wagar (01/17/83)
Many people seem to misunderstand the term atheist. I quote: "there is nothing in the Communist philosophy about religion at all!" Well, there you have it -- Communism is an atheistic viewpoint, i.e. it is not theistic. This is unusual for political philosophies, since most are, but it in no way is a criticism of the Communist viewpoint. It is true that the term atheism has acquired a bucket-load of negative connotations, but it's meaning is pretty clear: "devoid of belief in whatever it is that theistic people believe in." This definition makes it pretty clear that if you aren't a theist, you're an atheist (it's like typical vs. atypical). Still, no one wants to be called an atheist, because people will assume you want to force your point of view on them and start burning down churches. What they don't realize is that intolerance is a religious trait, and therefore doesn't apply. Not at all afraid to say I'm an atheist, Steve Wagar decvax!yale-comix!wagar
dee (01/18/83)
In reply to Steve Wagar, deriving the meaning of a word from its structure/entymology is cute but frequently wrong. People don't use the word atheist to mean just devoid of theism or belief in a God but to mean an active belief that there is no God. If you want to communicate with people it is normally best in non-poetic applications to use the commonly accepted meaning of a term among your intended audience. For another example of a word that does not have the meaning one might expect from its construction, look at antibiotic. If you didn't know better, you would say it was equivalent to poison or toxic substance since it is anti- anything that is biological (biotic). Donald Eastlake (dee!decvax!cca)
michaelk (01/18/83)
I believe that the notion that "something that is not theistic is therefore atheistic" is not valid. I have two reasons for this evaluation. First of all, the arguement (as has been expressly argued) presented on the net deletes the possiblity of non-applicability. If I observe a banana, I will note that it is not a synchronous device, therefore, are bananas asynchronous? Clearly, synchronousness is not applicable, and therefore requires a third catagory that is more than just "neutral", but disconnected. My second reasoning is that the definition of atheism in my Merriam Webster dictionary is as follows: "the belief that there is no GOD: denial of the existance of a supreme being". This definition follows with the normal usage of the word, and means much more than a neutral position. Mike Kersenbrock Tektronix Microcomputer Development Products Aloha, Oregon