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| 13 Apr 2018 11:04 PM
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I'm 14, and I don't even know where my life is going. My grades are low, I've been kicked out of two schools and I've been bullied all my life. I don't have any friends because I'm so different than the other kids (I am actually an atheist in a very religious area). I feel like I'm not good at anything... I'm a total loser.
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 8x4
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| 13 Apr 2018 11:12 PM
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Do you even know what atheism is?
This is your brain on religion | OT's official 16 year old | R$0
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| 13 Apr 2018 11:13 PM
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Of course I do, I just said that I'm one...
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| 13 Apr 2018 11:14 PM
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You should know that it means "no god".
This is your brain on religion | OT's official 16 year old | R$0
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| 13 Apr 2018 11:15 PM
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It means non-belief in a higher power.
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| 13 Apr 2018 11:16 PM
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That is not the definition of atheist.
This is your brain on religion | OT's official 16 year old | R$0
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| 13 Apr 2018 11:19 PM
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The Oxford Dictionary defines it as:
A person who does not believe in a god or any gods.
I think that fits well enough. And if you read the Wikipedia page, it says something along the lines of, "Atheism refers to the lack of belief in any gods."
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| 13 Apr 2018 11:22 PM
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Well, this is the dictionary definition: https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/atheist
An atheist is someone who believes there is no god.
There are other definitions in there, but I would say that this is the closest one.
This is your brain on religion | OT's official 16 year old | R$0
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| 13 Apr 2018 11:23 PM
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But then people could claim that the term agnostic (meaning no knowledge of a higher power) is the correct definition for atheist.
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| 13 Apr 2018 11:24 PM
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If it means "non-belief in a higher power", then why is it called "Atheism" and not "Nontheism"? It sounds more appropriate.
This is your brain on religion | OT's official 16 year old | R$0
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| 13 Apr 2018 11:28 PM
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I think the term atheist was coined to contrast with the religious, so that people can clearly distinguish between the two groups.
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| 13 Apr 2018 11:34 PM
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The word "agnostic" has nothing to do with atheism though. I never said that agnostics were atheists.
This is your brain on religion | OT's official 16 year old | R$0
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| 13 Apr 2018 11:35 PM
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I know, but many non-believers would say they are an atheist to make sure there is no confusion.
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| 13 Apr 2018 11:38 PM
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I understand now. I've always been confused about that too, especially when I see someone saying "I'm an agnostic" when I am pretty sure that they don't believe in any god.
This is your brain on religion | OT's official 16 year old | R$0
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| 13 Apr 2018 11:44 PM
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That's what happens when you use the term atheist in a vague and ambiguous way. It allows for many different interpretations.
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| 13 Apr 2018 11:51 PM
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True. The Oxford Dictionary should have used the term "non-theist", or just left it as "atheism" because it does not specify anything.
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| 13 Apr 2018 11:54 PM
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It does seem like they wanted people to think of a single group with one ideology (the non-belief of any higher power). But that isn't really how it works.
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| 13 Apr 2018 11:59 PM
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Yes, that would be very confusing, especially since there are actually two kinds of atheists.
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| 14 Apr 2018 12:03 AM
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I guess you're right. There's hard and soft atheism. I am definitely a soft atheist; I can't find a logical argument for why god exists, but I also don't know how we know that he doesn't exist.
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| 14 Apr 2018 12:09 AM
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If you can't provide a good reason why god exists, then that means that you are a soft atheist by definition.
I consider myself a hard atheist though. I know that god does not exist because there is no evidence for him.
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| 14 Apr 2018 12:12 AM
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But the problem is: How do we know that god doesn't exist?
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| 14 Apr 2018 12:16 AM
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There is no evidence for him.
This is your brain on religion | OT's official 16 year old | R$0
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| 14 Apr 2018 12:18 AM
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So what you're saying is that the absence of evidence proves the non-existence of god? That sounds like an.
It could just be the case that we haven't found enough evidence yet.
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| 14 Apr 2018 12:21 AM
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Actually, it isn't proof at all. It is simply a lack of evidence, but that's enough to convince me that god doesn't exist.
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| 14 Apr 2018 12:24 AM
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But why should we use a lack of evidence as evidence? Wouldn't it make more sense to say that the absence of evidence is inconclusive evidence?
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| 14 Apr 2018 12:26 AM
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Yes, exactly. But I don't think that the existence of god has ever been proven and that is why I believe that he does not exist.
This is your brain on religion | OT's official 16 year old | R$0
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