Instigator / Pro
10
1492
rating
333
debates
40.69%
won
Topic
#2412

You are born as an atheist *not* .

Status
Finished

The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.

Winner & statistics
Better arguments
0
12
Better sources
2
8
Better legibility
4
4
Better conduct
4
2

After 4 votes and with 16 points ahead, the winner is...

RationalMadman
Parameters
Publication date
Last updated date
Type
Standard
Number of rounds
5
Time for argument
Three days
Max argument characters
10,000
Voting period
One week
Point system
Multiple criterions
Voting system
Open
Contender / Con
26
1706
rating
563
debates
68.12%
won
Description

Disclaimer : Regardless of the setup for voting win or lose, The aim of this interaction, Is for those that view it, Learn and or take away anything that will amount to any constructive value ultimately. So that counts as anything that'll cause one to reconsider an idea, Understand a subject better, Help build a greater wealth of knowledge getting closer to truth. When either of us has accomplished that with any individual here, That's who the victor of the debate becomes.

You cannot be born an atheist. Atheism takes knowledge that is to know what you're rejecting or disbelieving . Many make the mistake starting with the faulty understanding or premise that a newborn starts off as an atheist so therefore it's the default or neutral position. Atheism is a lack of a belief and babies appropriately enough don't have beliefs to begin with coming into the world.

The fault in that line of reasoning goes back to the definition of atheism. It's not only a lack of a belief but no belief in God. In order for me to not believe in something, I have to know what it is or what it amounts to.

If you were to ask me, do I believe in support of the such and such amendment, I can't be honest with a yay or nay. I don't know what it is or if even I'm directly , indirectly doing something , saying something in practice of it.

A lack of belief or knowledge does not automatically mean I'm negative or in rejection.
I can be a committed vegetarian caught with a conflicting diet. You may say "You're no vegetarian. That cuisine was fixed with the oil of animal product."

I'm doing something unknowingly. That is rejection unbeknownst to me. But I wouldn't tell you I reject whatever it is. I wouldn't know whatever it is I'm supposedly or apparently rejecting inadvertently.

I don't believe this is controversial. But in case somebody thinks there's an argument against it, come forth with it here and now.

For clarity or questions, Please send a message or comment prior to accepting debate.

Criterion
Pro
Tie
Con
Points
Better arguments
3 point(s)
Better sources
2 point(s)
Better legibility
1 point(s)
Better conduct
1 point(s)
Reason:

I vote Con simply because it's all in this definition debate of "does atheism constitute lack of belief or blatant disbelief?" In the end, I sided with Con because Con had a source for his definition and the two answers Pro had didn't win it for me. The first was that we need blatant differences in language, but Con brought up gnostic vs agnostic atheism, which is two different kinds that creates a linguistic difference. The second was that the description needs to be how we base the conversation but this ends up feeling unfair because your description was just your first speech plus a little. If we really held that as what the debate had to be, then you can't be challenged. I think that Pro just doesn't inherently know how to write descriptions.

Tips to get better
Pro - When you challenge his definition, give a laundry list of reasons why your definition is better for the debate in terms of fairness and education. At this point, it's a challenge of the definition, which is a pretty fifty-fifty debate and just depends on your technical skill as a debater.

Con - You post all of your definitions early in the debate, but you don't really tell me why they apply, so they just kind of hang there until your application of logic in the second speech. If you see that your opponent's points don't really answer your definition, use those definitions as important points early in the round to gain a good boost to the conversation.

Criterion
Pro
Tie
Con
Points
Better arguments
3 point(s)
Better sources
2 point(s)
Better legibility
1 point(s)
Better conduct
1 point(s)
Reason:

con notes that agnostic = atheist, and pro didn't refute that. Also, no sources.

Criterion
Pro
Tie
Con
Points
Better arguments
3 point(s)
Better sources
2 point(s)
Better legibility
1 point(s)
Better conduct
1 point(s)
Reason:

Pro's entire argument revolves around "You cannot be born as a gnostic atheist", even if after RM refuted it already. And yes, a shoelace is a vegetarian simply because it consumes no meat. Not being able to consume vegetables does not make shoelaces non-vegans, just like removing religion is everything needed to make one an atheist, gnostic or not.

RM put up syllogisms proving that babies are born agnostic, which is still an atheist category. Pro never refuted the syllogisms ever. Args to Con.

Sources, Con is the only one using any sources at all.

S&G, tie. Nothing wrong either side anyways.

Conduct: Pro. Con forfeited.

Criterion
Pro
Tie
Con
Points
Better arguments
3 point(s)
Better sources
2 point(s)
Better legibility
1 point(s)
Better conduct
1 point(s)
Reason:

No contest and foregone conclusion...

Ok, so R1 pro almost immediately concedes "Atheism is a lack of a belief," to which con agrees, so pro disagrees citing (nice improvement by the way) that it's also "synonymous with disbelief" which doesn't actually change the primary definitions or there being multiple types of atheists (gnostic and agnostic as con specifically points out).

Con gets sources for the educational value of trying to teach syllogisms (with a citation, and a full walkthrough of how to apply it). Otherwise there's just dictionary links vs no sources from the other side.

Conduct for forfeiture.