Atheism

Because you hold to that 'guess' a little too dearly for it to be called a 'guess' in colloquial English. When people have a strong emotional attachement to such a 'guess', when it's important to them, it's called a belief. A guess is something more trivial, peripheral to one's intellectual constructs. A belief is more central.

I have had conversation with others who know exactly what I am talking about

many definitions are ambiguous at best concerning this topic

So personally I don't care what any particular book in print says. Printed books can be wrong also. And language evolves constantly. Language is fluid.

If you could get past any disagreements we've had...and any animosity you might hold for me...we could discuss this at length...and I think you might see a bit more value in what I am saying about the use of the words "believe" and "belief."

He seems to like semantics.

Quote:

If you could get past any disagreements we've had...and any animosity you might hold for me...we could discuss this at length...and I think you might see a bit more value in what I am saying about the use of the words "believe" and "belief."

Sorry, it has nothing to do with you. Words for me are not magical, they don't have the power to change reality. I respect the right to self-labelling though, so you're welcome to call your beliefs anyway you'd like to call them.

Maybe try that discussion with layman. He seems to like semantics.

At least we can agree that you can call your guesses "beliefs" if you choose...

That's the reason I was trying for the discussion.

more active than any thread

...that great disruption has been the off and on result of their discourtesy to the thread intent, which happens to still be operative.

And yet after watching four hours of its programming and even despite my own lack of religious belief, I find it hard to imagine that even a casual nonbeliever would tune in, let alone someone on the fence about the existence of a higher power.

AtheistTV adheres to nasty stereotypes about atheism — smugness, gleeful disregard for others’ beliefs — to a degree that’s close to unwatchable.

Co-host Matt Dillahunty, wearing a black Hawaiian-style shirt decorated with flames and infinity symbols, [said] "If you know why your God is so stupid, feel free to call us."

AtheistTV frames atheism as a perpetual reaction against a conquering force. And that reaction isn’t reasoned debate....

The Atheist Experience’s” new co-host, introducing today’s topic: “I’m talking again about the failures of Christianity. I’m just scratching the surface — a lot of failure! So much fail. But today I’m going to talk about Christianity’s dependence on ignorance. Christianity requires ignorance — and con games require ignorance too."

I shut it off. A game of three-card-monte may be frustrating, but one can keep walking by. A person shouting at you on the subway is far more irritating.

What about the problem of one atheist criticizing another? What's up with that?

Atheists are angry, and watch out, because now they have a television channel...At a party on Tuesday night celebrating the premiere, David Silverman, president of American Atheists, described a channel that...will “provide a breadth of content, from science to politics to comedy, all centered around our common freedom from religion.”

...If he sounds peeved, well, it’s hard being an atheist in the United States, where plenty of people behave in decidedly un-Christian ways, but to speak ill of Christianity or other religions can be career-ending....So expect a fair amount of bluntness when Atheist TV gets rolling.

“Atheist TV is live,” he said, “and it’s going to stay live, 24/7, until the sun burns out.”