Thursday, January 13, 2005

Aetheism: A faith or falacy.
I got bored in school today and decided to look around at the many sides of religious debates and opinions. Something that I've heard said to me many times and has annoyed me in it's lack of certain sense. In order to counter-debate the thought that Aetheism is a faith, most of this self-proclaimed group say that Aetheism isn't a faith. They state that they "don't believe there is a God", and that since it is a lack of a beleif, it isn't a belief, and it can't be a faith.

I did some research on definitions and applicability to the world around us, and found something very interesting: If aethiesm is truly what they say it is, then it cannot exist!

First and foremost, the definitions. All of which I got from www.dictionary.com, which also sites it's own sources. I'm bolding the main definitions I'm using.


a·the·ism    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (th-zm)
n.

1.
a. Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods.
b. The doctrine that there is no God or gods.

2. Godlessness; immorality.

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[French athéisme, from athée, atheist, from Greek atheos, godless  : a-, without; see a-1 + theos, god; see dhs- in Indo-European Roots.]
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Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


ag·nos·tic    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (g-nstk)
n.

1.
a. One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God.
b. One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism.

2. One who is doubtful or noncommittal about something.

adj.

1. Relating to or being an agnostic.
2. Doubtful or noncommittal: “Though I am agnostic on what terms to use, I have no doubt that human infants come with an enormous ‘acquisitiveness’ for discovering patterns” (William H. Calvin).

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[a-1 + Gnostic.]
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ag·nosti·cal·ly adv.

Word History: An agnostic does not deny the existence of God and heaven but holds that one cannot know for certain whether or not they exist. The term agnostic was fittingly coined by the 19th-century British scientist Thomas H. Huxley, who believed that only material phenomena were objects of exact knowledge. He made up the word from the prefix a-, meaning “without, not,” as in amoral, and the noun Gnostic. Gnostic is related to the Greek word gnsis, “knowledge,” which was used by early Christian writers to mean “higher, esoteric knowledge of spiritual things” hence, Gnostic referred to those with such knowledge. In coining the term agnostic, Huxley was considering as “Gnostics” a group of his fellow intellectuals“ists,” as he called themwho had eagerly embraced various doctrines or theories that explained the world to their satisfaction. Because he was a “man without a rag of a label to cover himself with,” Huxley coined the term agnostic for himself, its first published use being in 1870.
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Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


1 entry found for antitheist.

antitheist

\An`ti*the"ist\, n. A disbeliever in the existence of God.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

entries found for disbelief.
dis·be·lief    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (dsb-lf)
n.

Refusal or reluctance to believe.
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Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

disbelief

n 1: doubt about the truth of something [syn: incredulity, skepticism, mental rejection] 2: a rejection of belief [syn: unbelief] [ant: belief]


faith    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (fth)
n.

1. Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.
2. Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. See Synonyms at belief. See Synonyms at trust.
3. Loyalty to a person or thing; allegiance: keeping faith with one's supporters.
4. often Faith Christianity. The theological virtue defined as secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God's will.
5. The body of dogma of a religion: the Muslim faith.
6. A set of principles or beliefs.

Idiom:
in faith

Indeed; truly.
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[Middle English, from Anglo-Norman fed, from Latin fids. See bheidh- in Indo-European Roots.]
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Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


Notice how Aethiesm has a definition that is a statement against the existance of a deity, and no others do.

O.K. First and foremost, people define Aethiesm as a "lack of a belief", and it is denoted that since it is the lack of a belief and not an actual beleif, that it is faith. As from the definitions of applicable to the statement, what they are defining Aetheism as isn't even Aetheism. In actually, it is agnosticism (don't know what to call it, really), which defines itself as "skeptical but not aetheistic". This means that there IS a difference between the two. Aetheism's definition is implied, while Agnostic is solid in it's definition.

Antitheism is strictly the dis-belief in the existance of a higher deity. As by definition, it is the refusal or reluctance to believe. Reluctance is defined as unwilling, which is also the refusal or objection to do something (check definitions if you want to). So technically, Antitheism is the refusal to believe in a god/rejecting the belief of a god, which is stated by the word dis-belief. It isn't the lack of a belief, it is the opposite of a belief, such as one can say "there is a god" and "there is no god". Aetheism is defined as "disbelief or denial", and denile is either another refusal, or contradiction (opposing statements), and contradiction leads to a faithful belief. If you were to reject or refuse the belief, you would believe that it isn't true (Yes or no answer), since a dis-belief isn't a lack of a belief, it is the opposite of a belief for something, and it is thus a beleif against something, and thus if you say you have a dis-belief in a god, you are concluding that there isn't a god. And this belief would be faith-based. So you are both Aetheist and Antitheist if you say you have a dis-beleif or denile in a god.

But what is there to contradict the definition as a beleif there isn't a god? There isn't any, really. Aetheism is the cheif word used to describe this. It can be associated with Antitheism (which is almost the same thing), but not Agnostics, which is the lack of a beleif. Either way, it's a faith.


Then we reach applicability in society. This is where it becomes obvious that "aetheist" can really only be applied to a person who has a beleif that there isn't a god. If a person is truly neutral on the matter, they are Agnostic. Dis-belief is a belief against and is thus Antitheism (though what a person thinks, they don't think of matters such as a "lack of belief"). So, only one definition can apply in society. Otherwise, the word is sparsely in existance at all.

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