The New Atheists; The Cult of Science?

[InfiniteNow]

I've always thought that C1ay sums it up best:

"If atheism is a religion, then bald is a hair color."

[Southtown]

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

I've always thought that C1ay sums it up best:

"If atheism is a religion, then bald is a hair color."

I myself would liken hair color to denominations/sects because I don't consider a person with unique beliefs to be conforming to any particular style of headdress, color or no.

[InfiniteNow]

[Southtown]

Einstein, Lincoln, Franklin, and who else?

[Boerseun]

That's definitely Tom Selleck rockin' an awesome mustache just below Hemingway on the top left!

[Tormod]

And Carl Sagan. But Darwin...and Jefferson...both deists IIRC?

[Overdog]

Kind of hard to define atheism...

Atheism, as an explicit position, can be either the affirmation of the nonexistence of gods,[1] or the rejection of theism.[2] It is also[3] defined more broadly as synonymous with any form of nontheism, including the simple absence of belief in deities.[4][5][6][7]

Many self-described atheists are skeptical of all supernatural beings and cite a lack of empirical evidence for the existence of deities. Others argue for atheism on philosophical, social or historical grounds. Although many self-described atheists tend toward secular philosophies such as humanism[8] and naturalism,[9] there is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere;[10] and some religions, such as Jainism and Theravada Buddhism, do not require belief in a personal god....

Writers disagree how best to define and classify atheism,[27] contesting what supernatural entities it applies to, whether it is an assertion in its own right or merely the absence of one, and whether it requires a conscious, explicit rejection. A variety of categories have been proposed to try to distinguish the different forms of atheism, most of which treat atheism as "absence of belief in deities" in order to explore the varieties of this nontheism.

Atheism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Overdog]

To me the word "Atheism" takes the collection of "Atheists" (Atheist, meaning god-less) and tacks on an "ism", with the implication that the collection of Atheists constitute an ideology.

Ideology

1. the body of doctrine, myth, belief, etc., that guides an individual, social movement, institution, class, or large group.

2. such a body of doctrine, myth, etc., with reference to some political and social plan, as that of fascism, along with the devices for putting it into operation.

3. Philosophy.
a. the study of the nature and origin of ideas.
b. a system that derives ideas exclusively from sensation.

4. theorizing of a visionary or impractical nature.

To me this is like saying that the absense of an ideology is an ideology.

It's like taking the word "Blind" (meaning sight-less) and saying that the collection of Blind people is "Blindism".

The word just doesn't make sense to me.

[modest]

Originally Posted by Overdog

To me the word "Atheism" takes the collection of "Atheists" (Atheist, meaning god-less) and tacks on an "ism", with the implication that the collection of Atheists constitute an ideology.

To me this is like saying that the absense of an ideology is an ideology.

It's like taking the word "Blind" and saying that the collection of Blind people is "Blindism".

The word just doesn't make sense to me.

I've never seen it that way. To me the prefix trumps the suffix.

theist = belief in a deity
atheist = not a belief in a deity

theism = an ideology involving the belief in a deity
atheism = not an ideology involving the belief in a deity

By modern usage, I think that's about right. However, somebody could easily make an argument against this by noting that the english word 'atheism' is older than the word 'theism'. Nevertheless, by modern usage, I like the above.

~modest

[Overdog]

Originally Posted by modest

...
theist = belief in a deity
atheist = not a belief in a deity

theism = an ideology involving the belief in a deity
atheism = not an ideology involving the belief in a deity

By modern usage, I think that's about right. However, somebody could easily make an argument against this by noting that the english word 'atheism' is older than the word 'theism'. Nevertheless, by modern usage, I like the above.
~modest

I agree with the way you have used the language. Perhaps it is a trick of the English language that makes so many people see it this way...

theism = an ideology involving the belief in a deity
atheism = an ideology involving the dis-belief in a deity

Leading to the idea it's a "cult" of some kind.