(FTB) – Aged Reasoner:
For years the new atheist movement has been saying in various forms that “Atheism is not a religion.” That in fact it wasn’t even the opposite of religion in that atheism believed in “nothing at all.”
This is often looked at as a way of taking the debate “high ground,” in that theists are said to be making a positive claim, therefore the burden of proof is on them. Atheists on the other hand, asserting an absence, did not have to disprove the existence of god. This is great for scoring points in a debate, but otherwise can cause problems. …
In response to a theist, I can say that I sort of have a creed. I don’t believe in a god, an afterlife or a soul. I don’t believe that we are going to have a Deus Ex Machina ending where some deity comes in and makes everything right. I believe we have to solve our own problems, personally and as a society and that when death comes, my consciousness, existence and chances end.
I like to think that my beliefs are “well reasoned and insightful” as Michael Feldman used to say. But they might not be. And they might be wrong. But they are my beliefs and they are what make me an atheist. …
jf 