Define God.

JC 2K3

dictionary.com wrote:

atheism
–noun
1. the doctrine or belief that there is no God.
2. disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings.

dictionary.com wrote:

God
–noun
1. the one Supreme Being, the creator and ruler of the universe.
2. the Supreme Being considered with reference to a particular attribute: the God of Islam.
3. (lowercase) one of several deities, esp. a male deity, presiding over some portion of worldly affairs.
4. (often lowercase) a supreme being according to some particular conception: the god of mercy.
5. Christian Science. the Supreme Being, understood as Life, Truth, Love, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Principle.
6. (lowercase) an image of a deity; an idol.
7. (lowercase) any deified person or object.

None of the dictionary definitions of God are very specific or scientific and are all, in fact, quite vague. Given that Atheists are traditionally very scientific minded people, one would presume that they would be able to give a very scientific and specific definition of the labels they attribute to themselves. So I ask you, in the most specific and scientific manner possible:

What the hell do you not believe in?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

you name a god, and I probably won't believe in him

Winters

I do not believe in make-believe beings made up by people without any actual evidance or proof of this supreme being.

Quite simple.

Zillah

The very lack of a thorough definition is one of the primary reasons that I am so disdainful of religious beliefs.

JC 2K3

Heh, see I'm just thinking of what I really classify myself as. I'd have said Atheist before this, then I started leaning more towards calling myself Agnostic, but now I realise that technically, I'm neither of these things(I can't refute or be unsure of what I can't define). In response to the question, "What is your position on religion?", my response would be, "I don't know, I never grasped the concept".

So what do you think, is there/should there be a word for this, or would "overtly pedantic atheist" be the correct term here?

Dave!

JC 2K3 wrote: »

Heh, see I'm just thinking of what I really classify myself as. I'd have said Atheist before this, then I started leaning more towards calling myself Agnostic, but now I realise that technically, I'm neither of these things(I can't refute or be unsure of what I can't define). In response to the question, "What is your position on religion?", my response would be, "I don't know, I never grasped the concept".

So what do you think, is there/should there be a word for this, or would "overtly pedantic atheist" be the correct term here?

Try going through all the gods in history, and ask yourself if you believe in them Judeo-Christian god? Zeus? Cupid? The deist god (ie. created the universe then p*ssed off/... non-interventionist god)?

I'm not sure I have a clear definition of 'god', but as a general point I haven't encountered an entity which any person has called 'god', which I believe in. So there ya go!

Jesus Wept

Ahloadabollix.

aidan24326

JC 2K3 wrote: »

So I ask you, in the most specific and scientific manner possible:

What the hell do you not believe in?

That for which there is zero evidence, pure and simple. Name a god and then see if you can produce some evidence that he/it exists. We don't just dismiss god(s), we dismiss in general anything that has not a scrap of evidence to support it. It's a general principle, not merely reserved for dealing with religion/gods. I don't say 'there is no god and I know this for 100% certain'. I say in the complete absence of any evidence at all for a god I can not believe in such a thing.

Hivemind187

God = Null.

stereoroid

I thought the definitions of God, in the major Churches, were laid down in Creeds such as the Nicene Creed. It gets recited at every service, so there's no confusion, like there was before it was written in year 325. Makes it easy to spot heresy a mile off... :rolleyes:

Scofflaw

stereoroid wrote: »

I thought the definitions of God, in the major Churches, were laid down in Creeds such as the Nicene Creed. It gets recited at every service, so there's no confusion, like there was before it was written in year 325. Makes it easy to spot heresy a mile off... :rolleyes:

Er, Hinduism? Tibetan Buddhism? Shinto? There's a lot more to divinity than the Judeo-Christian God.

cordially,
Scofflaw

stereoroid

Scofflaw wrote: »

Er, Hinduism? Tibetan Buddhism? Shinto? There's a lot more to divinity than the Judeo-Christian God.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Yah, which is why I said "Churches", and not "Religions"...

Scofflaw

stereoroid wrote: »

Yah, which is why I said "Churches", and not "Religions"...

Hmm. I was assuming you were an atheist across the board? Are you particularly a Christian atheist?

No offence is intended by that, I'm personally absolutely atheist as far as the Judeo-Christian god goes, but the more limited concepts of gods found elsewhere I wouldn't be quite so definite about (partly through ignorance), so I myself am in some ways a "Christian" atheist.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Asiaprod

Scofflaw wrote: »

Hmm. I was assuming you were an atheist across the board? Are you particularly a Christian atheist?

No offence is intended by that, I'm personally absolutely atheist as far as the Judeo-Christian god goes, but the more limited concepts of gods found elsewhere I wouldn't be quite so definite about (partly through ignorance), so I myself am in some ways a "Christian" atheist.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Interesting phrase "Christian" atheist. Is this a first for Boards.IE:)

Ickle Magoo

JC 2K3 wrote: »

What the hell do you not believe in?

If there is no evidence to support its existence then I tend not to believe it exists, as a general rule of thumb...

Scofflaw

Asiaprod wrote: »

Interesting phrase "Christian" atheist. Is this a first Boards.IE:)

Unfortunately not - there's the joke about the guy in Belfast who's asked whether he's Catholic or Protestant: when he says he's an atheist, they say "oh, aye, but are ye a Catholic atheist or a Protestant one?"

cordially,
Scofflaw

Tzetze

...full of stars.

hupyago

god : feeling and all it's expressions
from this guys books
http://www.paddymcmahon.com/index.htm

stereoroid

Scofflaw wrote: »

Hmm. I was assuming you were an atheist across the board? Are you particularly a Christian atheist?

I have no idea how you got to that point, from what I wrote. My comment was about the Christian Churches, not about me at all. I wasn't saying anything about myself in that post. Yes, I'm an atheist "across the board", but I don't need to insert my lack of belief in to every post I make.

Tar.Aldarion

Define god?

Paradoxical entity elevated to a reverential status by humans.

biko

God is like an imaginary friend you had when you were little, to help you get through the nights when you thought there were monsters under the bed.

If there is a God, then why did he/she/it place Earth so far away from the centre of the known universe? Is there another planet(s) with people that God likes more?

Naikon

god= {}

PDN

biko wrote: »

If there is a God, then why did he/she/it place Earth so far away from the centre of the known universe? Is there another planet(s) with people that God likes more?

This post poses some very obvious questions and objections.

1. I am no scientist, but links such as the following appear to suggest that the actual universe does not have a centre http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/GR/centre.html

2. The 'known universe' simply denotes that part of the universe which we have so far been able to observe. As such it is an entirely arbitrary area of the universe that changes every time we know more. Therefore the centre of the 'known universe' will shift continually. In fact, if we were able to observe an infinite universe in every direction to a similar distance then the earth would be at the centre of that known universe.

3. Why would the location of the earth in the universe have any bearing whatsoever on how much an omnipotent God loves us?