Atheism and being Armenian

[Siggie]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

I don't see anyone contesting the intelligent stuff but rather avoiding to confront it or pretending it doesn't exist.

Of course you take it there... Intelligent discussion doesn't require holding any particular position.

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

Is it difficult being an atheist as an Armenian? It's not easy even if you're not Armenian, but I do think it makes it a bit harder. Religious Armenians love to imply (most imply, the rest come right out with it) that you're somehow less Armenian if you don't subscribe to religion.

I remember visiting a derelict Armenian church in Malatya with a group of Armenians, some of them were quite religious and insisted that everyone in their group should sing inside the church, and then turned rather viciously on the sole Armenian who declined to do so because he was not a Christian.

[KanadaHye]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

You should review the definition of faith. There's no faith required for lack of belief.

So why are you preaching your lack of belief?

[Siggie]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

So why are you preaching your lack of belief?

*reads previous posts* I don't see any preaching and how does that influence the definition of the word faith?

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

You should review the definition of faith. There's no faith required for lack of belief.

We don't necessarily need proof or evidence for lack of belief. It's often just a matter of not believing in the most unlikely thing (i.e., some invisible god who was never born, who never dies, and who created everything in 7 days). Lack of belief is the pure, initial form - it is what we are born with. Unfortunately we are also all born with an evolutionary ability to quickly copy and accept things unthinkingly - fine for basic evolutionary survival, but a bad thing in many other ways.

You said you were "still an atheist by middle school" so maybe I could assume you always were one, even before you could put a name to it?

[KanadaHye]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

*reads previous posts* I don't see any preaching and how does that influence the definition of the word faith?

You're mocking something in your signature which you don't have evidence exists. Atheism is a concept. Faith is belief in a concept. So you claim there is no God(s) but then blame the world for (something that doesn't exist). Doesn't make much sense. So to solve the problem, you wish to eliminate (something that doesn't exist). Logical no?

[Siggie]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

We don't necessarily need proof or evidence for lack of belief. It's often just a matter of not believing in the most unlikely thing (i.e., some invisible god who was never born, who never dies, and who created everything in 7 days). Lack of belief is the pure, initial form - it is what we are born with. Unfortunately we are also all born with an evolutionary ability to quickly copy and accept things unthinkingly - fine for basic evolutionary survival, but a bad thing in many other ways.

That's my point... Faith = belief without evidence
Atheism = lack of religious belief
There's simply not evidence for me to believe. If there was, I would be open to changing my mind.
That's why non-believers use FSM to illustrate. If you're told there's a plate of pasta that rules the universe, naturally you'd want evidence of that.
You hit on something else that's important as well... Believers like to attempt to get non-theists to concede it's possible as if that's some telling admission. Something with a near zero probability is still technically possible, but at some point, in order to be able to make sense of the world, we must require a minimum likelihood for accepting something as probably true and therefore changing your behavior, thoughts, etc accordingly.

You said you were "still an atheist by middle school" so maybe I could assume you always were one, even before you could put a name to it?

Perhaps. If there was any interest early on it had more to do with rituals and things. It never provided enough or satisfactory answers for me.

[Siggie]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

You're mocking something in your signature which you don't have evidence exists. Atheism is a concept. Faith is belief in a concept. So you claim there is no God(s) but then blame the world for (something that doesn't exist). Doesn't make much sense. So to solve the problem, you wish to eliminate (something that doesn't exist). Logical no?

Let's say:
I believe in FSM. You don't. Both our positions are operating on faith? Is that what you think?

You're not that feeble-minded. What are you trying to trap me with? A funny quote by a comedian? That's all you've got? Really?
I'm not going to engage in such a frivolous conversation.

[Jinx]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

By three methods we may learn the pointlessness of Armenian message boards: First, by lurking, which is noblest; Second, by imitating the majority, which is easiest; and third by posting intelligent stuff and allowing experience to eventually tell you it was time wasted, which is the bitterest."

We may also learn that it is against forum rules to satirise Confucius. If that is not the case, why was my post containing the above words erased?

That was great!

[KanadaHye]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

You're not that feeble-minded. What are you trying to trap me with? A funny quote by a comedian? That's all you've got? Really?
I'm not going to engage in such a frivolous conversation.

It's not a funny quote, you took it out of context.