Qualifications for parents

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Originally Posted by bbshriver

Atheists believe there is no God/god/gods, and that everything is explainable by other means. That constitutes a set of beliefs concerning the cause of the universe etc.

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Atheism is the lack of a belief. Atheism doesn't say anything about explaining things. Atheists just don't think the claims of theists are believable.

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Originally Posted by bbshriver

atheism requires a fundamental set of beliefs agreed upon by a number of persons. e.g. that there is no God/god/gods

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That's not a set of beliefs.

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Originally Posted by bbshriver

I'm not sure of a particular atheist group, but there are groups with atheist tenancies that push a particular agenda (for instance, that evolution is fact, or that there is no "universal" right or wrong)

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evolution has nothing to do with atheism.

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Originally Posted by bbshriver

Sure you don't go to church on Sunday, but atheists live there life as if there is no higher power, which is a practice of their particular religious belief. Plenty of "Christians" don't go to church either.

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So you're saying atheist live their life with no belief in a god? Well that's
the definition of an atheist. They have no belief in a god.

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Originally Posted by bbshriver

Most atheists I've encountered seem very devoted to their cause of convincing everyone to agree with them.

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So? Nothing in atheism makes this a requirement unlike christianity.

There are no set of rules to being an atheist.

So if you don't believe aliens exist it's a religion?

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Originally Posted by NYCshaver

Atheism is the lack of a belief. Atheism doesn't say anything about explaining things. Atheists just don't think the claims of theists are believable.

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Perhaps there are varying degrees of atheism. The "atheists" I've encountered work very hard to back up their point of view, and will fight tooth and nail to "convert" others to their way of thinking.

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evolution has nothing to do with atheism.

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It seems that the majority of Atheists I encounter wholeheartedly believe in evolution, and most evolutionists deny that there could be a God.
For a famous example see Richard Dawkins, who is my image of an Atheist

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So you're saying atheist live their life with no belief in a god? Well that's
the definition of an atheist. They have no belief in a god.

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Exactly, and that belief affects every action in their lives.

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So if you don't believe aliens exist it's a religion?

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If you spend your life trying to convince others that they don't exist, and go on and on with "proof" that they don't/can't, and hold that no other view could possibly be right... then yes.

This is getting interesting and I think indicative of what happens when we prostrate ourselve before the altar of political correctness, try to be sensitive to the insensitive and accept the unacceptable. I cannot see anyone 50 years ago being fast forwarded to today who what not be shocked with what is going on in so many facets of our society. I think it is also interesting that so many people today think free speech is one directional, their's.

I know I am going to get hammered by what is acceptable and what is not acceptable but too bad. For me if something stinks it stinks. I don't care what anyone else has to say.

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Originally Posted by welshwizard

To many people, some behaviour is just plain unnatural and wrong.

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Please, do not use the 'unnatural' argument in a discussion about homosexuality. Just don't.
There is NOTHING that humans can do that a significant percentage of the animal kingdom isn't doing also.

Homosexuality happens in at least 1500 different species.
Homosexual behavior in animals - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not saying that you are not allowed to call it wrong (you are) but don't call it unnatural because then ou are just just plain wrong.
Many othe rspecies perform oral sex and gay oral sex, and one type of squirrel has oral sex with itself. And we all know what the praying mantis does :)

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Originally Posted by bbshriver

Perhaps there are varying degrees of atheism. The "atheists" I've encountered work very hard to back up their point of view, and will fight tooth and nail to "convert" others to their way of thinking.

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There is nothing for an atheist to back up. They are not making a positive claim. The one that makes the positive claim bears the responsibility to back it up. An atheist just doesn't think theists have done that.

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Originally Posted by bbshriver

It seems that the majority of Atheists I encounter wholeheartedly believe in evolution, and most evolutionists deny that there could be a God.
For a famous example see Richard Dawkins, who is my image of an Atheist

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I'm sure most atheist believe in evolution. The evidence is overwhelming for it. But there is no requirement for an atheist to believe it.

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Originally Posted by bbshriver

Exactly, and that belief affects every action in their lives.

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No it doesn't. Not having a belief in a god doesn't dictate any way you should live your life. There are no set of rules you must follow.

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Originally Posted by bbshriver

If you spend your life trying to convince others that they don't exist, and go on and on with "proof" that they don't/can't, and hold that no other view could possibly be right... then yes.

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There is nothing to prove in atheism. An atheist doesn't say that no other view could possibly be right. They just say that the evidence put forward by theists isn't convincing.

And nothing in atheism says you have to make others believe you are right to reject the belief in gods.

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Originally Posted by frank47

You are correct in that it depends on how one measures violence. There were wars 50 years ago. There was discrimination 50 years ago. What I was referring to is the amount of violence, drug abuse, teen-age (even pre-teen sex), abortions (legal or not) and lack of human respect - all of which pervades our society today. I know we all can get nostalgic, but these statistics are undeniable.

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What statistics are you referring too?

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Originally Posted by bbshriver

It seems that the majority of Atheists I encounter wholeheartedly believe in evolution, and most evolutionists deny that there could be a God.
For a famous example see Richard Dawkins, who is my image of an Atheist

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For what i know is that Mr Richard Dawkins isn't an atheist but agnostic.
There is a huge difference between these terms and mixing these two is a cardinal mistake :o

Seriously: i wouldn't want to see this thread sinking deeply into frustrating and useless religious/non-religious yes-no hassle, using 'search' in this forum helps as this same battle has been fought so many times before. With all respects, of course.

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Originally Posted by NYCshaver

...atheist...

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I do think there are varying degrees of atheism. What you describe is closer to what I would descibe as someone who is agnostic. But... by definition all atheism describes is a lack of theism, so it does cover a pretty broad category of people.

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Originally Posted by HNSB

I do think there are varying degrees of atheism. What you describe is closer to what I would descibe as someone who is agnostic. But... by definition all atheism describes is a lack of theism, so it does cover a pretty broad category of people.

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Agnosticism is about knowledge. Atheism is about belief.

You can be a theist and be agnostic. You can believe there is a god but say you can't know for sure there is one.

So you can also be an agnostic atheist. You have no belief in god without claiming to know for sure that no gods can or do exist.

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Originally Posted by Sailor

For what i know is that Mr Richard Dawkins isn't an atheist but agnostic.

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He's definitely an atheist.