Etymology is the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history. The etymology of a word is not exactly the same as the use or definition. Consider how a direct translation of a phrase from French to English might not always make sense, but we would…
Agnostic Atheism – CMT – Vol: 13
It is very common to hear folks use the term agnostic atheist to describe themselves, and others. Let me say that you are free to identify how you like, though I would suggest you don’t be prescriptive with your identification on to others. If you wonder why; consider if you are the sort to tell…
You won’t believe this… CMT – Vol: 12
I’ve been trying to think of another way to explain beliefs as I still hear folks saying they are ‘absent of belief in regards to x’ or ‘have no beliefs’. Whilst I am sure they believe what they are saying, it makes me feel I have failed in my explanations. Rather than spray out the…
“If atheism is true…”
Introduction When it comes to asking questions about atheism, there are many malformed questions that the theist may put forward. Anyone who has been an atheist and active on any social media platform will have come across such questions. Those questions that make us kind of tilt our heads and go ‘huh?’. Two of those…
Atheists, Atheism, and Ambiguity
Introduction An argument that I often hear is that ‘lack of belief in God’ and ‘do not believe God exists’ are the same thing. Or the argument that ‘Just because I do not believe Y does not mean that I believe X’. I will say outright now that I tend to agree with this, with…
Belief: Don’t Believe, Lack of Belief, Absent of Belief – CMT Vol: 11
Language can be confusing. Words mean particular things and then because they have similar meanings to other words they take on those meanings and then words become so interchangeable it can be hard to know what people mean when they use these words/phrases. One of the common words that gets stretched so thin is belief….
Rockin’ Atheism Part 3: Atheism in Greek Antiquity
Introduction In the previous two parts of this series we covered why prescribing words for others does not work, and had a brief look at various definitions of atheism. This part will cover, in brief, the history of atheism and atheists in Ancient Greece. It is not uncommon for some atheists to argue that they…
Reason in the Face of Public Opinion
As a site that promotes reason, we often find we are against popular public opinions. Even though we are atheists by one definition or another, it is often our fellow atheists we are trying to reason with. There are a lot of common opinions many people hold, and they seem to be ingrained within the…
Rockin’ Atheism Pt 2: Defining Atheism
Introduction In the previous part of this series we looked at the problems inherent in the idea of stating that the word atheism can only have one definition, and arguing that everyone must use one particular definition. In this part of the series we will look at the various ways in which atheism is defined,…
In response to Ra’s ‘What is Atheism?’
I was invited on Cheshire’s live stream ‘A Goblin Reads’ with Dave as she had seen my discussion with Aron about his belief that ‘Rocks are atheist!’ who then wrote a post called ‘What is Atheism?‘ In planning for this, I started reading Aron’s article where he argues why his definition of atheism is the…
