05-28-2004, 01:55 AM
Looked in the dictionary:
"Atheist: One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods."
"Religion: a. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.
b. A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship."
Looking at these explanations I can't agree with you. You see belief and religion as the same thing. Religion for me is a belief in "something" supernatural or godly, atheist is NOT believing in something others do believe in. Not believing isn't a belief.
I do however feel more comfortable with your explanation where you say there "could be a god". True atheists wil never agree but I'm the kind of person that will have to see it to believe it. As long as the excistence of God hasn't been proven nor proven He doesn't exsist I try to stay openminded. But then I still think that God would want nothing to do with organized religion practised in His name. I wonder if there's a word for my beliefs to express my adversity (is this a word, looking for a softer word than hate) for organized religion and the people leading them(especially the religions who try to get souls through fear of going to hell). I hope I'm not stepping on anyones toes with this since that's not my intention at all.
"Atheist: One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods."
"Religion: a. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.
b. A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship."
Looking at these explanations I can't agree with you. You see belief and religion as the same thing. Religion for me is a belief in "something" supernatural or godly, atheist is NOT believing in something others do believe in. Not believing isn't a belief.
I do however feel more comfortable with your explanation where you say there "could be a god". True atheists wil never agree but I'm the kind of person that will have to see it to believe it. As long as the excistence of God hasn't been proven nor proven He doesn't exsist I try to stay openminded. But then I still think that God would want nothing to do with organized religion practised in His name. I wonder if there's a word for my beliefs to express my adversity (is this a word, looking for a softer word than hate) for organized religion and the people leading them(especially the religions who try to get souls through fear of going to hell). I hope I'm not stepping on anyones toes with this since that's not my intention at all.