I wrote up a response ot your previous post, but tossed it, since I didn't want to wander into a semantic debate over religion.
Now that I see why you were trying to put forward the argument, I'll put in part of what I'd said. Namely, that this form of argument is often used to justify banning science in school. Namely, believe in the Big Bang is a religious belief, since it's held to with ardor, and deals with "ultimate reality." And if the Big Bang, or Evolution, are religious beliefs, then the First Amendment says the constitution shouldn't endorse ("establish") one. We have to be very careful about expanding the definition of a word, rather than creating a new word to make the distinction you're trying to make. Namely, it doesn't retroactively change what other people meant when they used that word.
I think what you want to highlight is Atheism != Nihilism. I'd be careful, because Atheism *is* just a lack of belief in God. It's certainly possible to go beyond that to a strong belief (gods are a stupid idea, I actively deny their existence.) Either way, it's not saying you don't believe in being nice to other people, or even that you don't believe in the supernatural (say, you're a Zen Buddhist, or a shinto spirit worshipper.) It's a sticky area, because Atheism isn't a system of beliefs, or even necessarily a positive belief in something, it's an attribute of someone's system of belief.
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Date: 2007-03-02 11:04 pm (UTC)Now that I see why you were trying to put forward the argument, I'll put in part of what I'd said. Namely, that this form of argument is often used to justify banning science in school. Namely, believe in the Big Bang is a religious belief, since it's held to with ardor, and deals with "ultimate reality." And if the Big Bang, or Evolution, are religious beliefs, then the First Amendment says the constitution shouldn't endorse ("establish") one. We have to be very careful about expanding the definition of a word, rather than creating a new word to make the distinction you're trying to make. Namely, it doesn't retroactively change what other people meant when they used that word.
I think what you want to highlight is Atheism != Nihilism. I'd be careful, because Atheism *is* just a lack of belief in God. It's certainly possible to go beyond that to a strong belief (gods are a stupid idea, I actively deny their existence.) Either way, it's not saying you don't believe in being nice to other people, or even that you don't believe in the supernatural (say, you're a Zen Buddhist, or a shinto spirit worshipper.) It's a sticky area, because Atheism isn't a system of beliefs, or even necessarily a positive belief in something, it's an attribute of someone's system of belief.