An open, user owned community for the general discussion of the interpretation of earthly phenomena and scientific findings, which focuses on the existence of the divine. Here you can exchange personal views and meanings around this topic.
1. Be polite to others and respects each others opinions.
This community is explicitly not here to disapprove of other views. For the most helpful critique, please consult this web article. Remember: Your freedom ends where somebody else's begins. Remember that there are people that may see things differently than you.
2. Keep it theme-oriented, up to date and relevant.
In general, all types of contributions are allowed, but the relevance to this community must always be evident and presented openly by the contributor. Posts that do not meet these requirements will be removed after a public warning.
3. No misinformation or anti-scientific rhetoric
Even though this is primarily a philosophical community, we attach great importance to a scientific basis in the discussion. No dissemination of scientifically disproved information will be tolerated. Users found to be sharing such rhetoric will be immediately and permanently banned.
Users who spread misinformation — which differs from disinformation, which is done with intent — will have their submissions/comments removed and receive a warning.
4. Make sure that information is conveyed in an elaborate way.
In order to ensure an open and constructive discourse, it is necessary to deal with information in a transparent way. Therefore whenever possible, please link to scientific sources for claims that you make and make sure that the title is descriptive and understandable.
5. Use self-moderation measures first before reporting.
This community is fundamentally built upon freedom of speech. Since everyone understands minimalism differently and we do not want to exclude any kind of content a priori, we appeal to the individual users to block/mute posts or users who do not meet their requirements. Please bear this in mind when filing a report.
At the beginning of this young community, I thought it might be helpful to make a clear distinction between the definitions as they differ greatly in their explainability. Contrary to some opinions that can be heared, the statements a) there are one/more divine beings and b) no divine beings exist are logically equivalent.
I'm not really a fan of the binary agnostic or gnostic distinctions of atheism. What does it mean to "know", exactly? To be absolutely, 100% convinced beyond the shadow of any doubt, or to conclude that there isn't any evidence of God? There's quite a bit of room for disagreement over how we might use the term.
I think something like the Dawkins scale is much better, as it shows a gradation of conviction. I think most atheists would probably fall on 5 or 6 on the scale rather than 7/7.
I'm really sorry that the graphic I chose seems to be misleading. Basically, it should represent a matrix (similar to a political spectrum) which contrasts the conviction with its strength. Your scale would correspond to an inverted parabola. I like the descriptions of this list very much. Maybe tomorrow I will find a better graphic ;)