Thank you...I knew there was a name for my way of thinking...It's frustrating sometimes too because most of the terms are oversimplified in general conversation and if you go to wikipedia and enter Atheist...you'll find all different sorts of Atheism. It's the same for Democracy...There are tons of variations, mutations and synergisms with other forms of government...

Interestingly enough, I've never known the term pantheism and didn't really care but it's easy for me to tell people now I guess...

But still my question about respect has not been answered...What is the atheist response for respect? Isn't it a bit disrespectful to dismiss the very energy we come from as having no meaning whatsoever? Afterall, you were born out of the energy and exist because of the energy(or nature or god whatever you want to call it)...It is because of this I feel in atheism there is certain lack of respect happening...but then again, I could be oversimplifying the Atheist perspective.

Ryan

I specifically wrote in my previous post that I don't worship the energy...I *Respect* it and acknowledge that it's more powerful than I am.  How can you deny that there is a energy to nature, the world, the universe? It's the energy of space and the planets and the cosmos...It's what makes the Earth revolve around the sun...the grass grow...new life created...you deny this energy?

R 

I would suggest you take a look at Taoism from a philosophical perspective if youre having a hard time defining your beliefs.  Taoists believe in the Tao, or 'Way'.  Its a very naturalistic view of existence, based a lot on polar opposites that exist in our universe, light/dark, good/evil, fast/slow, etc.  It made a lot of sense to me in my post-Christian days.  Tao Te Ching is a very quick read, though it can be a bit non-sensical with its 'action through non-action' mentality.

Who gave kansaiyaccha the theist title? Pantheism is anything but a form of classical theism. The cornerstone of pantheism is naturalism. Men whom we hold in highest esteem like Dr. Carl Sagan are (or in his case, was) pantheist. I myself lean towards it. When someone asked me what I thought God was, the first thing I replied was "a metaphor for the universe".

I'll talk to the mods about taking the label off. Sorry dude. 

I'll address this, because it seems like no one else has. Atheism is the lack of theism, and since your religion as you've stated is not theism, then we have no issue with it. I'd only take issue with the use of the word 'god'.

To me, the term 'god' is entirely inappropriate to grant to energy, because the term carries so much of the traditional baggage that theism has attached to it. It seems very much like running around with this nametag labelled "Hi, my name is GOD ", and slapping it on the first thing you can. At some point, you have to throw out ideas that are old, outdated, and wrong, and come up with new ones that make better sense and will avoid confusion.

For an example of why reusing the word 'god' is confusing, just look at your original post. You define 'god' in a fairly unusual way, and then assume that since atheists don't believe in 'god', they must not believe in the thing which you have defined god to be: energy. Clearly, this is not the case. Furthermore, you seem to be borrowing the idea from theism that 'god' demands respect, which makes no sense if god is just energy. God can only demand respect if it is intelligent. There's no evidence that energy is even capable of caring about anything; It just follows rules. So I don't see why it matters if energy has anyones respect.

Rex: 

Thank you for responding: I was starting to worry that I'd still not come any closer to understanding the Atheist perspective.

The problem as I see it is language(which I mentioned in the first few posts) and the commonly held definition of GOD.  I never believed any the common definition of GOD as Judeo-Christian religions describe and because of this I considered myself an Atheist for a long time...But I later found that I don't have much cognitive dissonance in using the term GOD...regardless of the predictable confusion it might cause and it's inherent 'baggage' as you describe.   I've always enjoyed the having to explain how assumptions and language affect us to people who think since i say i believe in GOD, I'm a Christian.   Oh, how wrong they are! I'll admit I don't really like the word because of it's ambiguousness and inherent bias...But to clarify...

 My working concept of "god" is that it is a general term that I use to decribe the non-intelligent, non-conscious random and chaotic energy, power, life force of the universe from which I was born.  

So my point is, an atheist rejects the idea of a *conscious, intelligent designer* often called GOD but they don't reject my above concept.  

So, how can anyone NOT have a respect for the power and impressiveness of the universe? How can anyone not respect that from which you came?  Notice that I write respect because that is all it is...an acknowledging and respecting...It seems arrogant to completely disregard this "Ki of the universe" no?  

I can understand using the term to provoke discussion.

I wouldn't really dispute much of that, except the terms 'god' and 'life force', and only because they are easily misunderstood. I think we basically have similar beliefs.

I just don't use that word for it. I acknowledge energy as a fundmental part of the natural world. But I don't think we are disagreeing, just expressing things differently.

I know this was directed at Jacob Cordingley, but I thought I'd mention that I have studied Japanese. To say that I speak it would be an exaggeration, but I understand some of it and speak a little of it.