Follow up on "categories" question (theist/atheist/agnostic(?

Question

Thanks for many thoughtful answers (and the other ones!)

Am. Heritage Dictionary: God = "A being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient originator and ruler of the universe, the principal object of faith and worship in monotheistic religions."

My point is this, that this is meaningless, to me, anyway (and I suspect most who would call themselves atheists). I just can't conceive of what such a being might me like, it's just weird to me.

But as far as the answers, that, if I don't believe in god, that makes me an atheist:

Say I'm amoral--I know what it means to be moral. Or asexual, I know what it means to be sexual. But atheist--here's where I go, Huh??? I just have no idea, literally, what the heck a theist believes in.

Does this make my original question clearer?

Answer 1

See ignosticism (not agnosticism).

God must be defined before we can discuss its potential existence.

Answer 2

Yes, most definitions for "god" are fairly meaningless. Generally, it has two main attributes 1) powerful and 2) sentient. Other than that, the only defining characteristics that mean anything are the claims of actions that a god made according to a particular religion.

There are two types of atheist, a weak atheist and a strong atheist.

A strong atheist is one who believes there are no gods because of the evidence against their being a god. He takes the god hypothesis as something that is testable against the claims made by each religion.

A weak atheist is one who doesn't have any belief in any gods because of a lack of evidence for their being a god. And you can't have evidence for a god that is undefined.

So, I would classify you as a weak atheist.

Answer 3

There are a lot of different kinds of theists.

I am Agnostic deist, Gnostic, Spiritualist, and just me.

I think there is a God and I know there is no proof either way.

I don't try to conceive God in any form. He might be just an energy with intelligence. He may actually look like a man. I don't know and I don't care.

I figure all my questions will be answered after my body dies.

Answer 4

I think to most important point in your question is the line 'conceived as the ....' Never a truer word was written. The concept of god was indeed conceived by primitive people trying to make sense of a hugely complicated and frightening world. Thousands of years ago. It has no relevance to modern society.

Answer 5

I think this still puts you in the Atheist category. Because you cannot relate to God does not make you a different category. The category you place yourself in determines what you believe. You do not believe in God. You are Atheist.

Answer 6

Yes, but it would be easier to find out what you are if you described what you do think in terms of spirituality - not just what you don't understand what what you do believe. It's easier to make a positive description than a negative one, especially if you don't have a positive to relate to.

That's why I asked if you would be a philosopher. Do you have a spiritual philosophy? What's your opinion on it? How do you think people should act and why?

Answer 7

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Answer 8

Ah! You know what you are, and "atheist" is the word currently used to describe it, but you don't like the word and want a new one. Have I got it right? I can sympathize, but I doubt that a new word will be created just for you. Good luck with it, though. Let us know how you do with it.

Answer 9

With atheism it's not what you believe, it's what you don't believe.

The best definition for who gets to be an atheist:

One who lacks belief in a god or gods.

Note that lacking belief in god is not the same as believing no gods exist.