Posted: Jan 18, 2011 2:03 am
the mouse wrote:Goldenmane wrote: And here we run into the problem of non-rigorous thought.
It has nothing to do with rigorous thought, and all to do with language. A number of our newly minted atheist have an unfamiliarity with the word "God". The poster said that he believes in a higher power that gives him comfort, an atheist who is familiar with the vocabulary should have asked how does this God/Higher power give him comfort, and from such question one would garner more about the nature of this higher power that he believes in.
Bullshit.
Asking "which one?" is equivalent to "define your terms". "I believe in God" is properly responded to with "What is this god thing you speak of?" or, "define your terms"... or "which one?"
Because the word "god", even capitalised, is not defined. It's vague, and essentially meaningless until it is defined. Just get two believers talking and see how long it lasts before they start disagreeing about the nature and properties of the thing they both claim to worship.