There’s a quotation doing the atheist rounds. It is purportedly due to someone called Stephen F. Roberts.
I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do.
I contend that we are both monotheists. I just believe in one more god than he does.
In an article in the New Statesman, Ciarán Hanway explains that he’s not a man of faith … he’s an atheist. The article is titled I believe in one less god than monotheists…. Hanway explains
Let’s start with the basics. What does “Atheism” mean? It’s a word derived from the Greek word “theos”, meaning “God”, and the prefix “a-“, meaning “without”. An atheist is someone without a belief in god. It is as simple as that. Nothing more, nothing less. It is not a belief system that tells me how to behave or what to eat. It is a simple statement of my lack of belief in God. I could be a fascist, a communist, a monetarist, a narcissist.
… or a rock, or a puddle, or … Rocks and puddles are things without a belief in god. Indeed, rocks and puddles are things with no beliefs at all.
Monotheists reject all other gods but their own. I just happen to believe in one less god than they do.
Ayn Rand was an atheist. She “just happened” to believe in one less god than I do. I believe in the existence of God … but I also believe in the existence of Satan. If Ayn Rand literally believes in one less god than I do, she must believe in Satan … but not in God. So … Ayn Rand is a Satanist!
I leave it as an exercise for the Objectivist reader to identify the flaw(s) in my argument.
Ha ha Richard,
I will leave your main accusation for the devotees of the Goddess to answer. I simply wish to point out that belief in Satan cannot be what defines someone as being a ‘Satanist’ as the term is properly understood to mean (by common usage) without rendering you, I, and even Christ himself ‘Satanists’.
I am pleasantly surprised to hear that you believe Satan is a real person, and not merely a foolish superstition, or an ancient ‘Literary construct’ used to embody an Idea. I too believe Satan is real, and crazy as it may sound I had a tendency to believe in Satan could be true…. before I could even contemplate the truth about God! I believe He exists for many reasons, The first of which is because Christ taught the doctrine, and Satan played a part in the Crucifixion of Christ(via Judas and the Corrupt priests and Mob… all of whom were his children).
There is yet another Philosophical/ empirical reason.
Satan is called the ‘Father of Lies’.
Lies exist today in the Universe/ Reality.
God cannot lie.
So there must have been a created being who originated the first Lie.
And we may call that being Satan.
(By this reasoning it only remains uncertain whether the First ‘liar’ in all reality was an Angel and not human… but someone there is/was ‘The Father of Lies’ is not disputible)