Quote:
Originally Posted by Thunderball
Atheism: 1 archaic : ungodliness , wickedness2 a : a disbelief in the existence of deity b: the doctrine that there is no deity
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/atheism
S: (n) atheism, godlessness (the doctrine or belief that there is no God)
S: (n) atheism (a lack of belief in the existence of God or gods)
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=atheism
Apparently, according to these sources, its exactly what I said it was. That isn't to say you are wrong either.
Like Christianity, Catholicism, or even basic theism, there are a myriad of different viewpoints, often overlapping, and the contention here is that in this case, and in its outlook, the Vatican is wrong and has skewed its sources of faith.
The irony is that we're actually not far off in where we stand. It appears (much like the main christian sects) that the sources of disagreement are in semantics and small details. |
Except when there is a difference in opinion between atheists it is simply a difference of opinion.
When there is a difference in opinion between the strictly religious only one (at most) can be speaking the word of god while the other must then be wrong and be no longer in alignment with gods word. More importantly, in a heirarchy based church like the catholic church the central authority is right and you are wrong. There is no bending on that. Only in places like Canada, as I have said that are desperate to not collapse, have people in the catholic church wrongly been given the impression they can think for themselves and still be catholic. This has become an issue inside the catholic church itself btw, where the Vatican is looking to change this grey area.
More importantly though, that definition is based on a momentary labeling of a person. It says nothing of the larger subset of self rationalization inherient within that person. In short, yes, an atheist does not
believe in god. What it leaves out is that if you had well grounded proof based on sound scientific theory then that atheist would then open themselves to that belief, because it is no longer 'belief, it is now fact.
The wiki does a much better job in its definition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism
Claeren.