Posted: Feb 10, 2011 6:44 am
Lion IRC wrote:
Suppose you have an atheist - who was born that way - but subsequently converted to theism and who later de-converted back to atheism, insofar as the scope of this thread is concerned, but then changed their mind as a consequence of proselytyzation and became a theist.
What would be the correct word for that Spearthrower? un-deconversion? counter-reconversion?
It would still be a conversion, but you could add the prefix "re" to show it is happening again, if you so desired.
Lion IRC wrote:You have to remember that I think atheism is a (form of) religion so its all "conversion" of people as far as I am concerned - from one world view to another. Polytheist people, monotheist people, atheist people....
Just because you think something doesn't make it so. When communicating with other people, you might think that the word 'blue' should mean 'pizza', but you're only going to cause confusion: best to stick to socially accepted signifiers rather than arbitrarily making up your own as you go along.
Lion IRC wrote:I think atheism is a religion for the same reason that people like Mr Dawkins would accuse me of being an atheist in respect to Zeus. A person who believes there is no god still has a "belief" in respect to divinity.
So you're reducing religion down to 'supporting something' then really, aren't you?
So liking a football team is a religion in your definition too, when you get right down to it. In fact, everything is a religion which pretty much nullifies the word.
Again, I point out to you that making up your own arbitrary definitions basically destroys any value to communication. It is widely understood that religions have a number of characteristics.
Here:
Tenets
Narratives
Rituals
Metaphysics/Cosmology
Truth statements
Symbols
Traditions
Divisions of sacred and profane
Hierarchies
Scripture/Dogma
Laws/Lifestyles
Values
Practices
Please explain to me how these relate to atheism. Before leaping in gleefully, remember that atheism does not equate to science, and that any claim you make to the above *must* fit *all* atheists, not just one out of one hundred. If you cannot, it would probably be a good idea to drop the ludicrously inept canard that atheism is a religion.