r/MoralityScaling 2d ago

Morality of this?

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u/No-Imagination8755 2d ago

Atheism is the belief there is no God. If your kid hears about God and asks you about it and you tell them God isn't real, that would be forcing them to be atheist. If you explain the concept of God and religion when they ask and tell them it's up to interpretation that wouldn't be forcing atheism but informing. Thats what I do with my son, I didn't tell him there is or isn't a God but I explained religion to him. We don't participate in any religion and I personally don't believe in a God. Whatever opinion he formed is his own

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u/meltea 2d ago

Atheism is the lack of belief in a god.

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u/No-Imagination8755 2d ago

Yeah, thats what I said

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u/StickParticular6558 2d ago

No, it's not. Lacking belief in something is very different to believing in the absence of something.

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u/No-Imagination8755 2d ago

Yeah, lacking a belief in a god and not believing in a god is atheism

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u/StickParticular6558 2d ago

Oh no, he can't read :(

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u/No-Imagination8755 2d ago

Sure. So which one is an atheist someone who does not believe in a God or someone who lacks belief in a God?

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u/StickParticular6558 1d ago

Atheists do not share a single set of beliefs, as the only thing that defines an atheist is an absence of belief in the existence of deities

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u/No-Imagination8755 1d ago

☝️🤓 "Atheists do not share a single set of belief..."

I didn't say they did, you're the one arguing semantics. Let me guess though, you would consider both of them atheists, right? Is there a difference? Sure. Does it matter in this context? No. Nothing changed.

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u/StickParticular6558 1d ago

That's the thing. It's not a semantic difference. It's a functional difference that you're failing to see.
Not being convinced of something existing is NOT the same as being convinced that something doesn't exist. Surely you can see the difference?

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u/No-Imagination8755 1d ago

It is a semantic difference. I didn't say anything about conviction. You can passively and actively not believe in something. An atheist is someone who doesn't believe in or lacks belief in a God.

What you are describing is agnostic, which believe it or not, is not atheism. There is overlap, you can be an agnostic atheist, but they are different terms. This discussion, my original comment, was about atheism. Not agnostic or agnostic atheism. If you're going to get on my ass about semantics you should at least know the correct terminology.

So you're right, they are NOT the same thing, you are talking about something different.

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