Good points. It is true that I don't really find myself pondering my beliefs or lack thereof as far as religion...I just find that what it means to be atheist differs from person to person, much like a relgious affiliation or conviction.topal63 wrote:
(IMO) Atheism is even less than that... actually. And (another IMO), there is no relationship of it to religion whatsoever.KEN-JENNINGS wrote:
Atheism in my view isn't necessarily a belief. It's a lack of belief. It is not affirming the lack of a god, it is simply refusing to accept a belief in god. There is a difference.dayarath wrote:
and agnostic person says he doesn't know wether there is a god or not.
An atheist knows there is no god.
Atheism is similar to religion in one major way - everyone's interpretation of what it is to be * differs. In that sense, religion and atheism are more a philosophical question of self than anything else.
Tis not a conviction, tis not a concern, tis not a belief - one does not have to deny that which one never affirmed; or could not find a single reason or fact to affirm; in the first place. Atheism is simple. It does not concern itself with endless, nonsensical and utterly pure conjecture (rooted in a mutating parochial mythical tradition... questions about god and religion along those lines are more akin to cultural anthropology rather than philosophy). Atheism simply means you've moved on (maybe, even beyond concerning yourself with god-conjecture).
It is like the moment in "The stranger" (A. Camus) when the priest is pressing the familiar sentimental appeal to god-argument as a consolation for a hopeless situation (or even a replacement for honest human hope). And Meursault is utterly irritated by the priests lack of clarity for the reality existing before and for them both. "Doesn't he see? Can't he see!" The guillotine waiting for Meursault is no different than the biblical "ye shall surely die" the only difference is knowing that certain date with death in Meursault case which has given him blinding clarity.
This culminates in a brief treatise on "certainty" and the "desire for life." He may not be certain about god-conjecture (does such exist? might something exist? who knows? only god knows? or knows not?); but he is definitely certain about things that he is not interested in; and that is god. He does not want to waste a single minute of his (now remaining short life) on god. What does exist is the desire to live; what would/could appeal to him is possibility; even the tiniest remotest possibility; that he could escape immediate-certain fate (the guillotine); and experience life... the desire for life.
As he contemplated the stone walls of his cell he did not contemplate finding god there...
"I said I had been looking at the stones in those walls for months. There wasn't anything or anyone in the world I knew better. Maybe at one time, way back, I had searched for a face in them. But the face I was looking for was as bright as the sun and the flame of desire – and it belonged to Marie."
__________
Speaking of things more interesting (and real) than god, how is that (out-of-your league) cutie doing you were seeing a few months back. Still encountering that life; the flame of desire that has a name?
Yes, life is good in the relationship department. Keep posting, we missed your knowledge.
Last edited by KEN-JENNINGS (2008-01-09 13:33:31)