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Unfortunately, "atheism" is a broad term which covers both people who do not believe in a higher power, and people who claim that no higher powers exist.
by barrucadu 6y ago
Unfortunately, "atheism" is a broad term which covers both people who do not believe in a higher power, and people who claim that no higher powers exist.
- lotsofpulp 6y agoWhat is the difference between not believing in a higher power and claiming no higher power exists?
- barrucadu 6y agoI lack a belief that there is a person in Argentina called Smergold Abrahamson, as that is a ridiculous name and I have no reason to believe that they exist. But I'm not going to claim with certainty that they don't.
- lotsofpulp 6y agoI think the word believe is unnecessarily complicating this. As I stated above in another comment, assumption is a better word to use than believe, so substituting that gives: “I do not assume that there is a person in Argentina called Smergold Abrahamson, as that is a ridiculous name. But I am not going to claim with certainty that they do not exist”. Which is more concisely re-written as: “I assume there is a very low probability of the existence of a person in Argentina called Smergold Abrahamson”. Which going back to the original comment, I see the difference now: “not believing (assuming) in a higher power” is different than “claiming (assuming) no higher power exists”