| silicon said: Atheism is as much as belief as Catholicism. We all have beliefs and to some extent the basis for belief is genetic. Also, I believe most atheists are atheists because they believe it's a sign of being intellectual. Atheists believe they're enlightened by science but science doesn't . have anything to do with the existence of God. |
Negations are not beliefs though. Atheism is a negation of a belief. This is part of the reason why, when you debate an atheist about religion, all they do is go into an attack mode and don't really present anything that is constructive or useful. Now an atheist who subscribes to humanism or some other -ism, which is a belief system, may end up arguing for the views in that, or try to pull a fast one that their negation actually has something. But, mainly what you get is attack, attack, attack, and then presume that the default position is nothing. Of course, for the person who actually wants something like a moral system, a community, or anything else like that, including ritual and pomp and circumstance, being a negation, an atheism has absolutely nothing to offer at all. So, an atheist evangelizing (Dan Barker is an example an evangelizing atheist, as are the athiest who put signs up), expect to burn everything down and return nothing, and then call that nothing "truth". Heck, atheism doesn't even have science with it, though atheists, after getting rid of religious faith, will end typically falling on science, believe they have something that can cause them, and everyone to be forced to submit to, eventhough they will find submitting to anything but themselves abhorant.
