It has been brought to my attention that what have been represented as my personal beliefs in my comments and posts on this forum might not seem to align with what my profile indicates my position to be. Presently, my profile states that I am a non-atheist. As many of you have read many of my comments, I call upon you to decide whether you would rather that I change the displayed status, or leave it be. The popular, unweighted vote will win. The poll closes in about three days, at 7:00 a.m. (U.T.C.) Wednesday, 10 August 2016, and any votes made thereafter will be discounted from the results. The final count will include only votes to change the status and votes to let it remain. Comments made without vote will not be assumed to endorse either perspective, but no change will be made to the status in the event of a tie.
If you do not care about what my profile says, please comment without vote to indicate so.
Amendment I: Nyarlathotep has pointed out that it may seem that I am asking you to ask me what I believe. Rather, I am asking you to vote based on where it seems to you (I repeat: to you) that I stand, as evidenced by my previous comments and replies collectively. To this end, I aim to make a profile status about which there will be no frivolous complaint or interrogation. If you do not feel that my profile status is important to you in this regard, then I would like to refer you to the aforementioned instruction: please comment without vote to indicate so.
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I'm afraid that this is a choice to be made by you, and you alone. This is my view on the subject. Therefore, I withdraw from casting any vote for or against the specified change. I will, however, stick around to see the result.
How about this for a test:
You have a free ticket for a $100 wager. You can place this wager on either "God is real", or "God isn't real". The casino is not interested in arguing about your definition of God, or the difficulty of only giving you a binary choice. You have no idea how the casino is going to determine the result. If you argue, ask any questions, or baulk in any way, the casino will just confiscate your ticket and you have blown your shot at getting free money. Both wagers pay 1:1. Which wager do you make?
My vote corresponds (in the obvious way) to your answer to this question.
Well said Nyarlathotep
Charvak:
I disagree in that Nyarlathotep has given no explanation as to why such a casino needs to exist. The model also fails to account for that casinos, like other businesses, aim to profit.
M. V. Reeves - "Nyarlathotep has given no explanation as to why such a casino needs to exist"
Now you are just trolling.
Oh and on a total tangent: casinos do give out free wagers.
So they do.
The question of why such a metaphorical casino need exist equates, I think, to the question of why such a decision need be forced, which of course returns us to the reason for which I made this post: to reconcile the need to force a decision with what can be gathered as to the extent to which that decision has already been made, as it applies to my past comments, posts, and replies, and as it concerns what has been called a dichotomy in the relationship between atheism and theism. You have raised a deep and fundamental question about the validity of the logic behind the atheist culture practiced on this forum and the way in which said this culture is reinforced by the standard profile configuration.
Listen, you want to know how you should answer a binary question. I tried to help you by framing the binary question. If you don't want my help, fine. But don't complain that I tried to force you to answer a binary question when that is what you asked for in the first place!
I do want your help, but you addressed the wrong question. I am not asking about my own personal belief, as I would hardly need a thread to do so; I want you to tell me of where it seems to you (to you!) that I stand, based on my previous comments. I am doing this because I respect your (your!) personal opinion, and because I understand that you are generally quite good at determining whether someone is an atheist or a theist based on their comments as opposed to their explicitly stated beliefs.
M. V. Reeves - "I understand that you are generally quite good at determining whether someone is an atheist or a theist based on their comments as opposed to their explicitly stated beliefs"
I think you will be hard pressed to find an example of me labelling anyone as an atheist who hasn't already self identified as one (and vice versa); because I try to make it a point to not do this. The only exception I can think of is Kenny, the forum troll (I vacillate between thinking he is lying about his religious status, or that he is just mentally ill; perhaps even both!). I believe I have a long history on this forum of refusing to even debate the definition of the word atheist. I rely on how people self identify themselves, because that seems the easiest way to handle it; and you don't have to worry about making a mistake and upsetting someone.
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M. V. Reeves - "I want you to tell me of where it seems to you that I stand"
If you want me to GUESS based on what you have posted so far, I will: 490eb728a3985105bd527c3ca5731c22
The only thing that remains is for you to reveal what your actual vote (guess) is for use in the final tally, as once again, deciphering the hash is not working.
@ M. V. Reeves
Since you have been playing the devils advocate, it's hard to know what you believe or do not believe. So this question is best answered by yourself, as already pointed out.
Atheist - A person who lacks beliefs in a god or gods. There is no evidence to support such a belief.
Agnostic - A person who thinks that we cannot know, and may never know, if there is a god or gods.
Deist - A person who believes in a generic creator or divinity, without specific holy writings or traditions.
Anti-theist - A person who is adverse to religion. A person who thinks religion does more damage than good.
I think of myself as an agnostic atheist and an anti-theist.
M.V. Reeves : Take a stand. Unless you are undecided then keep seeking. Which ever side of the debate you lean towards is of no consequence to me. I love talking to atheists as much as I love arguing with theists.
Reeves YOU have to choose your status. We all know what you really are. You are most definitely an apologist for theism. Just because you incorrectly redefine things doesn't make it so.
There needs to be an option for theist apologist because you and many others are theist apologist. It's like saying that you aren't religious but you are spiritual. That is an oxymoron.
In every post you defend theism.