-----Original Message-----
From: Paleolithic Eating Support List [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Paleo Phil
Sent: Sunday, July 10, 2011 4:45 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Questions for Ray

Marilyn: If they resent it then this is what I meant by the term politically
correct - in other words terms that are applied so as not of offend, but
instead have a muddying effect in conversation/writing.  

I've already explained that I don't care whether it offends or not, but
rather whether the intended meaning will be understood. I actually find
atheist to have more of a muddying effect than nontheist and I thought by
now the multiple conflicting interpretations of atheist in this thread would
have demonstrated that. That's one of the main reasons I switched to using
nontheist to begin with. You demonstrated that you understand the term
nontheist in the way that I mean and I haven't seen any diagreement on its
meaning yet, so there's no apparent muddying from it so far, and I already
considered and rejected in the past the suggested alternatives of humanist
and agnostic (humanist is somewhat appealing but seems to be associated with
left wing views on everything, vegetarianism, utopian modernist
progressivism and other things I don't support), so this thread has further
confirmed for me that nontheist is right for me at this time and it seems
like much ado about nothing. 

The only possible remaining criticism of my using nontheist I can think of
is that it is not sufficiently militant, as atheist and antitheist are
perceived. That's a fair criticism and at present I don't regard myself as
militant on the subject except perhaps in regards to the worst excesses of
religions/religious people. Perhaps I should be, but I tend to be more of a
skeptic of all militancies than a militant. More Taoist than fundamentalist
jihadist, as it were. Even if I were militant, the confusing disagreement
over what atheist means would still eliminate that term and leave only
antitheist, which is not an accurate descriptor and could also be
misinterpreted as meaning someone who is "against God"--when the intended
meaning is that the person believes that gods do not exist.

I have no interest in being "politically correct" and I also find the
broader (implicit) sense of atheist to apply to me, so if someone wants to
call me an atheist or implicit atheist, that's fine, just please don't try
to use the term to tie me in with things I don't actually believe in like
Communism, devil worship, total opposition to organized religion or religion
in general, anti-spirituality, "opposition to God," value-lessness,
hypermodernism, anti-traditionalism, radical progressivism or other
associations, often strange or irrelevant, that some folks make with
"atheism" (don't ask me why or how some people associate devil worship or
opposition to God with it--I have no idea how someone is supposed to be
opposed to a God they don't believe exists or support a devil they don't
believe exists).
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A definition of belief is the accepting as true that which you have not
experienced, that which you do not know. 
I know that the Sun will rise tomorrow. I have experienced a lifetime of
sunrises.  I also have a grasp of the science why the sun will rise
tomorrow.  I don't believe the sun will rise tomorrow, I know it will. If
for some reason it doesn't rise, I won't be here to comment on it anyways as
there will be a high probability that all life on earth will be gone.

Atheism is the belief in a negative. It seems impossible to prove a
negative. Belief in a God is also problematic as it seems that all recorded
miracles of God's chosen spokespeople seem to have ended a couple thousand
years ago. God also seems to be a trickster because he gives different
revelations and rules to different people.  If a burning bush appeared ONLY
to me, I would probably feel the need to see if I needed medication or a
change in my diet.

In my opinions all beliefs are lies. Some are useful/possibly constructive
and some are useless/possibly destructive.

I have been asked if I believe in space aliens.  My answer is I don't
believe or disbelieve. If ET comes buy and wants me to phone home for him
and I am not on an acid trip or the victim of on elaborate hoax, than I will
know space aliens exist. 
-David