philosophyBeing the only Atheist amongst my friends I often get trapped into saying “well, maybe physics is god” or something along those lines where I take the natural world as I understand it and concede that maybe God exists in there somehow. Does that make me a theist?
It sounds more like you are trying to not be obstinate. Religion and politics are volatile things to discuss with friends and family. Have you looked into Spinoza or some of the things Einstein said about God? They were both definitely atheists. Spinoza had to be a lot more careful about what he said given what was happening to heretics at the time.
It makes you spiritual, which is a natural thing.
Many religious people have learned to tackle atheists with spiritual feelings, or even just reference to simple axioms. They also try to imply that spiritual feelings mean theism.
It doesnt. You can watch a beautiful sunrise, being awed by the beauty of it all, without seeing a superior being.
Being awed by “the beauty of it all” is actually proof of evolution: beautiful areas are actually conductive to life. Blossoms mean fruit on plants. Pink sunrise means a certain weather pattern leading to rain on plants, etc.
You cross the line once Mother Nature tells you to kill all users of evil light bulbs, noisy computers and SUVs, though.
Some previous discussions on the meaning in the word “atheism” see: http://atheism.stackexchange.com/questions/1671/how-would-we-define-atheism-without-using-the-word-god indicate that the common definition is- atheism is the lack of belief that there is a God. Discussions of the qualities of God: http://atheism.stackexchange.com/questions/1453/do-atheists-need-to-define-gods-in-order-to-lack-belief-in-them seem to lead to the idea that it is the use of the word “God” alone, without the necessary attribution of any qualities, combined with a statement of lacking belief that indicates atheism. Currently- I’m inclined to agree. So if you use the word “God” to describe something that you believe- then no you are not an atheist. (which would make you a theist of sorts- but it would be a theist by the negation of the definition of atheist or a theist as defined by an atheist’s terms)
However- it seems that you express in one of your comments that you are an atheist- and I’m inclined to believe that as well- it’s more like as you said previously that you’re pushed into using the word “God.” So it seems that’s not actually what you believe? You can still be an atheist while pretending your not- but if you know what you are then that’s it!
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