Comments on atheism · Liberty Politics Discussion

Comments on atheism

Following one of the live discussion I thought I'd clarify some points on atheism and atheists.

There is only one thing all atheists have in common

Theists (and some atheists) sometimes make statements about what "Atheists believe", as if there is some kind of an atheist bible which all of them use as reference. The truth is that there is only one thing all atheists share - they don't think gods exist. Other than that atheists could differ on almost any topic one could think of - some would advocate for the Covid vaccine while others would argue against it, some are communists while others are libertarians, some would argue that trans people are not really of the identity they claim to have while others would defend the trans perception with zeal etc. . Just as the only thing common to all vegetarians is *not* eating meat , the only thing common to all atheist is *not* believing in the existence of gods (including yours).

Atheists are not necessarily moral relativists

While some atheists may be moral relativists, it is not always the case. Many atheists maintain a set of core values which they consider to be universal. The difference between them and theists is, of course, that they don't consider the source of such values to be divine.

Not all atheists "believe there is no god"

While some atheists could be described as "believing" there is no god, others came to the conclusion that the existence of gods doesn't make sense. Put in another way, in many cases, telling an atheist that he or she "believe" that god doesn't exist is like telling someone they "believe" the sphinx or Pegasus never existed.

As for the atheist writing these lines, he maintains that any claim for the existence of a god does not meet the Popperian falsification principle , and is therefore not valid.

(on the Popperian falsification principle - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability )

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