Re: Building a free society

> > what? how about we get the word atheist and just look at that for a
second.
> > now think hard, think a bit harder. now how the hell can you be a
christian
> > atheist? you can't be both, purely by definition. a christian is
someone
> > who believes in christ as their lord and saviour, an atheist does not
> > believe in any dieties or religion. same goes with buddism.
> >
>
> Actually, an atheist, by definition, does not believe in any deities. An
> athiest is not a theist. Period. any additions or subtractions from that
> meaning is a personal interpretation of the meaning. An atheist can have
> a religion as long as deities are not involved. They can not be
> Christian because, as you said, that requires a belief in a deity.
>
> --
> Steve Kelley
>

i don't know of any religions that don't require a belief in deities,
perhaps you could inform me of any that you know of?
i'm a bit confused, because i remember reading about the definition of what
religion is, and amongst things such as symbols and stories i thought there
was something about belief in deities, but i could be wrong, it was a long
time ago.

in a slightly related point, i always viewed the birth of christianity (at
least as how it's portrayed in their bible) to be more of the start of a
cult than a religion. maybe all religions start as cults in the first
place? i know that the ancient egyptian mythology/religion started as a
number of localised cults that were pulled together when their civilisation
arose. maybe there really isn't any difference between cults and religions
apart from their popularity? just something i've been pondering.

.

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