“Atheist” and “theist” are terms somewhat similar to “homosexual.” People who are atheists or theists or homosexuals (or white or any other label people give themselves) use it to mean a specific thing but the next person using that label may not agree. Their social definitions are more community based than belief based. “Homosexual” really means “I associate/identify with other people labeled homosexual.” Nothing gets everyone with a particular label riled up faster than asking them to define who is or is not part of the club.
Someone somewhere came up with a term that seemed fairly obvious but once it turned into a label any accuracy went out the window.
More specifics with the examples I used above:
Atheist: Not believing that God exists or believing that God does not exist? Or just not knowing?
Theist: Believing God exists; believing a god exists; this is less tricky but it begins to get weird when including things like Maoism or panantheism
Homosexual: Someone who has sex with the same sex; someone who has sex with the same gender; someone attracted to the same sex/gender; someone who is only attracted to the same sex/gender; other variations
White: Light-skinned; light-skinned but not hispanic; anyone who has white “blood”; not-Black; Europeans and their descendants
(Note) This is off the cuff. The specifics are just there to illustrate the point. If I need to change them let me know.
“Atheist” and “theist” are terms somewhat similar to “homosexual.” People who are atheists or theists or homosexuals (or white or any other label people give themselves) use it to mean a specific thing but the next person using that label may not agree. Their social definitions are more community based than belief based. “Homosexual” really means “I associate/identify with other people labeled homosexual.” Nothing gets everyone with a particular label riled up faster than asking them to define who is or is not part of the club.
Someone somewhere came up with a term that seemed fairly obvious but once it turned into a label any accuracy went out the window.
More specifics with the examples I used above:
Atheist: Not believing that God exists or believing that God does not exist? Or just not knowing?
Theist: Believing God exists; believing a god exists; this is less tricky but it begins to get weird when including things like Maoism or panantheism
Homosexual: Someone who has sex with the same sex; someone who has sex with the same gender; someone attracted to the same sex/gender; someone who is only attracted to the same sex/gender; other variations
White: Light-skinned; light-skinned but not hispanic; anyone who has white “blood”; not-Black; Europeans and their descendants
(Note) This is off the cuff. The specifics are just there to illustrate the point. If I need to change them let me know.