• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Atheism is a faith

Do you think Atheism counts as a faith

  • yes

    Votes: 24 24.5%
  • no

    Votes: 74 75.5%

  • Total voters
    98

Smoke

Done here.
Of course atheism is a faith, howbeit a negative one. This according to Professor Lawrence M. Principe of John Hopkins University, lecturer on science and religion. He's right, of course. To denial is non-religious religious-like dogma. Period. (Interesting lectures...if anyone is interested, you might find them at your public library on CD.)
Nonsense. My atheism isn't dogma; it's subject to change the minute anyone can provide convincing evidence for a deity. Of course, I don't think they can do it, but I welcome them to try. We have nothing to fear from the truth.
 

ChristineES

Tiggerism
Premium Member
Well, now I know. A lot of atheists don't have faith in anything. They don't even trust themselves (or have faith in themselves, in other words). They have no faith that the sun will rise tomorrow and they have no faith that they even exist.

I mean this remark to be humorous, not to be taken seriously by anyone (I have to say this now)
 

Papersock

Lucid Dreamer
Well, now I know. A lot of atheists don't have faith in anything. They don't even trust themselves (or have faith in themselves, in other words). They have no faith that the sun will rise tomorrow and they have no faith that they even exist.

I mean this remark to be humorous, not to be taken seriously by anyone (I have to say this now)

I have to kind of agree. Everything has some possibility of being wrong. In some cases it's a very small possibility, however.
 

shadow_fire

Member
Well, now I know. A lot of atheists don't have faith in anything. They don't even trust themselves (or have faith in themselves, in other words). They have no faith that the sun will rise tomorrow and they have no faith that they even exist.

I mean this remark to be humorous, not to be taken seriously by anyone (I have to say this now)

I wish I could know to what extent you are being humorous, so I could respond to this without sounding spiteful of good old humor.
 

Smoke

Done here.
Well, now I know. A lot of atheists don't have faith in anything. They don't even trust themselves (or have faith in themselves, in other words). They have no faith that the sun will rise tomorrow and they have no faith that they even exist.

I mean this remark to be humorous, not to be taken seriously by anyone (I have to say this now)
I don't get it. What's humorous about it?
 

shadow_fire

Member
I don't get it. What's humorous about it?

You know in South Park when there mocking Christianity and were laughing our asses off, but other people are appalled? kind of like that except its not nearly as brilliant as South Park. :p (I'm not sure if your a fan of South Park, but as you can tell I am lol)
 

eudaimonia

Fellowship of Reason
Well, now I know. A lot of atheists don't have faith in anything. They don't even trust themselves (or have faith in themselves, in other words). They have no faith that the sun will rise tomorrow and they have no faith that they even exist.

I mean this remark to be humorous, not to be taken seriously by anyone (I have to say this now)

I'll take this as a serious post, if that's okay with you.

What do your examples have to do with atheism being a faith? If an atheist did "have faith in himself", that wouldn't mean that atheism is "having faith in oneself".

It is atheism that isn't a faith. No one is saying that it is impossible for an atheist to have faith in something. An atheist may or may not have faith in any number of things.


eudaimonia,

Mark
 

Reverend Rick

Frubal Whore
Premium Member
Nonsense. My atheism isn't dogma; it's subject to change the minute anyone can provide convincing evidence for a deity. Of course, I don't think they can do it, but I welcome them to try. We have nothing to fear from the truth.

Are you truly an atheist? You sound more like an agnostic to me.
 

Ðanisty

Well-Known Member
Are you truly an atheist? You sound more like an agnostic to me.
Why do you say that? Atheists aren't required to hold their beliefs for the rest of their lives any more than theists are. Besides, don't agnostics believe in the possibility of a higher power? Midnight Blue is saying he doesn't believe in that possibility right now, but if there were convincing evidence, he could believe that in the future. It's not the same.
 

doppelganger

Through the Looking Glass
Ðanisty;943024 said:
Besides, don't agnostics believe in the possibility of a higher power?

Not necessarily. Philosophical agnosticism rejects the whole notion of asking the question "Does 'God' Exist?", when understood as an ontological investigation, as a fundamentally meaningless inquiry.
 

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --
Premium Member
Atheism is an inference.
And faith is a deduction. A deduction is an inference in reverse.
I would think it more accurate to say that faith is an assumption. So, for example, the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry offers:
Faith - Acceptance of ideals, beliefs, etc., which are not necessarily demonstrable through experimentation or reason. [source]​
Interestingly enough, they also suggest:
Deduction - A system of logic, inference and conclusion drawn from examination of facts. Conclusions drawn from the general down to the specific.​
If one accepts these definitions as reasonable, then we see 'faith' defined as an acceptance of ideals, beliefs, etc., which are not necessarily deducible.

Of course one could, in the spirit of Humpty Dumpty, define 'faith' and 'deduction' in a way that supports one's presuppositions, but that's more comforting than constructive.
 

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --
Premium Member
doppelgänger;943028 said:
Not necessarily. Philosophical agnosticism rejects the whole notion of asking the question "Does 'God' Exist?", when understood as an ontological investigation, as a fundamentally meaningless inquiry.
No, they reject it as fundamentally unanswerable. While there may be an overlap, perhaps even a significant overlap, between agnosticism and noncognitivism, they are not identical.
 

doppelganger

Through the Looking Glass
No, they reject it as fundamentally unanswerable. While there may be an overlap, perhaps even a significant overlap, between agnosticism and noncognitivism, they are not identical.

Hence, the "not necessarily." :) Whether "noncognitivism" or "philosophical agnosticim" is a subcategory of "agnosticism," or something else entirely, is likely a matter of personal preference and probably semantics.
 

Smoke

Done here.
Are you truly an atheist? You sound more like an agnostic to me.
All my beliefs are subject to change if new and convincing evidence comes into the picture. In the meantime, though, I'm as sure there's no God as I am that there's no tooth fairy.
 

Scuba Pete

Le plongeur avec attitude...
All my beliefs are subject to change if new and convincing evidence comes into the picture.
I would suggest that the change from either atheism to theism, or visa versa comes not from new evidence, but a re-interpretation of the evidence at hand.

Probably the funniest thing I hear is the phrase "There is no evidence". There is a LOT of evidence all around us. The difference comes not from the existence of the evidence, but rather our interpretation of that evidence.
 

Aqualung

Tasty
EVERTYHING is based on faith, but I don't think that means you can classify it as "a faith". I think the whole concept of "a faith" is weird. "Religion" is much better defined and useful, and atheism isn't a religion, but I have no idea what "a faith" even is.
 
Top