Question to Atheists

Question to Atheists

Atheism = Lack of believe in God or Gods

Why do you add "Gods" (or god, G-d, g-d)
I would say "IF 1 God does not exists this includes many Gods don't exist either"

ETA:
* I do not attack Atheism. IF I were an Atheist the short version would clarify/exemplify my view the best; it gives a very clear answer to Theists
(I don't believe in God, hence I don't even contemplate more Gods)

* Thanks @Israel Khan: Great example, clarifying/exemplifying exactly what I meant in this OP.
I would not say "Alienism = to believe in the existence of alien or aliens"

* 1 reason why I prefer to write "God" is explained in below quote

stvdv said:

e) I do not let myself be forced into discrimination by writing one "God" capitalized, making that "God" seem more important than the "God" of others

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Honesty? Just so those folks who believe in many gods might have a little bit easier time relating to the question. When I don't want to say god or gods, I usually fall back on 'deity', and pretend I'm in Japan where words do not distinguish between plural or singular. I'm real good at pretending I'm in Japan. Been doing it most of the time for the past four years.

Good question, STVDV-san!

stvdv said:

Question to Atheists

Atheism = Lack of believe in God or Gods

Why do you add "Gods" (or god, G-d, g-d)
I would say "IF 1 God does not exists this includes many Gods don't exist either"

Click to expand...

Just to be absolutely clear. Believers are usually not good at logic but they are good at semantics. Experience shows without the "or gods" addition, they'll try to misinterpret.

Sunstone said:

Honesty? Just so those folks who believe in many gods might have a little bit easier time relating to the question

Click to expand...

Heyo said:

Just to be absolutely clear

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I like to keep things simple, hence the first thing to determine is God. Once that is proven, go on to the second God
IF I would not believe in God, I would keep it most simple as to not waste my time on something I don't believe in

So, I don't find your argument not very convincing

stvdv said:

I like to keep things simple, hence the first thing to determine is God. Once that is proven, go on to the second God
IF I would not believe in God, I would keep it most simple as to not waste my time on something I don't believe in

So, I don't find your argument not very convincing

Click to expand...

You are very good at semantics, as @Heyo has stated.

stvdv said:

Question to Atheists

Atheism = Lack of believe in God or Gods

Why do you add "Gods" (or god, G-d, g-d)
I would say "IF 1 God does not exists this includes many Gods don't exist either"

Click to expand...

I didn't add anything.
I typically say "lack of belief in any god"
If some semanticist wants to play games, I tell them to fly on home and claim victory.

stvdv said:

I like to keep things simple, hence the first thing to determine is God. Once that is proven, go on to the second God
IF I would not believe in God, I would keep it most simple as to not waste my time on something I don't believe in

So, I don't find your argument not very convincing

Click to expand...

Yeppers.
You most certainly "kept it simple" here:

Heyo said:

Experience shows without the "or gods" addition, they'll try to misinterpret.

Click to expand...

Hence even better to keep it super simple, just 1 God

And IF people "try" to misinterpret, I just tell them that

Mestemia said:

If some semanticist wants to play games, I tell them to fly on home and claim victory.

Click to expand...

Short and clear reply. I like that

Jedster said:

You are very good at semantics, as @Heyo has stated.

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I don't understand. I am not talking about semantics in the OP.

Adding "Gods" to the definition only gives more food for debate. Unless I want that, I would not add it

Heyo said:

Believers are usually not good at logic but they are good at semantics

Click to expand...

To be clear, the OP is not about semantics. It's about redundancy

stvdv said:

To be clear, the OP is not about semantics. It's about redundancy

Click to expand...

um...
one mans redundancy is another mans clarification?

Sunstone said:

pretend I'm in Japan where words do not distinguish between plural or singular

Click to expand...

I did not know that. Interesting that they don't distinguish between plural or singular. I am curious to the philosophy behind this.

stvdv said:

Question to Atheists

Atheism = Lack of believe in God or Gods

Why do you add "Gods" (or god, G-d, g-d)
I would say "IF 1 God does not exists this includes many Gods don't exist either"

Click to expand...

I just say that "i don't believe gods exist".

Think of it like aliens. We ask "do you believe that aliens exist?" We usually reply "I do not believe that aliens exist". This is pretty much understood as us saying that we don't even believe that one alien exists.

Mestemia said:

um...
one mans redundancy is another mans clarification?

Click to expand...

Great one

Do you personally think the definition of Atheism needs the extra clarification?

stvdv said:

Great one

Do you personally think the definition of Atheism needs the extra clarification?

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For some people it most certainly does.
For some people it matters not how much clarification is presented.
I like to think that most people do not need the extra clarification.

I liken it to the warning on a fan belt "Make Sure Motor Is Off Before Replacing"
The warning is not for most people.
It is for the ones who think a fan belt can be replaced while the motor is running.

Israel Khan said:

I just say that "i don't believe gods exist".

Think of it like aliens. We ask "do you believe that aliens exist?" We usually reply "I do not believe that aliens exist". This is pretty much understood as us saying that we don't even believe that one alien exists.

Click to expand...

Great example, clarifying/exemplifying exactly what I meant in the OP. I would not say "Alienism = to believe in the existence of alien or aliens"

stvdv said:

Question to Atheists

Atheism = Lack of believe in God or Gods

Why do you add "Gods" (or god, G-d, g-d)
I would say "IF 1 God does not exists this includes many Gods don't exist either"

ETA:
I do not attack Atheism. IF I were an Atheist the short version would clarify/exemplify my view the best; it gives a very clear answer to Theists
(I don't believe in God, hence I don't even contemplate more Gods)

Click to expand...

Actually it's quite simple, and where you're misunderstanding is in the use of your capitalization.

I imagine you're pulling your definition from Google. So let's use that one...



In the definition above, "God," with a capital 'G,' is a proper noun, meant to name a specific deity, most commonly the Abrahamic god, but in any case, the one we commonly call God. The god of monotheism, if you will.

The word "gods" in the definition is not capitalized, and therefore a common noun, so that would refer to any other deities aside from the one I mention above, such of gods of polytheism.

stvdv said:

Question to Atheists

Atheism = Lack of believe in God or Gods

Why do you add "Gods" (or god, G-d, g-d)

Click to expand...

Atheists didn't add anything. That is (close to) the commonly recognised definition of the word. In the modern English context, that was almost certainly defined by Christians, which is probably why they wrote God (referring to their own deity) and gods (referring to any other deities).

In general, God capitalised would be a proper noun referring to an individual being. In that context, Gods (capitalised) doesn't really make any sense. The plural referring to any general collection of deities should be gods (lower-case).

It's also worth nothing that the term was originally coined in ancient Greece, where they had polytheism and so wouldn't have the idea of God at all. Their definition would just be "Lack of belief in gods", which is the simplest general definition if you really want one.

The problem is that there are so often petty sematic arguments and attempted misdirection (as you starkly demonstrate with this thread), so different people will word it differently, be that to either clarify or distract in equal measure.

As always, I don't really think any of this should matter in any practical way. If you want to know what a person actually believes (or doesn't), just as them to explain. No individual can or should be reduced to a singular label or sentence.

stvdv said:

Question to Atheists

Atheism = Lack of believe in God or Gods

Why do you add "Gods" (or god, G-d, g-d)
I would say "IF 1 God does not exists this includes many Gods don't exist either"

ETA:
* I do not attack Atheism. IF I were an Atheist the short version would clarify/exemplify my view the best; it gives a very clear answer to Theists
(I don't believe in God, hence I don't even contemplate more Gods)

* Thanks @Israel Khan: Great example, clarifying/exemplifying exactly what I meant in this OP.
I would not say "Alienism = to believe in the existence of alien or aliens"

Click to expand...

I say "gods" (with a lowercase g)

When I see "God" (uppercase G), I take this as a proper noun... IOW, the term "God" only refers to a particular god named "God."

It's like the difference between Grumpy Cat (one particular cat named "Grumpy Cat") and grumpy cats in general (who could be named anything).