The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #21447   Message #228744
Posted By: GUEST,Mrr
16-May-00 - 10:59 AM
Thread Name: Godless 'hymns' or Atheism Church Music?
Subject: RE: BS: Godless 'hymns' or Atheism Church Music?
All, thanks for the song suggestions, I especially like the one posted by John in Brisbane, even if it isn't "on point" exactly, it's great! Post more, everyone!

But Joe, I feel obliged to reply to your para which I repeat here:
I think there's a negative, antireligious tone to the term "Atheism." If atheisim exists simply to deny the beliefs of those are religious, then it is a creed that essentially negative and destructive in nature. [...] The idea of "secular humanism" and the practices of the ethical societies seem to typify the atheists I know.
When I meant Atheist, I meant a(NO - not "anti", which is "against")-the(GOD)-ist(BELIEVER) = One Who Believes There Is No God. It does not "exist simply to deny the beliefs of those [who] are religious" any more than Religion A exists to deny the beliefs of the followers of Religion B. (You could argue that all religions except the first, caveperson one, exists to deny the existence of the others, but that's specious, isn't it?)
Atheism is in its own right a belief system, which doesn't find the necessity to posit the existence of any gods to explain anything. The term Atheism is NOT equivalent to "secular humanism" which is more a form of agnosticism - which is when you don't believe in any particular god, but don't necessarily believe that there ARE NO gods. I really meant atheism, not secular humanism, in my query.

An atheist may respect the BEHAVIORS of religious folks, by not clapping in christian churches, covering women's heads in mosques and men's heads in synagogues, not eating till after someone says Grace, and so on. But no atheist I know respects (in the sense of thinking these are as valid as one's own beliefs) the BELIEFS of religious folks, any more than espousers of Religion A respect the beliefs of followers of Religion B.

If you want a term for radical rabid anti-any-religious-expression folks, use ANTITHEIST, not Atheist, as atheism is neutral in reference to theism, whereas antitheism is not.