearly don't, is abusing languange in a way that hinders communication, for the sake of making a point, which I don't think is a good way to use it.

[CK_John]

18. You can tell them you don't have the "god" gene. n/t