When I see stuff like this, I'm glad I identify myself as Atheist :P

[PhoenixKing]

Sqrl said:

PhoenixKing said:

nightsurge said:

PhoenixKing said:

Actually, this is a pretty bad argument.

The problem is, there are a wide variety of religions and different religious interpretations and all religions claim to be the truth.

I'll clarify what I mean:

 

Assume any particular religion and/or religious sect is correct in their beliefs. That is to say a religion is entirely 100% correct as they've claimed.

Why does this create a problem for many religious followers?

Answer: Because if one religion, or religious sect IS the truth, then ALL other religious beliefs (and different sects to some extent) are false beliefs.

Atheism, commonly thought of as the rude, brash, childish, and even juvenille of all belief systems OBJECTIVELY disagrees with ALL religious beliefs because of their basics.

A believer of a religion believes their religion is right (and commonly will spend their entire lives believing in said religion) and is, in fact, an atheist to all other beliefs that don't agree with theirs.

So, while there ARE jerks on both sides of the religious spectrum, it would be a lie to say that either of them are equally credible. In fact, religious believers are technically atheists themselves so there is a certain level of hypocrisy in hating atheists.

And yes, I am an atheist.

Does that mean that you should no longer trust what I say? Aren't I the one being looked unfavorably upon because we simply don't agree on a matter of personal choice?

And who knows? Am I an atheist? Or am I a religious believer who sees hypocrisy in the religious community and simply want people to be more fair and ignore the stupidity on both sides?

You're free to ignore me but I think I've made my point so I'll just leave now as I'm sure I've upset many of you.

I don't follow how you think religious believers are atheists...

Atheism even in it's most broadest sense is simply the belief that there is no god or deities.  Yet every religion believes there is at least ONE god.  Religious followers would then be termed "theists" following the Theism belief in there existing at least one god or deity. Not atheists.

They're "atheist" in the sense that they think that other religions are false beliefs the same as atheists do. They don't state it outright, of course, but I've spoken to some and they admit, if you really believe that one religion is the truth then it denotes that the other religions are fake in their minds.

In THAT regard, they are "as athestic" about other religions as atheists are. At the broadest sense, they believe God is being worshipped the wrong way in other religions.

So, I'm not saying they atheists, I'm saying they can be looked upon that way because the share the same qualities atheists do regarding religions that they don't believe in.

But, you're right, they should be counted as theists anyway. I worded that wrong previously.

I really don't follow your logic on why athiesm is on any more solid ground by your reasoning...if one of the religions is right athiesm is wrong just as well as other religions are.  If any one theory among athiesm and theism of any form is correct, then the rest of the theories pretty much by definition are wrong whether they share their theistic status or not.

As for theism being a 'form of' athiesm...no this is an oversimplification of the issue.  A theist might believe another theist has the details wrong but they all agree on the fundamental existence of a higher power.  An atheist disagrees on the fundamental point.  These are the definitions of what seperates these groups, there is no more clear way to define them than by this fundamental disagreement. 

Simply pointing out that a given atheist and a given theist can have similar beliefs in regards to a second theistic belief system does not override their disagreement on the fundamental question of whether god exists, particularly when the given atheist and theist will have vastly different reasoning for why the other theistic belief system is off...and in many cases the two theistic belief systems will probably exhibit considerable overlap.

That ignores the fact that some religions, like Hinduism, Shintoism, etc, believe in Gods that are entirely different from the one believed in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.

So, you're oversimplifying as well. There are MANY religious faiths out there that have no distinct similarities or the same higher power existing in the world. We should look at them as religious believers view them: As different entities entirely.

And when did I say their similarities overrided the personal differences? I didn't say that. I just said there is a measure of hypocrisy on the theistic side. They don't always have vastly differing reasons for why a theistic belief is off. Most of it still stems from the idea "it just isn't true" or can, hypocritically enough, stem from the belief that it is lunacy (such as with Scientology, Mormonism, or Voodoo). 

The problem with theistic religions invalidating each other is that NONE of them can give proof for why their beliefs should be followed anymore than the other. After all, it's about faith. Faith is the belief without evidence. The burden of proof lies with the theists making the claim.

So, how can there be VALID certainty that any one of them is more true than the other? All religious believers have certainty that their faith is the correct one and therefore superior to all others.

Now, while one religion being right would invalidate atheism as well, it shows that they didn't really lose out as much as the theists who were wrong, who most likely will face the same punishments as atheists for believing in a false God/Gods/or manner of believing in God(s) their entire lives. Thus atheists lose out less.