Which ‘Creator’ would that be? There are hundreds of Creation myths, and they all feature different protagonists, with different names, who have totally different fictional biographies. The deity of the Bible, for instance, already has a name which we can render into English as ‘Jehovah’, with a capital J. If you want to talk about that guy …
Category Archives: Definitional issues
I am not an agnostic, because I understand what ‘know’ means
My claim to be a strong atheist, and to know that no gods exist, is founded on my understanding — as an educated and fluent speaker and writer of English — of the way that the word ‘know’ is used in ordinary English speech and writing. This allows me to make claims like the following, …
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‘Can I redefine God as…?’ No. Here’s why.
One of the most common types of posts in the Religion section of Quora takes various forms, all asking the same thing: ‘Can I redefine what God is supposed to be?’ Can god be defined as an electromagnetic force? Can we define God as a feeling of missing something after becoming atheist? Can God be …
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The Abstract Noun fallacy: “You can’t see love…”
‘Love’ is a word for an abstract concept derived from centuries of observation of people’s behaviour. When we say ‘John and Jane are in love’, it’s a convenient way of saying ‘John and Jane do X and Y and Z, which are behaviours commonly observed in people who are in relationships of type A, B …
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When people ask about God, everyone assumes it’s the Biblical Christian concept of God. The on-line definition of the word “God” is “the one Supreme Being; the creator and ruler of the universe.” Why do people believe this God doesn’t exist?
Writing ‘God’ with a capital G in an English-language context usually implies that you’re talking about the Christian God as depicted in the Bible. But the reason that people don’t believe gods is exist is usually because there is no evidence at all to indicate that they do. And this applies to anything which matches your …
How do you define what a god is and is not?
It’s not up to you and me to define it. ‘God’ is a word in English, and words in English derive their meaning from the way that they are used by the English-speaking community. In practice ‘a god’ in English usually seems to mean something like ‘a super-powered person involved in some way with the …
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If you’re an atheist, can you describe the ‘god’ you don’t believe in?
Yes. We describe it exactly the same way as other English-speakers do, as reflected in the dictionary definition of the word: God NOUN (in Christianity and other monotheistic religions) the creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; the supreme being. (in certain other religions) a superhuman being or spirit worshipped …
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Atheists often argue that God doesn’t exist because He can’t be seen or scientifically validated. The same goes for love, yet love exists. So does God exist in the same way love does?
‘Love’ is an abstract noun. It can’t be ‘seen’ because it doesn’t refer to a single object, or a group of objects, it refers to a set of feelings and behaviours. There are thousands of such words in English (and every other language) and they’re an essential and well-understood part of the way we all communicate. …
Do scientists believe in love, faith and soul? If yes, how?
These are all entirely different things. ‘Love’ is an abstract noun used to describe a range of feelings and behaviours. Most scientists, like nearly everyone else, are personally familiar with these. Those who are not have generally observed them enough in other people to have no doubt that they actually occur. ‘Faith’ is another abstract …
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When atheists say they don’t believe in god, do they mean the specific gods that others profess to believe in, or all possible conceptions of god?
This is what atheists don’t believe in: God NOUN (in Christianity and other monotheistic religions) the creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; the supreme being. (in certain other religions) a superhuman being or spirit worshipped as having power over nature or human fortunes; a deity. ‘a moon god’ ‘the Hindu …
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