[Tim]

Quote by: Morality Games I wish people would understand atheism is a philosophical point-of-view on one topic, not a worldview in any sense. It is just like nominalism, conceptualism, instrumentalism, idealism, realism, naturalism, etc ... no ethics or politics necessarily accompany it. All it does is describe a single, isolated idea (a denial of the belief in the existence of God).

I understand and agree with what you're saying to an extent, although I think it is a point of view that certainly has an effect on someone's life. People's behavior is dictated by the sum of their beliefs. I don't know that it's possible for an idea to be completely isolated. That being said, I totally understand what you're saying about atheism not being a worldview. For what it's worth, I'm not particularly religious either.

People called atheists would better be known under the umbrella "secular humanists" due to their emphasis on existential features common to all humans as a basis for morality (empathy, healthiness, and happiness versus anti-pathy, unhealthiness, and misery) and their concern only for the well-being of entities in this world. Otherwise, religions might mistake the 'rationalistic' science-drive types with some Wiccan and Buddhist / eastern religion denominations.

I'm not sure I buy that 100%. I think you could find people who don't believe in any god but who also aren't all that concerned withmorality or empathy or the happiness of others. As you claimed above, atheism is simply the denial of a god, not a complete philosophy. It's therefore pretty rash to lump every single person who doesn't believe in a god into one philosophy. In your point below, even you differentiate between atheism and secular humanism.

A senseless point, because I could just as rightfully say it was an absence of "secular humanism" or even "common sense" as opposed to an absence of god.

I agree that extremists lack common sense. But you can just as easily make that claim for WBC as you can for any other extremist, including the Nihilists in question. In fact I think lack of common sense is pretty much a prerequisite for becoming an extremist.

Basically, I wasn't trying to start an atheism vs. Christianity debate. I hate those. My argument is that extremism can take many forms, and that there is no one philosophy that causes it.