Celebrity Atheists

[Flint]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

Crystals are not intelligent.

And not everybody that has a moustache is Hitler. So?

Originally Posted by Flint

The fallacy of Atheism, to me, is that it only seeks to disprove God as is defined by an external source...

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

That's not a fallacy, it's a structural necessity.

So...do you mean that "Atheism" consists of: not believing in a diety as defined by organized religions? Isn't that just disagreeing with a definition?

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

You being Afooist is completely dependant on my definition of Fooism. That's not a fallacy on your part. You didn't change any of your views, but suddenly you get this label!

Nobody should just "get the label" of Atheist, you should decide to call yourself that. And, I propose that holding other people's beliefs as the source of your personal identity is sort of...odd. Saying I don't believe in something, which I provide the definition for, is one thing. But saying I don't believe in something that is exactly as these other people describe...well... it's kind of like making a rebellious statement, isn't it? Your whole identity, in that case, is defined externally. It looks like that would take you out of the driver's seat of your own life. Am I misunderstanding what Atheist means?

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by Flint

And not everybody that has a moustache is Hitler. So?

So organization doesn't imply or entail intelligence. Some things just organize because that is the easiest path.

So...do you mean that "Atheism" consists of: not believing in a diety as defined by organized religions? Isn't that just disagreeing with a definition?

Dieties are an invention of theists. They get to define them. Atheists making up their own gods in order to deny them would be a waste of time.

Nobody should just "get the label" of Atheist, you should decide to call yourself that. And, I propose that holding other people's beliefs as the source of your personal identity is sort of...odd.

Atheism isn't a personal identity. It is an answer to the question "do you believe in God?".

Saying I don't believe in something, which I provide the definition for, is one thing. But saying I don't believe in something that is exactly as these other people describe...well... it's kind of like making a rebellious statement, isn't it? Your whole identity, in that case, is defined externally. It looks like that would take you out of the driver's seat of your own life. Am I misunderstanding what Atheist means?

If you think it forms some sort of personal identity, then yes; you are misunderstanding. My own life is not in any way based on atheism. My views of religion are defined externally because I have no internal religious beliefs, but that is irrelevant because religious beliefs aren't in the car, let alone the driver's seat of my identity.