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Originally Posted by mixedmedia
Yet there are those who feel so compelled that they feel this way about their religion and it's okay to say they have faith. I don't really understand your exception to being told you have faith. As you said above to I_L, everyone is an atheist of the other guy's religion. Everyone who is not an atheist is going to consider your beliefs faith.
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Okay, how about this. One of my exceptions to using the word "faith" is that one of its meanings is to believe in something even when there's no reason to. However, there is very good reason not to believe in religion (again, in any of the ones listed so far). They are as believable as any of the other childhood fairy tale. In this sense of the word, it's inappropriate to use "faith" to describe atheism...
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So let me ask this, does atheism preclude the existence of any unifying metaphysical "organization" (for lack) in the universe or is it only the existence of a "god" that is objectionable?
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Well, now we're starting to move to a semantic argument, which I abhor. Strangely, the conversation addressed above is also moving there. Defining religion is like defining life. We all know one when we see one, so it's easy to define by example but it's hard to define in words.
It also depends on what you mean by "metaphysical." I am tempted to make another thread on this subject but let me just say that there is very little useful distinction between the metaphysical and the physical. As far as I can tell, the only reasonable definition of metaphysical is "physical events that never really happen."
Having said all that, plenty of atheists have a physical model of the universe. There is obvious organization caused by underlying forces that govern how everything works and we are trying to understand them. None of this requires God and I will guess that this is all that defines atheism. I must also say that the idea of an anthropomorphic God is especially silly. Once you go that far, you might as well dress him up in a big red suit, have him wear a long white beard and say "ho ho ho..."