A Civil Religious Debate

As an Atheist I usually argue against the idea that being Atheist is "close-minded" or "arrogant."

Whenever someone tries to convince me that God exists, that's when I'll argue against their God. I don't find myself to be a New Atheist, though, because I really don't care that much that religion and belief exists. I'm more on the defensive. Maybe the non-aggression principle applied to ideology.

Reason is automatic. It's how we think.

One doesn't need faith to merely think. One needs faith to accept an ideal without evidence.

How one reasons can be different from the others. For example: a Christian can reason that evidence is not necessary in order to hold a belief, therefore having faith-based reasoning. An Atheist, on the other hand, finds that unless evidence is presented, there is no reason to believe in an ideal, therefore evidence-based reasoning.

Don't be a big baby, you said yourself that you it was incoherent. i was agreeing.

This is debate, not a relationship.

I don't really know what you were disputing, and yes, it's pretty incoherent.

True, I feel, however, that just because one pretends to believe in something for the sake of survival doesn't mean our actual beliefs have changed.

In the USSR, it was prohibited to worship Christ, but people did it anyway. There were underground churches.

Agnosticism is more of a philosophy than a belief system, in my experience.

If I really got into the nitty gritty, it's logical to be Agnostic because Agnostics comply with Quantum Mechanics (nothing can be certain).

But do I believe in God, spirits or the afterlife? No. So I am an Atheist.

I do apologize, Secular Humanism is a philosophy/religion, Secular Progressives are just usually Secular Humanists.

But yeah, those who think that bigger government is actually necessary and also happen to believe that religion should be completely out of government.

I'm sure that the Secular Humanists are already on their way to trying to spread their ideals unto others (including Atheism). This is why they want a secular government to control education. This is why they want a secular government to control everything (and are opposed to privatization). The belief behind Secular Humanism is that:

1. Government must have power over the evil men (because evil, for some reason, still exists)

2. Government must be "secular" (aka, atheist).

This, of course, means that atheism must be the standard.

But do not worry, my friends. There is another branch of Atheism that is growing. It is quite different from Secular Humanists. They are still secular, but believe that most things should be left to the people. If you believe in shit like Jesus, you will have so many opportunities to continue that belief without fear of breaking some law or code.

Classical Liberals, Libertarians, Individualists and Objectivists are concerned with Post-Theistic ideals (no longer worrying about the fact that Theism exist).

I don't believe in God, but I use it all the time.

With my use of the word, it can make some people assume that I am a theist.

But, in other cases, me simply defending a religion (when it's attacked with baseless arguments) makes people assume that I'm a theist.

So if you use the word God WITHOUT trying to confuse someone, people will usually misunderstand you because they're people with an agenda.

There are no provable truths or myths.

I will say, however, that I believe that most things that people have accepted are only accepted because it's easier to live by certain codes than to try and liberate your mind as much as possible. To be truly free is scary for most people (which is why Conservatives and Liberals exist, in the first place).