I think you are confusing terms, so let me clarify some things:
Theism is the belief in one or more deities.
A deity is a supernatural being/force, and the word "God" is often used in place of the word deity.
Atheism is simply not that. A lack of belief in any deities (gods).
Atheism has nothing more to it than that. An atheist with "their own beliefs" can still be an atheist, just as most Buddhists are.
I don't know what a "true" atheist is, as there is only one type of atheist: one who lacks belief in gods. Period.
Rationalism and reliance on evidence are not requirements of atheism because atheism has no tenets, they are just things that many atheists generally stick to.
Agnosticism is an epistemological philosophy that the existence or non-existence of any deity is unknown and possibly unknowable.
As such, agnosticism and atheism are completely 100% compatible, and need not be separated in every case.
I am an agnostic atheist. I also happen to rely on scientific evidence, which is how I derive my knowledge of the Universe.
If anyone can provide evidence of a god, I welcome you to show me.
I am an atheist towards all gods, so please define the god you wish to prove.
"We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further."
Ok, I am confusing terms?
An agnostic atheist you say! An agnostic is in an eternal internal debate about the existence of a supreme, being because they believe that it can not be proven either way.
while an atheist simply does not believe, you simply can not exist in these two states at the same time, unless you take the superposition of having schizophrenia.
an agnostic is in a state of "+belief +not believe"
an atheist is in the state of "-belief"
add the two together agnostic + atheist = atheism
therefore the two are 0% compatible, but because you forgot to cancel you get the out by one answer of 100%
Religion = Faith
Faith = belief in something that you yourself have no evidence for.
Buddhists while not believing in a god, are still Buddhists, they don't call themselves Atheist Buddhists, No just simply Buddhists.
Now I am talking about someone that has faith in Buddhism, not just someone that has lost faith in all other faiths and thinks, I might try Buddhism.
This is where my debate gets a little hard to follow, but will be impossible to follow if you try to muddy the terms.
but in the end it is right, because I don't have to shift the dictionary meaning of atheism, which was my point in my first post.
The fact people seem to believe that atheism is a belief system, and oppose to the dictionary meaning, opting to want to change the dictionary meaning rather than their understanding.
(this bring me to another pet hate, where people have the key to the easy path, but choose to make things harder because they are lazy, ie what is easier changing your mind or making everyone else change theirs? but so many choose the later because they are too lazy to change theirs! ... PS I am not referring to you personally, it is just easier to think about this in the 1st person perspective)
It is a human nature to believe in something, ie myself referring to M-Theory as a religion, while I try to follow M-Theory as close as I can, the maths in many cases is just too mind blowing for me to follow, so I choose to believe the author, simply because I just don't have the time to rework their full-time career.
Now this is where the twist comes in, even though I might have the same ideas in my mind as the author and the ideas will function the same; will come to the same conclusions etc.
Our ideas differ in their source and therefore, mine become beliefs because I don't have the first hand evidence.
This is how I came to the conclusion, while many people believe the same things as an Atheist, they simply don't have the time, can't or can't be bothered to test these ideas, therefore these ideas become beliefs within their minds, not hard facts.
These beliefs will eventually form a religion of sorts, but as there is no label for this new manifested religion, people following it (most without even knowing they are) refer to it as Atheism and this is the group I was referring too.
as for your last statement above the quote, I am agnostic, the very idea of proving a god goes against my beliefs and ultimately my religion
lol lol lol
piece out
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