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Originally Posted by Chill Cosby
Absolutely it is. In part. Being an Atheist informs your view on politics, education, human rights, law, etc. As an Atheist, you adhere to other beliefs almost automatically.
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Really? Which beliefs are those others that all atheists naturally (consequentially?) gravitate towards?
Photon's question is exactly my problem with how you have presented things, since I don't believe you can demonstrate a
system of shared beliefs that defines atheism as a "worldview" (God, I hate that word). You need to do a lot more work here to argue your point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chill Cosby
Fundamentalism is a belief system, but Fundamentalism is defined as the belief that the literal interpretation of the Bible is necessary to Christianity.
Is Fundamentalism not a belief system because it is also a belief (despite being one that other beliefs fall under)?
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No, I would argue that "fundamentalism" is a fairly specific hermeneutical method that can be applied to a variety of ideologies, individual or sets of premises, or systems of thought. As I understand the term, fundamentalism requires a strong commitment to what is perceived to be perspicuous truth claims. This is achieved in a variety of ways; within Western religions, Christian and Islamic fundamentalism are grounded in an adherence to the supremacy of perspicuously revealed divine texts (the Bible and the Quran). There can also be forms of fundamentalism in materialism—which is quite different from atheism, but perhaps what you are confusing with atheism. I would say that Richard Dawkins is a fundamentalist materialist; on this site Duffman and T@T probably best fit this classification.
I am not intimately familiar with other forms of fundamentalism, but I am a former Christian fundamentalist. It should be noted that not all Christian fundamentalists adhere to the same "belief system." There is a WIDE spectrum of individual doctrines on which Christian fundamentalists will differ: the extent to which a "literal" v. "figurative" interpretation of scripture applies; the existence and function of a divine realm; the nature of God and Christ; the function of "law," "faith," and "grace"; the purpose and function of divine "gifting"; the nature and origins of evil . . . This is but a sampling; I could go on—but what all Christian fundamentalists have in common is a strong commitment to the verbal plenary inspiration of scripture as the authoritative source of divine revelation, and an accompanying authoritative interpretive matrix that prioritises the plain meaning of the text.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chill Cosby
So does a lack of belief inform other beliefs? Or are we in agreement that a "lack of belief" in god is the same in this scenario (Atheism) as a "belief" in god?
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Probably, but as I noted above, there is no "set" of beliefs that all atheists adhere to; only an affirmation that there is no evidence for the existence of a god. Again, you need to do much more work to show that there is such a system.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chill Cosby
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What do you think it means to "follow atheism"? How does one "teach" atheism?