Multi-culturalism boon or bane?

[Comic Book Guy]

Originally Posted by Insidious Rex

What kind of double talk nonsense is that really? You can say you are "non-religious" or "areligious" or even that you are a skeptic and manage to avoid any formal connection to a specific ideology but if you say "I am AN Atheist" you are declaring something very formal and specific about your belief system and defining yourself AS a member of a specific group like it or not. You are AT LEAST declaring that you believe there are NO deities. And probably that you reject all spirituality as a rule. There are many many people who voluntarily crown themselves with this term specifically so the world understands they believe that there IS NOTHING. And many of them ARE ideologues of this point of view. If you want to explain to them that due to some minor linguistic technicalities they have their definitions confused and therefore arent atheists please be my guest. And while you are at it maybe you can tell Pro Choice people that they arent really pro choice since they dont believe in choice in EVERY conceivable situation. And Pro Lifers that they arent pro life since so many of them are ok with war and the death penalty. And while we are at it lets tell all the Democrats that they arent really because they dont advocate PURE democracy on every level. And dont get me started on the Conservative Party in your neck of the woods...

Do you even know the meaning of the phrase double-think? Because I don't see how it applies to my post, which I stand by to the word. It's senseless to describe yourself or anyone by what they don't believe in, as there is an infinite number of things a person doesn't believe in, which can be gods or dragons or hobbits. I can be in no sense ideological in not believing in those - if there was any evidence for them I would believe in, but there isn't. Others may use the word athiesm, but I still think they're using it badly, and they're entirely into the hands of people who believe in a particular god or gods by letting them define them.