Does anyone see a contradiction in these two statements, or is it just me?

Question

Atheist: A person who doesn't believe in the existence of any deity
Atheism: the practice of such a belief

To be fair, these definitions were given by a theist not known to be too bright on yahoo answers. but are basic reason, logic, and language parsing skills so inadequately taught in today's school systems?

Answer 1

the dog is cute

Answer 2

I already answered this elsewhere (one of your other questions)
Also, yes, throughout history, the skills you mentioned have been inadequately taught in most schools!


"I'm an atheist, I don't have a religion

what I think Christians mean when they say Atheism is a religion is that atheists (to a Christian) have a specific set of beliefs, and to Christians a set of beliefs equals a religion.

The fallacy in logic on the part of Christians who think this way is that Atheists do not have a set of beliefs pertaining to supernatural events of entities, unlike religious people.

When I say Christians, I simply mean religious people (jews or muslims or buddhists may all make this same mistake that Christians commonly make). They all have the same "believer" mentality, even if their beliefs are quite different (and none are really that different, they are all essentially the same!) But I digress.

Choosing not to accept something as fact without adequate evidence is not an act of faith or belief. Atheists merely choose not to accept a theory (that god exists) as a fact. To a rational person (an atheist, a scientist, a skeptic, etc) any theory that hasn't been strictly proven is just a theory. A theory becomes fact when irrefutable proof can be shown.

If you accept a theory as fact without irrefutable proof being shown, then you have commited the act of Believing.
If you do not accept a theory as fact without irrefutable proof being shown, then you have not commited the act of believing.

Thus, Christians (or people of any other religion) who see atheism as a type of belief similar (well, opposite) their own belief are misunderstanding what happens inside an atheist's mind. The atheist doesn't believe something, whereas the religious person does believe something.

Religious people = believers
non-religious people = non-believers = atheists!"

Answer 3

So are you saying it seems like Atheists are actively practicing a belief in non-belief? In other words, they are choosing not to believe in a deity... It is their choice. Those of us who do believe in a deity choose to do so. We can't expect someone to believe in something completely outside the relm of comprehensibility without a little faith. And that is the choice you are given...believe in fate or faith.... It's an active choice either way. The first statement should be reconfigured to look like this: Atheist: A person who believes there is no deity in existance. But since it's such a vague term and there are many kinds of atheists, active and passive, this statement is too generalizing to be acceptable.

Answer 4

Yeah I see your point, but atheists go to the same school as theists. What good are you doing by bashing a persons lack of knowledge?

Answer 5

LOL, they are confusing belief and belief in a deity for the same thing. Atheism is in itself a faith (some would say religion).
People tend to think atheism is not believing in religion, THAT would be contradictory.

Answer 6

Perhaps this schmendrick thinks sleeping in on Sunday morning is a religious practice.

Answer 7

Yes there's a major contradiction to those two statements, apparently he isn't smart like you said hehe.

Answer 8

I don't see the contradiction.Maybe I am also too stupid or uneducated to understand your knowledge.Guess I'll never know because you don't explain your claim at all.Good luck with your wisdom.

Answer 9

As you say theists are not well educated, If they were they would cease to be theists

Answer 10

Even believing in nothing is believing in something. Even if it doesn't make sense.

Answer 11

Basically, in answer to your second question, yes.