Atheism

Clever, but untrue. Faith is just a synonym for trust. No one can absolutely prove God exists, and no one can absolutely prove He doesn't. There is trust on both sides of the question. Deists live trusting in whatever deity they've chosen. Atheists live trusting there is nothing beyond this life, and that all of existence lies within the natural realm.

Neither side will know anything for certain until death, and by then of course, it's too late.

Edit: Or what Big Mark said.

 

By your standards, you are also an atheist. Do you believe in Wotan? Isis? How about Ram or Durga? Do you believe in fairies? Are you an afairyist?

Do you have faith that those don't exist or do you simply not believe in their existence.

 

No, the absence of something is not the same as it being something else. Atheism is the absence of belief in a higher power or powers. You may wish to characterize it differently to suit your needs, but that is simply all that it is.

 

I'm sorry my friend, but I respectfully disagree. Agnosticism is an absence of belief in a God or gods. It's spiritual uncertainty, with no decision made regarding the existence of a divine power.

Atheism is a denial that any divine power exists whatsoever. It is an active, intentional decision -- the end result of a particular thought process.

 

Agnosticisim is "not knowing." Atheism is "not believing." I understand you are coming from a decidedly Christian viewpoint and the terms are framed for you in that way.

 

faith is belief of something without any proof. proof is a semi-subjective term. most people would take a large amount of evidence as being the equivalent of proof (like in a trial, for example).

if you want to be very strict about what you call proof, then i think you'd end up with truly NOTHING being able to be absolutely proven. the rule of science is that you can't prove something to be true, you can only prove other things to be false. typically, the longer a hypothesis survives, the more accepted it becomes as truth, tho everything is always a theory.

if you really bother extrapolating faith to atheism, then i think you'd also be extrapolating faith to gravity, starting your car, brushing your teeth, turning on your tv, typing on your keyboard, etc. pretty much every action you take where you expect a reaction is a matter of faith, if you break it down.

looking at it that way, trying to convince people that atheism is a matter of faith seems like you must not have a very high estimation of faith.

 

Belief in Christianity says that you achieve grace by faith. That's why there are so many temptations as to not believe. It makes it harder that's why those that do believe and hold firm to their faith are welcomed into heaven. If it were easy then there would be no point in it. No one would truly learn what it means to truly believe.

 

Sure. But that thought process doesn't involve an ongoing expression of faith after that end result.

In terms of Christianity, you make the decision to accept Jesus and then continue (or try) to live your life as Christian (i.e there are rules).

What are the tenets of athiesm beyond the thought process you mention?

 

That was exactly my point. "Not believing" is a choice, just like believing is. "Not knowing" is not.

 

do you "know" there is a god?