Welcome to round two of Atheist Digest.
In this series we're going to explore philosophy, science, theology, psychology, epistemology, and a whole slew of other silly elitist things. We're going to challenge each other to think, we're going to inadvertently insult some people, and hopefully we'll end the day battered, bruised, confused, but just a little more thoughtful and tolerant than before.
Throughout the series you will probably see a lot of vocal atheists (me). Please try to recognize that we are not evangelists. We don't want you to follow our lead, or subscribe to any particular philosophy. However, we do think that we're correct, and it is not unreasonable for us to put forth and defend our position - for it is in our very nature to question and analyze all ideas, especially our own.
Now, what ideas do we have? And how do we express them?
That is the subject of this diary.
In this piece, I will try to explain and expound upon the words we'll use throughout the series. Now some of you are surely thinking:
Isn't that just semantics?
Yes, it is.
This is a diary about quibbling, nit-picking, anal-retentive details, but it's still important. I want to resolve semantic issues before they arise. Consider this a glossary for the rest of the series (one which I hope the other diarists will link to). You will not find a detailed philosophical argument here. Instead, these are the words we are going to use, and what we mean by them.
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1. Theism, Atheism, and Anti-theism
Theism: belief in the existence of a god or gods
This definition comes from Merriam-Webster, and it's a decent one, although I would use the term deity instead of god. This is an important distinction because people seem to love the word god, and will go out of their way to use it for all sorts of things. Spiritual types often say things like:
"God is just love"
OR
"God is the universe"
No! Love is love, and the universe is the universe. Why use the loaded word god to describe things that we already have words for? In this series when we say god we mean deity - a supernatural / celestial / transcendent being. If you want to use the word god for something else, be it "love", "universe", or "turkey baster", please try to use those words instead.
Now we come to our next term:
Atheism: the absence of theism; no belief in a god or gods
Atheists lack the belief in a deity. That's the only quality all atheists share. Atheists can and do disagree on everything else. They can be socialists, libertarians, solipsists, objectivists, materialists, spiritualists, and anything else. There is one easy, fool-proof test to find out if someone is an atheist:
Do you believe a deity exists?
If the answer is anything other than yes, you've got an atheist. An atheist does not have to be certain there are no gods, he or she just doesn't believe in them. Very few atheists claim with absolute certainty that no deities exist. The ones that do, fall under the next term:
Anti-theism: the opposite of theism; the belief that no gods exist
As you can see, anti-theists are necessarily atheists, as they cannot believe something exists and claim to know it does not. However, this type of atheist is extremely rare. Do not assume that an atheist you are talking to is an anti-theist unless he/she openly claims absolute knowledge.
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2. Gnosticism, Agnosticism
Gnosticism: the knowledge of a god, or gods
Gnostics claim to know specific facts about deities, and their existence. Traditionally, this meant the gnostic claimed to have experienced gnosis, a direct personal encounter with a deity. Gnosis is still one of the most common reasons given for theism.
Agnosticism: lacking knowledge of a god, or gods
An agnostic does not claim to know facts about deities, or their existence. Often, agnostics will go further and claim that it is impossible for anyone to truly know anything with certainty about deities.
Now...
Notice that by combining the words from #1 with the words from #2, we have two sets of words that describe different aspects of thought - Theism applying to belief, and Gnosticism to knowledge. By taking one word from each set, we can say very specific things about our theological thoughts.
For example:
I am an agnostic atheist. This means I do not have a god belief, but I do not claim to know with certainty. The vast majority of atheists are also agnostic (gnostic atheists would be the anti-theists). On the other spectrum, theists tend to be more divided between gnostic and agnostic. Most fundamentalist religions tend to push for unshakable and certain faith from their followers, leading to gnosticism. Liberal religions often advocate doubt, producing agnostic theists.
To make it really clear:
Gnostic Theist = believer with absolute certainty
Agnostic Theist = believer without absolute certainty
Agnostic Atheist = unbeliever without absolute certainty
Gnostic Atheist = unbeliever with absolute certainty (more commonly called anti-theist)
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3. Science
Science: a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge.
As an atheist, I am frequently accused of worshiping "Science" (almost always with a capital 'S'), as though it were some doctrine or faith. Science is a process. It's something you do, not something you think. Scientists don't expect people to believe them just at their word. Scientific journals don't look like this:
"The Earth revolves around the Sun. Believe us, we looked into it."
They include page upon page of detailed experiments, and all the data that was collected from them. Not only that, they explain how the experiments were set up, so that anyone can repeat them if they choose. A skeptic like me will examine the evidence for scientific ideas, and then choose whether or not to accept them.
Here is a graphical representation of the scientific method:
This method has repeatedly demonstrated its effectiveness at determining, predicting, and explaining reality. It encourages skepticism, critical thinking, and questioning. It is not something a person can believe in, it is a tool a person can use.
I urge you to recognize that when we talk about science, we're not referencing some mysterious authority. Later in this series we will see a diary on biology, and one on cosmology (by yours truly). Within these diaries will be quotes, links, videos, and explanations of a huge quantity of evidence. The evidence we present will explain why we accept ideas like Common Ancestry, Natural Selection, and Big Bang Cosmology.
Also recognize that if you think you have a valid criticism of one of those scientific ideas, you need to follow the method as well. Do background research and look for evidence that contradicts the scientific model in question. If you just rely on your intuition, and dismiss the evidence, you will almost always have an incomplete understanding of the subject.
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4. Religion and Spirituality
Spirituality: matters of the spirit, a concept often tied to to an ethereal plane, spirit world, multidimensional reality and one or more deities.
Religion: an organized approach to human spirituality
Often, when discussing theology, theists will attempt to defend their beliefs by pointing to the real world impact of their religion (charitable works, etc). Atheists can respond by pointing to the negative impact of religion - ignorance, violence, anti-intellectualism, sexism, racism, homophobia, oppression - however I usually do not choose to do so. Ultimately, benevolence versus tyranny in religion has no impact upon the truth value of said dogma.
The issue then arises that a person will say:
"I'm not religious, but I am spiritual."
The belief of such a commenter is sometimes that atheists are simply anti-religion, and will accept a deity when presented outside the context of organized religion. The opposite is true. Atheists reject the god claims first, and by extension recognize the absurdity of organized religions.
Other times, the word spirituality is used to refer to compassion, curiosity, will, and other complex human emotions. In these cases people use the word to advocate embracing the Human Spirit. Atheists are not opposed to such things.
However, we do tend to recognize that they are not esoteric or supernatural feelings. Human cooperation and empathy evolved because humans are social creatures, and the human communities that developed them had a reproductive advantage, and thus those genes were naturally selected. Regardless, this is not the way we will be using the word.
So, when we say spirituality in this series, we will be talking about the definition given here. A better word might be superstition, although that tends to make people think of ladders, mirrors, and black cats.
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These are the words essential to our topic, and how we will be using them. Here is the schedule for the remainder of the Atheist Digest series:
Thursday August 6th – Topic 2 – Belief – (Something the dog said)
We need to discuss the fallacy that Atheism is a belief that requires faith. Several of us have tried to tackle this one, and it is most certainly daunting, but we need to focus just on the frames people view the debate from, and how they shape their opinions in this debate. This picks up where our discussion of semantics leaves off.
Sunday August 9th – Topic 3 – Science, and Scientific Method - (Rfall)
There are a lot of people misinformed about this. Scientific method is often spoken of as something people have ‘faith’ in (again, a clever attempt to draw false equivalence between science and religion). We will attempt to clearly establish that science is a method and not a belief. Science is always in search of new information to expand and refine existing knowledge, as opposed to the religious impulse to prove that knowledge is finite so we therefore must rely on faith in some version of the unknowable to fulfill us.
Tuesday August 11th – Topic 4 – Religion’s Successes and Failures - (Something the dog said)
This diary is an Atheist’s view of the history of religion. What positive benefits it may have on society, and the negative side of organized religion, and unorganized spirituality. This is discussed with the caveat that no positive result of religion equates to a reason to believe in a god. This is religion as sociology, not theology.
Thursday August 13th – Topic 5 – Evolution – (Rfall)
We probably won’t get a lot of arguments about the validity of evolution from the Daily Kos community. However we need to discuss evolution in the context of scientific method, emphasizing the consensus between different fields of science, and the real meaning of the word ‘theory.’ Also, we’ll add a little about creationism in schools, the Kitzmiller v. Dover school board controversy in ’05, and the creationist museum.
Sunday August 16th – Topic 6 – Common Arguments and Misconceptions about Atheists - (Superbowl XX)
We run into some of these pretty frequently. A big one we need to discuss is "morality comes from religion." Another we must tackle is the "U.S. was founded by Christians/based on Christian principles" myth. We are reassuring Christians that we are not out to ‘get’ them and eat their babies, and discussing why we even need to reassure them. We will address irrational fears that Christianity is somehow being oppressed by ‘militant secularists’ and the gays.
Tuesday August 18th – Topic 7 – Creation, Cosmology, Deism, and the Space-Time Continuum. - (Chicagoa)
Chicagoa: This will be "a diary on cosmology - physics, logic, and theory - to explain to the haughty deists why we don't accept their First Cause or Kalam Cosmological arguments for the existence of a non-interventionist designer deity." This will possibly include a discussion of the philosophy of infinite/finite time and space, and explore the common misperceptions of Einstein’s and Hawking’s views of "God."
Thursday August 20th – Topic 8 – The Other Side of the Fence: Faith and Spirituality, (Rebuttal?) - (Colorado is the Shiznit)
Colorado is the Shiznit will lead the charge on this one, because the rest of us aren’t really qualified. We would like to have some discussion on what benefits many feel they get from faith and/or spirituality, and why they hold these beliefs. We would also like to get some kind of survey of religion/spiritual people’s perspective of Atheism/Atheists.
Sunday August 23rd - Topic 9 - Growing up Atheist - (WarrenS)
WarrenS talks about growing up in a family of atheists (all right, grandparents on one side were churchgoers, but that's it). How did his parents (both scientists) teach morality and ethics? How did growing up atheist affect his relationships with religions and religious organizations? How did it affect his relationships with religious people? Now that he has a child of his own, how will he approach these questions? Expect lots of stories and thought-provoking digressions in this one.
Tuesday August 25th - Conclusion: ‘Why We Care So Much’ - (XNeeOhCon, with input from all)
This one is pretty simple, but needs more attention. We need to make everyone see why we are so ‘obsessed’ with religion and what it really means to be Atheist in the United States. Within this section we will restate why we felt like participating in this series, and what we hoped to accomplish. We’ll try to tie up as many loose ends as possible and we will get some brief concluding statements from any of those who participated that would like to submit them.
I eagerly await any questions or thoughts in the comments. However, I will not accept being scolded on who qualifies as an atheist or an agnostic based upon the way the words are used in anyone's vernacular. If you plan on just dropping by and telling us what we get to call ourselves I will call upon Aeh-char the God of Hydration to banish you from this plane.