On 8/8/2012 8:55 AM, Bruno Marchal wrote:
On 07 Aug 2012, at 17:24, John Clark wrote:
On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 Bruno Marchal <marc...@ulb.ac.be
<mailto:marc...@ulb.ac.be>> wrote:
No, I find that normal. Atheism needs a precise notion of God to make, but all serious
theologian and mystics tend to think that God, like truth or consciousness does not
admit a simple definition, making atheism a very vague position, unless it means only I
don't believe in the literalist abramanic definition of God. In which case 99% of the
mundial population is atheist, and that makes the notion quite trivial.
> I don't believe in any literal definition, of God, universe, whole, etc.
If that's what you believe, or rather what you don't believe, then why are you unable
to utter the simple crystal clear declarative sentence "I am a atheist" ? Why all the
gobbledegook?
Because I am not an atheist. I am fascinated by most discourses by many theologians and
mystics belonging to a wide variety of traditions. I have studied classical chinese to
be sure I did not misinterpret the taoists, which have been my favorite for a long time.
I have read Plato and Plotinus. I am a neoplatonist believer, if you want, and as far
as I can conceive that comp is correct, I am a Pythagorean.
But you're not a theist
/Theism, in the broadest sense, is the belief that at least one deity exists.[1] In a more
specific sense, theism is a doctrine concerning the nature of a monotheistic God and God's
relationship to the universe.[2] [3][4] Theism, in this specific sense, conceives of God
as personal, present and active in the governance and organization of the world and the
universe. As such theism describes the classical conception of God that is found in
Christianity, Judaism, Islam and some forms of Hinduism. The use of the word theism to
indicate this classical form of monotheism began during the scientific revolution of the
seventeenth century in order to distinguish it from the then-emerging deism which
contended that God, though transcendent and supreme, did not intervene in the natural
world and could be known rationally but not via revelation.[5]/
- hence John's question.
Brent
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