Misused labels of Atheist and Atheism

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By caring that you understand the idea that I am trying to communicate, but you are getting stuck on the idea that I am using the wrong words. It’s like finding someone who cares more about the correct spelling of the sentence than the idea the sentence is trying to communicate. So again, I’ll repeat, what words would you use to describe the ideas I am presenting and I will use those words for you to communicate to so that the message is clear.
 
I think you need to consider the possibility that, because you are using words in a novel sense of your own devising, you may be failing to communicate any clear idea at all.
 
I am considering that. So I repeat, for a third time what part of the phrase, “what words would you use to describe the ideas I am presenting and I will use those words for you to communicate to so that the message is clear.” was unclear?

First Attempt:
Damian said:
What words would you use for what I am trying to communicate here then? What about my presentation is unclear or that you would use a different term for those ideas I am attempting to present?
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Second Attempt:
Damian said:
So again, I’ll repeat, what words would you use to describe the ideas I am presenting and I will use those words for you to communicate to so that the message is clear.
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Perhaps an example will help. Consider the following conversation:

Does God exist?
  • I’m not sure
    Well do you believe he exists?
  • No I don’t
What label should we use for this person?
 
If you had conveyed your message in language that I could understand, you wouldn’t need to ask me for my help in reformulating it.
 
Thanks for just being argumentative and not productively contributing to the conversation
 
Are you interested in labeling levels of unbelief?

I have never seen any concrete evidence that God exists, in the supernatural/miraculous manner. Yet I believe on account of the message and words of Christ, relayed by those who first believed and saw Him.

If its true, then i know the truth. If its not true, then i am dillusional.

If its true, then you deny the truth. If its not true, then we are all unaware of our reason for being alive for this short moment.
 
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That’s fine too. We can talk about that since I want to understand the theistic side of this and they can understand the atheistic side as well. That’s the point.
 
Damian said:
Atheist - Single position on a single question.
Question - “Are you convinced that the supernatural exists?”
Answer - “No, No I am not.”
The label “Atheist” is just that, someone who is not ,currently, convinced that the supernatural exists based on the bad reasons and bad evidence presented for why someone else does.
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I would call such a person an Agnostic.

The distinctions:

If you believe God does not exist you are an Atheist.
If you say you do not know whether God exists you are an Agnostic.
If you believe God does exist but think we don’t know anything definite about God, or not enough to matter, you are a Deist.
 
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When asked if they believe in God they said no, so they disbelieve or lack a belief in God, don’t they?
 
I would agree that those who say “I don’t believe there is a God” are atheists.
But “I believe the answer is no” is not the same as “I am not convinced the answer is yes.”
 
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theistic side of different levels of unbelief, what terms or labels they use for the differences I have presented, etc. Too many problems about this conversation is that both sides are using the same words but in sightly, but significantly different ways.
 
Damian said:
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Using the dictionary definition of the words allows for common understanding, otherwise a different title should be used, however there are different meanings:

Collins Dictionary, atheist, noun:
  • Learner: An atheist is a person who believes that there is no God. Compare agnostic.
  • American: a person who believes that there is no God
  • British: a person who does not believe in God or gods
Collins Dictionary, agnostic, noun:
  • Learner: An agnostic believes that it is not possible to know whether God exists or not. Compare atheist.
  • American: a person who believes that the human mind cannot know whether there is a God or an ultimate cause, or anything beyond material phenomena
  • British: 1. a person who holds that knowledge of a Supreme Being, ultimate cause, etc, is impossible 2. a person who claims, with respect to any particular question, that the answer cannot be known with certainty
 
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I agree here, so what would you call someone, like the apologetic who don’t claim to know a deity exists but believe one should exist based on their logical reasoning.

Like when Einstein mathematically concluded that gravity waves should exists, but we didn’t actually know that until we detected them in 2015.
 
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Right, but either way they do not believe in God, which makes them atheists. This is why Damian has pointed out agnostic atheism isn’t mutually exclusive. The Robert Flint quote I posted above is from 1887 so this is not some new definition being asserted.
 
Damian said:
I agree here, so what would you call someone, like the apologetic who don’t claim to know a deity exists but believe one should exist based on their logical reasoning.

Like when Einstein mathematically concluded that gravity waves should exists, but we didn’t actually know that until we detected them in 2015.
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“I don’t know” : Agnostic.
“I am convinedd there must be a God but I can’t prove it” : Deist.
 
Good to know, I am about communicating ideas with the best words as I know to use. If you have a better word to use to point out the same nuance I am, then let me know.
I disagree with their definition of atheist though. There is a difference between I don’t believe your claim of X and I believe X is false. What term would you use for someone like me who does not believe in the supernatural because all the presentations and evidence has yet to convince me? I am not stating that I know it is not there, just that the theists’ reasons and evidence is lacking to convince me that it should be there.
I do not believe “there is no god”, I believe that the reasons and evidence to make that conclusion are not justified for that conclusion as of yet. I am responding only to the presentation for why someone believes.

If someone believes X and you are not convinced that X is there based on their bad reasons, this does not mean that you believe Y.
 
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Zaccheus said:
Deist.
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de·ism

belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe. The term is used chiefly of an intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that accepted the existence of a creator on the basis of reason but rejected belief in a supernatural deity who interacts with humankind.
 
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