Atheism is not credible.

"Hi Cornelius, it's good that you had a chance to come back to the argument. When I say that you are a practising atheist (that was a little joke) I did not intend to mean that you do all those anti-God things in your life. But you have to admit, you may not have noticed it I know, but there is a general concerted effort throughout the mainstream to actually push a secular or humanist or atheistic agenda. Also at times it is intended to offend people who hold a belief system around a supernatural entity (God)." Secularism and Humanism doesn't neccesarily have to associate with atheism. You can be religious and promote humanism too. It's really about separating church and state. not forcing your atheism onto others. You can be a deist and promote humanism too. It's not atheism, really. It's not like they're trying to crumble religion; they're just trying to make it a safer environment for all of us humans; no matter belief system we practice. We just need to practice it around others who share the same views or keep it to our selves instead of forcing into others like in the media, government laws, etc. If they get offended, well they need to grow up and accept it. people also get offend if the opposite religion gets practiced onto them. "I think we should get some definitions correct here, as I think we could be confusing each other here. Atheism by its very nature is a belief system. Any word suffixed with -ism is categorised as such. The etymology of the suffix is defined as to being used to form abstract nouns of action, state, condition or doctrine. You can check -ism on wiki and see how these all relate to either belief or doctrine or principle of some kind. And you are correct, not all belief systems require you to believe in God or gods. That's my point with this. And this why we can debate the topic, as it is belief versus belief. We are not discussing religion here as its not the point. There are many beliefs out there for sure, but they can all be classified as either monotheistic (Christianity, Judaism, Islam), polytheistic (Eastern religions in the main and worship many gods) or pantheistic (God is everywhere at all times and in all things) and atheistic (there are no gods and everything is material). http://en.wiktionary.org...; So apparently, anything that ends in ism is a belief system; Communism, liberalism, etc. That is false as "ism" also means a state of, attributes, conditions, and whatever. Atheism is a state of a person's belief in God. Since atheism is the lack of belief in Gods, not a disbelief in gods. there are atheists out there who have different belief systems. The only common thing that ties all atheists together is merely a lack of belief in gods. Atheism lacks a lot of what religion has like, traditions, cultures, beliefs, etc. "So, in effect atheism is your belief system. Atheism denies the existence of any supernatural entity to account for anything in the material world. As you are an atheist, you can also call yourself a materialist too as you believe that everything in the universe is essentially reduced to material terms, even your own mind. As I said all of those philosophical questions that are and will continue to be on your material mind will always reduce to a material answer." Not really. It's just the lack of belief in gods. There are different types of atheism: -De facto atheist. Very low probability, but short of zero. "I don't know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there." -Strong atheist. "I know there is no God, with the same conviction as Jung knows there is one." And atheism doesn't necessarly lead to materialism. There are religions out there that lack belief in Gods but believe in magic and such. "When you discuss religions I understand the confusion that can be created. Religion again can be defined many ways as the below will testify to. Religion can be formalised or not I agree. When a group of atheists meet, they are formalising their religion and beliefs." Well, atheists can have different beliefs in religion, since it's just a lack of belief in a god. It's not like they follow any culture or tradition in which would make it a religion. There can be a buddhist who would meet up and discuss his lack of belief in God. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com...... The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods: ideas about the relationship between science and religion MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES SYNONYMS 1.1 [COUNT NOUN] A particular system of faith and worship: the world"s great religions MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES 1.2 [COUNT NOUN] A pursuit or interest followed with great devotion: consumerism is the new religion "In effect then, as you are a materialist atheist that does not believe in God or gods, your default position is your belief in some person or persons having all the answers to our existence and the meaning of life. That is your belief and your religion. You have put your faith in other persons to come up with all the answers and to tell you how you should live your life. But who are those people who believe they have all the answers to those questions and can explain them in material terms? Are they the superhuman controlling power, only accountable to themselves? Are you being deceived into believing anything they tell you to believe? Atheism is not as innocent as it sounds." Believing in a bunch of people (scientists) who provide answers, find and discover new things, prove and disprove stuff, is a religion I guess as you say? Honestly, we're debating about how atheism is not credible and I am against that thought. Not how atheism is a religion. It's not like they're forcing me to believe in their stuff, i just carefully examine the stuff they provide and come to a conclusion whether to accept it or not. I don't automatically believe in everything they say, i just choose what sounds right and makes sense. And atheism is not materialism, although it leads to it. There are some religions which lack gods, btw. Let's see the definition of religion, again. . re"li"gion synonyms:faith, belief, worship, creed; More a particular system of faith and worship. I'm not worshipping science and critical thinking. Science is a tool which is used to help us humans understand the world more, it helps us discover new things, make things, etc. Not really a belief system. You can never put science as a religion. It lacks traditions, gods, practices, etc. And it doesn't always require faith as it requires evidence and critical thinking into science faith noun 1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability. 2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact. 3. belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims. 4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty. 5. a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith. I believe on what's based on proof. "I understand that to you, people who believe in God or gods are religious, and you are not. I think you are rebelling as to what you call religion as it doesn't look or seem right. You are correct, there's a lot of phony beliefs and doctrines in religion, I totally agree. That does not undermine my belief in one supernatural entity that is the Creator of the Universe. I am Christian (non denominational) as I have made a conscious decision to believe in that one all-powerful entity based upon logic and reason and not doctrine or traditions. No, I'm not an atheist toward all other beliefs, I naturally believe that the God (of the Bible) is the only one true God. I believe and know with a high degree of certainty that is the truth. There is only one truth in the world. So you can believe in lies or truth, you cannot be atheistic against other gods or religions as I'm not making a hard conscious decision to disbelieve them. Sure. i've researched them to find truth, but if they do not have truth then they are false. I don't want to believe false doctrine. Yes, it is a belief, just a belief in truth or something other than truth." Rolls eyes. God, I assure you is not a man made thing. False gods are man made. That is like saying all truth is man made, there is no absolute truth, which is ridiculous and is contradictory. People are not born 'atheist'. Children ask some of the most philosophical questions from the age of 4 or 5. So what are they thinking? I doubt it is, there is no God. Is it abusive to the child, not to introduce the idea of an entity such as God into their life or confirm what they may be already thinking? Children aren't dumb, they are extremely perceptive. I like your anecdote. My sound and reasonable belief in God came exactly from critical thinking, logic and questioning. That's a good point what is the source of all the logical and mathematical truths in the universe. These transcend space and time. Are these material too?? By the way, I always encourage people to think properly and question everything, that's the point. God is the very essence of order in the universe. If you deny logic, then you deny God, that's what I've learned. Pure logic is divine. People are indeed born atheists. We get introduced to religion and the idea of god at a young age, it's not like we believe in them since birth. Babies are have no knowledge of the world when they're born on this planet. We introduce them information and they absorb it. It's not like they were Christians in the first place, considering the fact they are unaware of what jesus is. Children ask philosophical questions because they are thirsty for knowledge. Please type less, I can't address all of these.