TFF writes: "I'm not even sure that atheism qualifies as a philosophy, by itself. (In fact, I'm not even sure I care.)"

Now this expresses what I feel is the essential nature and true essence of atheism; not being sure of the value of caring. Thanks for pointing this out to us.

John writes: GOD IS LOVE. Now Love is all about caring, and being willing to care.
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TerryNZ asks: "Anything you can't hear, touch, feel, taste or smell is not God."?

No. IMHO, God includes what we call evil. Isaiah 65 makes this point. However, I think of evil as being like chaos; it is good in the making. Creation (I prefer to think in terms of emanation) is about bringing order out of chaos.

You ask: "What controls all these things; the Devil, Satan, Ahriman?"

I am not a dualist, nor a fundamentalist. BTW, 'devil'--The Greek is 'diabolos', from which we get 'diabolic'-- literally means that which splits and divides us from our good.

TNZ, even my short signature makes it clear: in my opinion, GØD includes everything, even atheists. It even includes the right of atheists not to be included. smile

TNZ comments: "As TFF says it sounds like you accept God can be anything we want it to be."

If this is a question my answer is: GØD is, like all self-evident existence, self-evident.

GØD IS THE TOTAL PROCESS OF LIFE--part of the philosophy of the great mathematician, Alfred North Whitehead.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/whitehead/

Of course I like existing. I readily admit that I want to go on and on existing, ad infinitum, and growing as part of the eternal process of life, within self-evident existence, GØD, which I find it impossible to deny.

I see no advantage in denying that which is self-evident, do you? If so tell me what it is.

TNZ: "This idea has always ultimately led to the belief that once we have decided what our God is we can then try to exterminate others who don't accept our definition."

"Exterminate others?" Where did I say this? Quite the opposite. It is my firm hope that others will choose NOT to reject the opportunity to live on and on by exterminating their souls.

HELL IS NON-BEING
BTW, this is my definition of "hell"--non-being.
As Hamlet put it, the choice is, "To be, or not to be..."
I see atheism as choosing not to be. Correct me, if I am wrong. If atheists choose not to be, tell me, why would anyone make such a choice? It boggles the mind.

If death is followed by non being, none of us will ever know. But if there is being beyond death think of the fun those who believe are going to have with their atheist friends. smile

BTW, Ellis, I agree with you: "getting on with it all..." is what it is all about, if you agree to add: morally and ethically. I also happen to believe that there is an option: this "getting on" is without end.

Last edited by Revlgking; 07/19/07 04:57 AM.

G~O~D--Now & ForeverIS:Nature, Nurture & PNEUMA-ture, Thanks to Warren Farr&ME AT www.unitheist.org