Definition of Atheist

[CoolBug]

First line of wikipedia:

Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities.

There are of course 2 kinds: Moderate is the lack of a belief.
Strong Atheists assert that "at least one deity exists" is a false statement.

Since agnosticism is very similar to atheism, the 2 categories are often grouped. Since agnostics lack a belief, they are technically atheist.

Are you Atheist? Which type are you?
Also, are you naturally skeptical? I have this silly idea that most atheists would be skeptical in all aspects of their life.

I'm the apatheistic type where I don't care about the question of the existence of deities and live my life not worrying about the question. Or other metaphysical entities, I'm sure we all know a few, chubacabra, lizard people, ghosts.

[KalMaverick]

I always thought of it as this:

Atheist: Not believing there is a god or gods

Agnostic: Believing it is impossible to know if god/s do or don't exist.

Quite simply this picture sums up my feelings



So whenever someone replies to the question of what religion they are and they say 'Agnostic' I'm like

[cpu.]

How can someone be certain that no gods exist. That's almost like being religious. A statement based on assumption.

[Lycanthrope]

How can someone be certain that no gods exist. That's almost like being religious. A statement based on assumption.

It's as easy as being certain that no unicorns or tooth fairies exist.

I don't get why that's difficult for some folks to understand.

You know that there is no such thing as Santa Claus; you know that there is no such thing as unicorns or fairies and you will know it until proven otherwise. You know it because you've learnt the origins of those stories and you lose all doubt that they're fictitious.

The only statements based on assumptions are ones based on possibility. Possibility is an assumption. The lack of belief is not denial, it's simply dismissal.

[Hamster]

How can someone be certain that no gods exist. That's almost like being religious. A statement based on assumption.

Atheists, as far as I can tell, do not believe that anything can exist if it can't or hasn't been proven. They want hard facts and calculations. So when we Christians come and say stuff like there is a God in heaven who created Earth and everything on it they ask for proof. And this is where the problem arises. They want us to prove Something supernatural in a natural way which completely defeats the purpose of faith (and who are we to challenge God and ask him to prove Himself to us?).

And then you get the creationists and fanatics (who are easy prey) posting stuff that atheists find easy to pick apart. Then they blame wars, the fact that cancer is still around and school shootings on all of us and the way we think.

And you cannot really blame them for thinking that most of the time. Why should they believe what we believe? If someone doesn't want to accept that their is a higher power you won't convince him. And just like we have fanatics, so do they. They are rude, insulting and have no respect. They do not grasp the concept of insulting our religion and God is the same as insulting our mothers and fathers. Posting stupid comic strips depicting Jesus planning to take revenge on us for killing Him. They think it's funny, but it infuriates and hurts.

And unfortunately, a post like yours is going to awaken these "fanatics" of theirs which will lead to the same argument we've had a million times before. I just wish people will keep religion away from forums like these.

[copacetic]

Oh crap, here we go again....

There are probably hundreds of threads arguing about this topic, I can't deal with another one...

[buyeye]

Oh crap, here we go again....

There are probably hundreds of threads arguing about this topic, I can't deal with another one...

Well I don't mind as I missed those discussions when I was still a gamer , it's amazing how much you miss while busy doing( I'm not sure what I was doing)

[copacetic]

Well I don't mind as I missed those discussions when I was still a gamer , it's amazing how much you miss while busy doing( I'm not sure what I was doing)

If I can find it, there's a thread in here somewhere, I swear it's like a thousand or two posts long, mostly about this definition.

Madness.

[buyeye]

If I can find it, there's a thread in here somewhere, I swear it's like a thousand or two posts long, mostly about this definition.

Madness.

This one is slow , I hope you weren't offended in the penguins thread.

[CoolBug]

There is evidently some confusion over the definition.

It is also interesting to what kinds of atheists some of you guys are.

That picture with the square and 4 quarters I think is a bit misleading, Agnostic only has 1 definition afaik, the definition is:

It is impossible to know, I cannot know and neither can you.

[Ekstasis]

this is rediculous

[Spizz]

this is rediculous

Welcome to my world.

[copacetic]

There is evidently some confusion over the definition.

It is also interesting to what kinds of atheists some of you guys are.

That picture with the square and 4 quarters I think is a bit misleading, Agnostic only has 1 definition afaik, the definition is, I don't know and neither do you or it is impossible to know.

My personal take is something like the following.

I am an agnostic atheist when it comes to some general conception of god - I cannot know, but I lack belief.

I am a gnostic atheist when it comes to the vast majority (if not all) man made gods, as they are logically incoherent and clearly manufactured.

There's a lot of arguments about what the word atheism means, and there are differing definitions which are mutually exclusive to some degree, hence, I think just saying 'I'm an atheist' is not enough - You need to clarify what you mean if you are going to call yourself one.

More importantly perhaps, why the need for the word, strictly? We don't define ourselves by the other stuff we don't believe...

[Unhappy438]

this is rediculous

I know ledicrous isn't it

[Spizz]

My personal take is something like the following.

I am an agnostic atheist when it comes to some general conception of god - I cannot know, but I lack belief.

I am a gnostic atheist when it comes to the vast majority (if not all) man made gods, as they are logically incoherent and clearly manufactured.

There's a lot of arguments about what the word atheism means, and there are differing definitions which are mutually exclusive to some degree, hence, I think just saying 'I'm an atheist' is not enough - You need to clarify what you mean if you are going to call yourself one.

More importantly perhaps, why the need for the word, strictly? We don't define ourselves by the other stuff we don't believe...

You've covered all of the bases there Copa. I'd rather just laugh at their illogical, indoctrinated arses.