>Nick on Brithini:
> > They aren't denying that otherworldly phenomena exist, or that they
> > appear to give power to practitioners of bizarre foreign rites. They
> > simply treat this as irrelevant to themselves. They worship no gods.
> > That makes them atheists.
>Deists surely, like strict Brahmanists or some Enlightenment philosophers?
Deism is the notion that God can be rationally knowable. Despite its association with enlightenment philosophers, a deist can go to church every week and consider himself a Christian (or Jew or what-have-you), although he would deny mysteries or special revelation.
Atheism has two definitions: one strong and one weak.
The strong definition is that there is no god, full stop.
The weak definition is that of being a non-worshipper. A weak atheist can admit the existence of God or Gods (as the Epicureans did) but say it is not necessary to worship them or he can say the question of whether God exists is unknowable (the definition of agnosticism FWIW).
The Brithini are atheists according to the weak definition.
Here ends the philosophy lesson.
--Peter Metcalfe
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