₦airaland Forum

If you’re familiar with internet atheism you will have read the atheist’s claim of “I just a lack of belief in a god.” In other words, “atheism isn’t a belief.” This, however, is
questionable since it reduces anything that does not have a specific belief to that of an atheist (dogs, babies, rocks etc.).
Essentially, on his redefinition the atheist isn’t saying anything. What believers have noted, however, is that atheists only redefine their atheism to escape the responsibility of having to give reasons for being an atheist;
philosopher William Craig explains:


“Such a re-definition of the word “atheist” trivializes the claim of the presumption of atheism, for on this definition, atheism ceases to be a view. It is merely a psychological state which is shared by people who hold various views or no view at all. On this re-definition, even babies, who hold no
opinion at all on the matter, count as atheists!” and that such atheists simply try to “to shirk their epistemic responsibility by re-defining atheism so that it is no longer a view but just a psychological condition which as such makes no assertions.
They are really closet agnostics who want to claim the mantle of atheism without shouldering its responsibilities” .
But it goes beyond solely this. It is also the dogmatism of the atheist that clearly betrays his redefinition; Tyler Vela articulates: “They get to hold their atheism dogmatically and
even possibly “religiously” – having conventions, conferences, publishing journals and periodicals, dedicating books, marketing for the belief in unbelief, forming societies,
having weekly/monthly gatherings (worship services?), all while saying that it is not actually a belief”.


It does not make sense that people would engage in these activities based on their lack of a belief in something.
Instead, atheists engage in these activities because they are part of a community that does not believe in God, a community espousing atheism and its alleged truths, and a minority community that wishes to proudly promote its identity. Vela continues: “the fact that atheists commonly label themselves “atheists”, (and ascribe attributes to such a
label, such as rationalism, empirical validity, etc.) reveals that functionally speaking “atheism” may in fact actually be what people say that it isn’t – a belief; a system of
thought”.


Professor Stephen Prothero likewise explains that “Many atheists are quite religious, holding their views about God with the conviction of zealots and evangelizing with verve …
It stands at the center of their lives, defining who they are, how they think, and with whom they associate. The question of God is never far from their minds”.


The Christian may therefore argue that although he does not believe that atheism is a religion (as some theists claim), he does view it as the positive affirmation that God does not exist (The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy puts atheism as: “the negation of theism, the denial of the existence of God”). Atheism is thus a belief, as the atheist George Klein writes: “I am an atheist. My attitude is not based on science, but rather on faith. . . The absence of a Creator, the
non-existence of God is my childhood faith, my adult belief, unshakable and holy”.


Where there is faith it is reasonable to hold that there is belief. Andy Bannister concludes: “Whether or not it is a religion, atheism, certainly is a belief, a positive claim, just as much as the claim ‘Sweden doesn’t exist’ and positive claims need to be argued for. That can take time and effort but if the claim is true, the hard work will presumably pay off.
Sometimes however, I’m afraid, I encounter atheists who seem to prefer to simply deconstruct the worldview of others without bothering to put in the effort to defend their own”



https://jamesbishopblog./2016/06/01/atheism-is-a-belief/

HCpaul:
A wishful dream.

Critical thinking is your saviour.

The same critical thinking you exhibit or another one?

hopefulLandlord:
The context there talks of small kids who have learnt next to nothing about life

OR

Maybe you should sort this out with Winner 01 who quoted the same verse as his reason for not engaging in Paedophilia

Below

I'm sure you were weren't seeing when I wrote: Offending a child or causing a little child to sin may mean many things.
We have heard of several murder cases in child marriage, where the child bride murders the husband.

hopefulLandlord:
Accuses people of quoting Bible out of context

Quotes bible out of context

You don come out of retirement?

braithwaite:

??

adoyi8:
Keep deceiving yourselves against obvious evidence. that's what theists do.

Google would be the one deceiving us then?

Truthman83:
Like Seun said,God has not been verified. If your bank account hasn't been verified will you transfer money into it?

Verified by whom? His creatures?
God is the only one who can reveal Himself to you. Friend, Just humble your heart and remember that pride goes before a fall.


Below is a quote from one of the honest atheists who ever lived, Friedrich Nietzche. Most atheists do not like his quotes because he was being truthful. Look what he said:

If one were to prove this God of the Christians to us, we should be even less able to believe in him.

God is the only one who can reveal himself to his creatures. Open your mind and humble yourself and seek God, and He will manifest Himself in your life.

simplex2:
Bill Gates foundation has touched more lives than any christian missionary both past and present.

1. Bill gates is no atheist and definately uses his time for more reasonable things than propagating atheism.

2. You definately are one of the New atheists who are willfully ignorant of the effects of relief and ever growing christian foundations even in third world countries.

Could you provide me with the names of atheist orphanages, or show me how they give hope to the hopeless in death beds and prison cells etc.

Dont come at me with the usual "atheism is not a thing, its just a lack of belief". I can mention 20 atheist organizations whose sole aim is to combat christianity and christian beliefs. When you people begin to touch the lives of people and not just focus your lives on religion, then the world may consider taking you serious.

Truthman83:
Like Seun said,God has not been verified. If your bank account hasn't been verified will you transfer money into it?

You either know someone or dont know someone. You cant go from knowing someone to not knowing someone. I admit, Most people who were born into christianity are just followers and do not really have much knowledge of scriptures or even Christ. It does not disqualify the truth contained in scriptures.

I'm also happy that you've exposed the fact that your lack of belief does not rest on rational thoughts, rather they rest on unanswered questions (emotions).
I have a several unanswered questions about life, and I wont for such reason say Life itself does not exist. It would be irrational to say the least.

Your parents were wrong to have disowned you. It does not tally with the teachings of Christ. Why do I feel they disowned you for other reasons. You sound very feeble minded, easily swayed, and this may be the reason for your predicaments.

Christians who debate atheists here make good sense if you're prepared to examine both claims with an open mind, you cant approach to judge claims with your preconceived notions of christianity and then make false inferences. God is real whether or not man chooses to acknowledge this fact.

If God was not real, then nothing matters. your testimony does not matter. Its funny how meaningful creatures are trying to pollute the world by disproving the existence of meaning.
Open your mind and seek your Creator. He'll reveal Himself to you. Bless you.

?

SultanOfBrunei:
sorry bro, religion has brought more evil, wars, suffering, crisis, divisions, genocides, disunity, etc.. to the world than anything.

like someone said, there is no yet convincing evidence of any God is the sky, except those pics of an old whiteman with bears.

focus on building a better life for urself -

You are as historically illiterate as it gets. Atheism has been responsible for the most deaths in history. About 70 times the number of attrocities caused by all religions combined.
You can check my profile for threads giving proof and facts and educate yourself.

Memesticmeme:
How Please help me, i need answers

You cant get your answers here my dear, those atheists who replied you are angry with God due to certain reasons in their lives and will stop at nothing to drag people down that lane with them. God exists whether men choose to believe Him or not. Atheism will only complicate matters for you, God will liberate you from whatever situations you're facing.

4kings:
Sure, I agree.
I think the world would be a better place, when love and humanism is propagated, I quite agree also with most of the stuff Jesus and Paul said.
But I don't hold the idea of "accept Jesus as Lord or be condemned", but "accept most of His Teachings".
I hope you get me!!

I get your point. But wouod you agree that there are consequences for everywthing we do. A good example is preparing for an examination, do you know that one can say "study well and pass" or "study well or fail". Its depends on how you see it.

johnydon22:
Einstein was a pantheist oo... Spinoza God calling nature God... hiaaan..

Did he tell you that himself or do you just want to feel better? Cos he said this;
"I am not an atheist, and I don’t think I can call myself a pantheist."

4kings:
Every other religion claims they are the Way and Truth.
What would you suggest one to do in order to distinguish the True Way and the Wrong way?

Its difficult to totally convince people everywhere which is the true way or not. But we can go into the world and preach the gospel like Jesus said, we can reflect the love of God to other people, and offer them the peace and hope of Christ Jesus.
The world will be a better ppace if we all Just love our neighbours as ourselves as Christ commanded dont you think?

johnydon22:
If being sane and brainfull is being like you and having your types of belief then thank you, i'd love to be insane and brainless.

Have fun with your sanity and brain

But Einstein did not deny the obvious like you and your peers do

If anything, Einstein was smart enough to know that there was some form of Power behind it all. Dawkins is deceptive, dishonest, and desperate to fashion Einstein as an atheist.


Below are some quotes from Albert Einstein.





“Behind all the discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force is my religion. To that extent, I am in point of fact, religious.”


“Every scientist becomes convinced that the laws of nature manifest the existence of a spirit vastly superior to that of men.”


“Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe – a spirit vastly superior to that of man.”


“The divine reveals itself in the physical world.”


“My God created laws… His universe is not ruled by wishful thinking but by immutable laws.”


“I want to know how God created this world. I want to know his thoughts.”


“What I am really interested in knowing is whether God could have created the world in a different way.”


“This firm belief in a superior mind that reveals itself in the world of experience, represents my conception of God.”


“My religiosity consists of a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit, …That superior reasoning power forms my idea of God.”




What gives the lie to Dawkins’ claim that Einstein was an atheist is Einstein’s repeated references to “a superior spirit”, ”a superior mind”, "a spirit vastly superior to men”, ”a veneration for this force” etc. etc. This is not atheism. It is clear Einstein believed that there is something beyond the natural, physical world – a supernatural creative intelligence. Further confirmation that Einstein believed in a transcendent God comes from his conversations with his friends. David Ben-Gurion, the former Prime Minister of Israel, records Einstein saying

“There must be something behind the energy.” And the distinguished physicist Max Born commented, “He did not think religious belief a sign of stupidity, not unbelief a sign of intelligence.” Therefore on Dawkins’ own definition, Einstein is not an atheist. On one point however Dawkins is correct: Einstein did not believe in a personal God, who answers prayers and interferes in the universe. But he did believe in an intelligent mind or spirit, which created the universe with its immutable laws.

According to Dawkins, “Einstein was repeatedly indignant at the suggestion he was a theist.” The evidence from Jammer’s book is the exact opposite. What Einstein actually said is:


“I am not an atheist, and I don’t think I can call myself a pantheist.”


“Then there are the fanatical atheists whose intolerance is of the same kind as the intolerance of the religious fanatics and comes from the same source.”


"There is harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognise, yet there are people who say there is no God. But what really makes me angry is that they quote me to support such views."


According to Jammer, “Einstein always protested against being regarded as an atheist.” What evidence then does Dawkins have that Einstein was indignant at being called a theist? Dawkins needs to explain this very peculiar discrepancy. Lastly Dawkins argues that science and religion are incompatible. Again Einstein takes the opposite point of view: “A legitimate conflict between science and religion cannot exist. Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.”

Einstein was nothing near atheism.

4kings:
People with seemingly wrong religious beliefs rejected Jesus, then Jesus brought a new religion(Christianity), and even told his disciples to go and spread the message(mathew28:19)
Jesus is the centre of the Christian 'Religion'.

BTW Gnostics also teaches personal relationship, no difference from your meme.

No naa, you're mixing things up

Hear what Jesus said:

"I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance"

"I Am the Way, the Truth and the life".

Choose life my friend so that you might live. Remember that God loves you always, He created you and wants to have a relationship with you.

Please dont rubbish such a great oppourtunity, Bless you.

menesheh:
This is the same as saying "disbelief in Allah is dead" afterall most people still don't give a damn about allah. It is freaking "not yet believing" because of lack sound logical reasons filled with valid evidence, not an ideology. Until the time there is sufficient backups.

The truth of the matter is that one can choose to believe or disbelieve whatever ideology, or even switch from one ideology to another by being convinced about its claims.

The more the ignorance, the more the blind belief in irrational stuffs increases. Most people that are convinced of the implausibility of a god or gods are tired of doing some vapid exercise of trying to envoke thinking and reasoning impulses to obstinate fellows who are deeply trapped in various forms of mythical beliefs.

The opposite is remotely the case for disbelief in god against what the OP is inferring.

Lol. So you still dey? Good to hear from you again.
btw what are you trying to salvage.

FearGodAndLive:
Never seen a Christian who evangelizes atheism so well. He's gonna open at least 8 more atheist threads before the week runs out.

Kudos. Make this ya habit no kill you.

Lol.
I wish I could
Do you want me to stop? .

onetrack:
The idea that atheism is declining in popularity is irrelevant to me (if it's even true), since I am in a country of 99% believers. If I cared about being part of a crowd I would never be an atheist in the first place. I am atheist for other reasons.

What other reasons if I may ask?

dalaman:
Vision of which prophet? A passage has your God talking and boasting about how he killed people alone and you are here trying to spin it as a vision.

4 It was for me the day of vengeance;
the year for me to redeem had come.
5 I looked, but there was no one to help,
I was appalled that no one gave support;
so my own arm achieved salvation for me,
and my own wrath sustained me.
6 I trampled the nations in my anger;
in my wrath I made them drunk
and poured their blood on the ground.”

Your God according to the bible makes people drunk with his wrath and pours their blood on the ground after spilling it and boasting of how he did it alone. As I said luckily such an imaginary being remains only the idea of the writer.

Prophet Isaiah was speaking of God in a vision.

wirinet:
Yes, the same way your God created himself.

Did time and space begin with the universe?

4kings:
@your meme, Jesus is the centre of ur religion, therefore u are very religious.

A muslim could also say only Muhammad will save you.

Religion rejected Jesus on Earth.

KingEbukasBlog:
Atheismus ergo est mortuus

Lol, na so my brother. Na procession hymn remain

KingEbukasBlog:
Excellent job yet again bro . Thanks for this thread .

God is the Greatest

Thanks Bro.

braithwaite:

Am on transit good brother.. don't have the liberty to write...

I want you to think..

Think about what?

4kings:
True
But IRRELIGION is growing.

Lol, read the last sentence in the oP, you dint have to lean on irreligion na. If I was brought a questionaire and asked to tick:
- Religious
- Not religious

Ill tick not religious cos i'm not. You grab?

Reyginus:
I completely agree with this.

'It proposes the non-existence of God without supplanting that claim with evidence-something they constantly request of theists'.

I prefer to be a free thinker or agnostic than atheist. Atheism like Theism closes every other door. I don't want to be found within such box.

Lol. Not bad bro. But keep an open-mind. I pray God reveals Himself to you. Amen.

honourhim:
True. Its even declining in nairaland. i remember some yeas back here, threads of people declaring for atheism were springing up here frequently but today we have started seeing threads of people returning back to God. Even some other atheists who are posing as if they cant change their stand are just deceiving themselves. In their heart they truly know that their no-God stand is quite stupld but the shame of admitting it openly makes them to still pretend as if they are atheists.

Lol. The trend is changing my brother. The harvest is ripe. Praise be to God.

wirinet:
I am not fighting any God - whether Yahweh, Jesus, Allah, Krishna, Zeus, etc., I have never believed in any of them. I was lucky to have a very peculiar early childhood, I was not introduced to Christianity until I was about 7 years old, and by then it did not make sense to me. So how can you say I was angry at any God?

If you understand the way the universe works, you will realize that the universe is a perfect recycler, materials from previous objects are used to create new ones, likewise, materials from previous lives are raw materials for new lives.

Okay, and the system created itself??

Below are three BAD trends for atheism. The graphs are provided by Google trends.


The name of Ray Comfort's new movie which debunks atheism is Atheist Delusion.

Global searches for the term "Atheist delusion" -

Google trends

Interest over time. Web Search. Worldwide, Past 30 days.

www.nairaland.com/attachments/4111225_s30511481edit_png0aece37b014730e70aa221f419bd9364



Global searches for the term atheism -

Google trends

Interest over time. Web Search. Worldwide, 2004 - present.
www.nairaland.com/attachments/4111226_s17307482edit_pngeeea11163a30ad9248a80917b89538b8



Global searches for the term atheist -

Google trends

Interest over time. Web Search. Worldwide, 2004 - present.
www.nairaland.com/attachments/4111231_s21850483edit_pngd1f233b72df261f00d1151c0bd6c2770



The Atheist Delusion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awpzsi4YUHs


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfDhG2-ZM7I



It seems New Atheism is dead. The atheist movement is increasingly anemic.


YouTube atheist Thunderf00t said about the atheist movement after Reason Rally 2016 had a very low turnout:
I'm not sure there is anything in this movement worth saving. Hitchens is dead. Dawkins simply doesn't have the energy for this sort of thing anymore. Harris went his own way. And Dennett just kind of blended into the background. So what do you think when the largest gathering of the nonreligious in history pulls in... I don't know. Maybe 2,000 people. Is there anything worth saving?



In 2015, the atheist author Joshua Kelly wrote:
..since the death of Hitchens: angry atheism lost its most charismatic champion. Call it what you like: New Atheism, fire-brand atheism, etc., had a surge with the Four Horsemen in the middle of the last decade and in the last four years has generally peetered out to a kind that is more docile, politically correct, and even apologetic



For all intents and purposes, New Atheism is dead. And there will be no resurrection of New Atheism. And although militant atheism is hanging on in China, given the rapid growth of Christianity in China, It has been predicted to fall in China and then subsequently in Vietnam and North Korea.
So sometime in the 21st century militant atheism will be effectively dead as a force in the world.


Given: the current implosion of militant atheism; New Atheism dying and being replaced with milk toast atheism in the Western World; atheists/agnostics shrinking as a percentage of the world's population; the immigration of the religious into secular Europe (who are very often resistant to assimilation); and the pessimism of many atheists as far as the atheist movement; the efforts dedicated to combating atheism may seem needless.


Lately, the major news outlets have sparse reporting on the topic of atheism. And the few news stories they do have are often negative towards atheism or boring stories reporting on trivial matters. In short, "Atheism: The excitement is not raging."


There will be no glorious future battles in relation to atheism vs. religion, but rather a slow global attrition of the dying breed of atheists. This will be combined with a withering away of atheist influence in the media and the educational systems of the world.. The 21st century will be a horrible century for militant atheists and antitheists.


The growth of atheism in the twentieth century began with a bang due to the militant atheism associated with the Russian Revolution and the subsequent formation of the Soviet Union.
The decline of atheism will be death by a thousand cuts due to demographic changes in the global population.


In the 21st century, the rickety building of atheism won't be able to withstand the gale of the global resurgence of religion - especially the gusts of wind caused by the global growth of evangelical Christianity and the global growth of creationism.


"The trends that are happening worldwide inevitably in an age of globalization are going to affect us." - Professor Eric Kaufmann on global desecularization


This comes to no surprise. Atheism does not have the intellectual credentials needed in order to be rationally accepted by the educated and rational person. It proposes the non-existence of God without supplanting that claim with evidence - something they constantly request of theists.
Atheism lacks substance and is empty without a leaning towards religion, science, irreligion et al.

[url=combatingatheism..nl]Source[/url
[url=examiningatheism..com/]source[/url]







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