Re:The U.S. Is Retreating from Religion
by Tenobrus on Friday October 20, 2017 @11:47AM
(#15516673)
You're using the fact that all are ideologies to attempt to smuggle in the connotations we have with "religion" and apply those to atheism and materialism. Examine those connotations directly and you'll see they don't sensically apply. For example: religion requires faith without evidence, materialism and atheism do not. Almost all religions make demands on the actions of their adherents, atheism almost by definition does not, except as in that as a category defined by lack of belief, those in that category won't believe in supernatural powers. There are legitimate semantic boundaries here, and attempting to blur them is only useful if you're trying to wage a war of connotation and emotion, not if you're trying to argue in good faith or build a good model of the world.
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Re:The U.S. Is Retreating from Religion
by dragonwriter on Friday October 20, 2017 @04:45PM
(#15519003)
> For example: religion requires faith without evidence
No, it doesn't.
OTOH, it does require that “evidence” be understood more broadly than just empiricism.
> Almost all religions make demands on the actions of their adherents, atheism almost by definition does not
Specific atheisms often do, though atheism as such (like theism as such) does not.
Re:The U.S. Is Retreating from Religion
by fourfaces on Friday October 20, 2017 @12:40PM
(#15517140)
" religion requires faith without evidence, materialism and atheism do not."
This is dogma preached by materialists, of course. The fact is that opposites are of the same nature. Theism and its opposite, atheism, are both belief systems. Neither of them is scientific. Vociferous denials notwithstanding.
Re:The U.S. Is Retreating from Religion
by root_axis on Friday October 20, 2017 @03:33PM
(#15518578)
Atheism is not a belief system (and neither is theism for that matter) it is simply a description.
> Almost all religions make demands on the actions of their adherents
This is a feature, not a bug? Otherwise what's the point?