6 Types of Athiesm

Discussion in 'Off Topic Area' started by Thomas, Jul 24, 2013.

  1. Thomas

    Thomas Combat Hapkido/Taekwondo

  2. adouglasmhor

    adouglasmhor Not an Objectivist

    Fascinating that they call it 6 types of atheist then at least one of the groups are not atheists and some are not all atheists. also they think that some Agnostics deny the existance of god and actively promote rejection of religion?

    Sounds like some reasonable but limited research misinterpreted by bad journalism.
     
  3. Mangosteen

    Mangosteen Hold strong not

    crappy article is crappy
     
  4. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Nah, I still reckon there are only agnostics and atheists. It doesn't make sense to micro-label them. I mean, if I meet a Christian who preaches the bible as opposed to meeting a Christian who keeps himself to himself am I meeting two people from different faiths? There are atheists who will argue and poke fun at religions, but that's just a personal decision and shouldn't be labeled IMO.
     
  5. Thomas

    Thomas Combat Hapkido/Taekwondo

    I sort of liked the article - I took it as a "here's a bit of what we've studied and we have a lot more to do". What I liked is that as I read it, I mentally identified a lot of usual posters here on MAP within these categories...

    Not academic, but fairly fun (and I debated whether to post it in the "religion" forum... being that it's about atheism)

    From the article...

    These are the MAP posters who will let the topic go on a bit, wait for some "fundamental" views or for someone to start to get riled up and feeling like their religion is being attacked before swooping in with references to biblical texts, conferences, and obscure references to really slam the beleaguered believer. (They will be the ones who will take umbrage with this description and offer some sort of rationale as to why they are an atheist who spends so much time researching religion)


    These are the ones who will jump in to any religious conversation and explain why religion is wrong and why people should not believe. Sometimes they can cross the "annoyance line" with banter about freedom to choose and follow your own views... as long as they agree with them.


    I think we have a few of these here - I think sometimes they are the ones who go on about 'well, I don't have any strong beliefs but I think people can follow what they want'

    I think we have a hard-core small group of these... they tend to hit every religion thread with vigor and sometimes bully the less certain and love to provoke the dedicated. Often they come across as superior, arrogant,a nd condescending.

    I think this is the crew that tends to stay away from the religion forum...

    I think there are a lot of these, ranging from people who live with more devoted spouses or from people who enjoy the holidays, trapping, rituals, and benefits of religion without having a strong testimony.

     
  6. Mangosteen

    Mangosteen Hold strong not

    explain this - i have no concern for religion but i believe in my own concept of god.
    im not agnostic (which is actually a type of theist) or a non-theist

    Theism is the belief in at least one deity

    religion and god can be independent.

    This article seems like a religious person stereotyping atheists (which is funny cos usually its the other way out)
     
  7. Johnno

    Johnno Valued Member

    Surely if they are trying to identify different types of atheist then they are doing the complete opposite of stereotyping them?
     
  8. Thomas

    Thomas Combat Hapkido/Taekwondo



    Yeah, I don't know. With personal belief being so... personal, I fear that any attempt to define this for someone else won't be well received.

    At the same time, since you ask, I'd say you answered your own question. You believe in a (concept of) god, which makes you a theist and since you don't seem to be any part of an organized religion or group, I'd probably call you an agnostic. Or, if I were the pressuring type, I'd say you want to belong to a religion/group that subscribes to your same type of view. Regardless, don't take my half-thought out views, how do you define yourself if someone asks?

    That is an interesting notion. Can you expand on this - what do you mean?

    How can you have a god without a religion?

    Yeah, that was mainly why I shared it... I thought it was a bit funny as well as thought-provoking. I have always lumped atheists and agnostics under a similar roof, looking at atheists as people who do not believe in any sort of God (or religion) and agnostics as believing in a god (or higher spiritual being) without subscribing to any sort of religious group or identification.
     
  9. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    You think all atheists can be lumped together under one set of beliefs and behaviours?

    And yes - those two Christians are different enough that we have different labels for them. The first being of the 'Evangelical' subset of Christianity.
     
  10. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Never knew ;p

    But yes, to me it comes down to "I don't believe in God" or "I accept the possibility that God/an afterlife exists after death".

    Once Atheists start killing/mass murdering each other over differences, then I think I will label them >.<
     
  11. LemonSloth

    LemonSloth Laugh and grow fat!

    Aside from being confused as to labeling agnostics in the "6 types of atheist" category, I thought that was a fairly interesting read.

    I almost fall into the 3rd category, but I wouldn't say I was "seeking" rather than "happy to sit on the fence".
     
  12. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    I'm a type 1. I like discussing this stuff, but I don't particularly care to try to convince theists that they are wrong to believe in God and I don't see the point in attacking every theist who walks in the room and I don't like being associated with those types of people just like sane Christians don't like to be associated with the Zionistic, abortion clinic bombing, 'God told me to run for public office' nutbar brands of Christianity.
     
  13. LemonSloth

    LemonSloth Laugh and grow fat!

    Surely it should be "I don't believe in God", "I don't know about the existence of God" and "I do believe in God"?

    There's a big difference afterall between accepting a possibility and assuming it is truth.
     
  14. Mangosteen

    Mangosteen Hold strong not

    im not an agnostic. i have no doubts about god, although i dont believe in an afterlife.
    i dont pray, perform rituals or anything of the like

    my beliefs in a deity come from my thoughts on my own existence and experience, studying science (deism) although i guess the inception of the idea comes from various cultural creation stories i read as a kid (probably from some tribal religions).

    when people ask what i am, i say "does it matter"?
    saves a long conversation
     
  15. Grass hopper

    Grass hopper Valued Member

    Looks like I'm not an athiest, but rather an anti-theist. These labels make some sense, but they didn't need to be made. It annoys me that people want to give everything a name.
     
  16. m1k3jobs

    m1k3jobs Dudeist Priest

    I see 3 types.

    1. Strong Atheist: there is no god.
    2. Weak Atheist: I don't believe in god
    3. Agnostic: I don't know if there is a god or not.

    I consider all 3 to be atheists because none of them profess a belief in god.

    I am a 2 with 1 leanings. :)
     
  17. Mevans

    Mevans Valued Member

    Let me clear some stuff up from reading the above posts.

    Theism is relating to belief
    Gnosticism is relating to knowledge.

    Atheism - Non-belief in a god
    Theism - Belief in a god.
    Agnostic - Doesn't know if there is a god

    You can be an agnostic atheist - You don't know if there is a god, and you don't believe there is.

    You can be a gnostic atheist - You (think you) know there is no god and you don't believe there is.

    You can be an agnostic theist - You don't know if there is a god, but you believe there is.

    You can also be a gnostic theist - You (think you) know there is a god and you believe there is.

    To answer your question about religion Thomas, a religion is a group of people who hold a set of beliefs and (normally) have rituals. There doesn't necessarily need to be a god, Buddhism for example.

    In reality we are all agnostics, no-one really knows whether or not there is a god, some people just think they do.
     
    Last edited: Jul 24, 2013
  18. Thomas

    Thomas Combat Hapkido/Taekwondo

    Cool - thanks.

    I had to go and review my definitions because of this article.

    I had "agnostic" a bit confused - I had assumed that it meant a person believed in a god/higher being but did not subscribe to any particular group. I was wrong - an agnostic believes that there is no way to prove or disprove in a belief in god/gods. An atheist does not believe there is/are god/gods. My bad.

    I don't know what to call someone who believes there is a god/higher being but does not want to identify with any particular group. I guess it would depend on what trappings/ideas they have. For example, in your case, what do you think this "god" is like? Like the Judeo-Christian God, like a Hindu god, like an animistic tradition...?
     
  19. Thomas

    Thomas Combat Hapkido/Taekwondo

    Is Buddhism a 'religion' or a philosophy? (If I recall, Guatama Siddhartha never claimed to be a god, but there are sects that worship him as a god).

    I always assumed there had to be some sort of a god figure to be a religion, otherwise, it's a belief system or philosophy
     
  20. Mevans

    Mevans Valued Member

    A think a religion needs some sort of supernatural element, reincarnation for example, but that doesn't always have to be a god.

    Philosophy tends to be more grounded and doesn't tend to venture out of the 'real' world. Philosphy is also more concerned with asking questions and exploring ideas than it is with providing answers.
     

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