Big Bang?

[Otto]

Cyrus never said that "atheism is the One True Belief" -- how can you 
assert he did?

Otto

jbor at bigpond.com wrote:

> I respect your faith -- your belief that there are no gods. And 
> basically that's all I've been saying all along, that people's beliefs 
> should be respected.
>
> Your argument that atheism is the One True Belief because "God" is an 
> existential claim which cannot be disproven was purely a semantic one. 
> One can as easily label "God" a hypothesis or point out that the Big 
> Bang theory is unfalsifiable. As such, it is exactly the same sort of 
> logical proposition as Divine Creation.
>
> Your argument that "atheism is the absence of theism" is also purely 
> semantic, and of course it can legitimately be turned around.
>
> There seems to be a general conviction that theism is a more 
> "primitive" belief system than atheism. Well, yes it is, if it's an 
> atheism which responds to the advent of religious faith in human 
> civilisations. And if it's that sort of atheism we're talking about 
> then it most certainly is a belief which has been constructed in 
> opposition to another, pre-existing system(s) of belief.
>
> The only way you might logically contend that atheism is not a belief 
> or faith is if you are asserting that your particular cult of atheism 
> is a reversion to the earlier, prehistoric atheism. 
> Historically-speaking, atheism is a more primitive or primal human 
> state of mind or being than is theism. The latter superseded the 
> former -- put the spokes into the wheel, you could say.
>
> best
>
> On 01/10/2005, at 7:42 PM, Cyrus wrote:
>
>> Maybe it's semantics to you. I understand that. But atheists take 
>> this very seriously, because it is one of the ways theists keep 
>> mirepresenting their position. Atheists make no claim. It is theists 
>> who make the claim that a god exists. Therefore,  the burden of proof 
>> lies on the theists' side. Since there can be no proof, they employ 
>> faith.
>>
>> And do you really believe the simple inversion of what the other 
>> person says constitutes an argument?
>>
>> Cyrus
>


	

	
		
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