Banned_Magnus wrote:
Atheism is an ideology.
"An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things (compare worldview), as in common sense (see Ideology in everyday society below) and several philosophical tendencies (see Political ideologies), or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to all members of this society (a "received consciousness" or product of socialization). The main purpose behind an ideology is to offer change in society, and adherence to a set of ideals where conformity already exists, through a normative thought process."
When Atheists believe that their view of the world is the truth, it causes them to judge other ideologies as wrong.
Atheism isn't a view of the world, it's the abscence of belief in God. As I said in my original response (which you failed utterly to address), anti-theism is an ideology but atheism is not as it really doesn't have any broad lenses when it comes to looking at the world. It's about as ideological as a-unicornism.
Banned_Magnus wrote:
Agnostics philosophize more about spirituality than most religious people I know. Religious people have faith and so won't question so much.
Once again, you offer absolutely no evidence for your "agnostics philosophize more about spirituality" thesis. Saying it twice doesn't make it true.
Banned_Magnus wrote:
Atheists are materialists, they see matter and believe that only matter exists
No. Atheists are those who lack a belief in God. That doesn't neccessarily imply physicalism, although (due to the many abductive and inductive arguments specific atheists use against God) many happen to also be physicalists.
Banned_Magnus wrote:
and have a faith in science that makes them unable to question the scientists. Even most scientists won't claim that there are no immaterial life forms. Seeing that most of the universe is comprised of immaterial energy (about 98 percent) it is possible that other life forms exist that we are unable to perceive with our basic 5 senses.
Actually, "materialism" is really just a vernaculur way of saying "physicalist", as most "materialists" would probably admit that matter isn't the only physical property in existence (although energy can be converted into matter, as Einstein demonstrated and you failed to mention).
And you pretty much contradict yourself by claiming that atheists never question scientists yet believe something most scientists don't. It's an almost trivally true fact, by the way, that a significant subset of atheists are scientists and these scientists question other scientists (so you claim that atheists never question scientists is patently false).
Banned_Magnus wrote:
What is spirituality? Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of their being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality
Looking back through history and seeing things in the world, I notice that most people have this innate spiritual aspect to them. To ignore it is like ignoring the elephant in the living room.
A rather parsimonious explanation for "spirituality":
http://artsci.wustl.edu/~pboyer/PBoyerH ... nEssay.pdf Pascal Boyer wrote:
In the past ten years, the evolutionary and
cognitive study of religion has begun to mature.
It does not try to identify the gene or genes for
religious thinking. Nor does it simply dream
up evolutionary scenarios that might have led
to religion as we know it. It does much better
than that. It puts forward new hypotheses and
testable predictions. It asks what in the human
make-up renders religion possible and successful.
Religious thought and behaviour can be
considered part of natural human capacities,
like music, political systems, family relations
or ethnic coalitions. Findings from cognitive
psychology, neuroscience, cultural anthropology
and archaeology
01 Dec 2010, 1:47 am
