tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7491397059742750822.post3321025577816842333..comments2023-12-07T07:01:24.508+01:00Comments on Jan Thurins tankar: How large a proportion of mankind believe in God?Jan Thurinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06612355937733737615noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7491397059742750822.post-91919401648082293122010-03-01T07:14:00.456+01:002010-03-01T07:14:00.456+01:00Another thing to keep in mind is that atheism simp...Another thing to keep in mind is that atheism simply means "not theism".<br /><br />Theism means that one believe or is convinced that some sort of great invisible intelligence (a god) have great impact on ones life.<br /><br />A- is a negative form, directly translated to "without" or "lack of".<br /><br />"Not a theist" and "atheist" is thus the same thing, meaning that if one doesn't fit in the description of a theist, or simply doesn't know, one is automatically an atheist. Some believe that "agnostic" is some sort of middle ground, but that's a misunderstanding of the greek and the philosophical concepts.<br /><br />But there are those who made atheism into their identity, which is a whole different breed. People who took up atheism as identity, kinda like "Greetings, I am Joe and I am an Atheist" are few. But compare this with people who make an identity out of identifying themselves with birthtraits; "Greetings, I am Jane and I am a Woman", "Greetings, I am Jack, I am a black man", "Greetings, I am Hans and I am German". Most of us doesn't identify ourselves with what we are since what we are might not be important. It usually gets more important if your trait is rare within the situation you are in, which is why you might be more german in Sweden than in germany, more black on Iceland than in Africa and more atheist in southern America than in Sweden.JemyMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13523248313248651401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7491397059742750822.post-47093368425410135942010-02-28T21:12:08.965+01:002010-02-28T21:12:08.965+01:00Sweden is world famous for being one of the most s...Sweden is world famous for being one of the most secular nations on earth.<br /><br />People keep Christianity as a cultural tradition, but do not actually believe in it's supernatural components the way that Americans do. It's a nation were even priests are atheists and very few have ever read the Bible.<br /><br />Humans are not wired to follow religion, religion are made to use human wiring. It's perfectly possible to replace Christianity with a free spirituality and Sweden have done so. Even the Swedish Lutheran Church is an extremely reformed religion that actually went against scripture more than once.JemyMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13523248313248651401noreply@blogger.com