What's an atheist (for those who're still off the mark)

[Marcel]

Often people refer to atheists as people who believe there is no god, rather that 'don't believe there is a god'. Getting down to the nitty gritty distinguishing between the two may seem awfully nitpicky, but the first definition does imply an outlook on the world that signifcantly differs from the one that goes with the other definition. And misconceptions don't make for good communication, so here goes...

"Believing there is no god", as far as defining atheism goes, is close to the mark. But atheists don't have God on their mind the way theists do, so they don't look at the world seeing "the absence of God" in things (pompeedom lalala, hmm no god here, pompeedom tralala, hmmm nope no god here either... that's not how it works). So it's "don't believe there is a God" rather than "believe there's no god". The latter is a positive claim, the former isn't one but rather a lack of a positive claim.

The so-called "strong atheist" may positively assert that there couldn't possibly be such a thing as a god, but the so called "weak atheist" simply hasn't ever encountered anything that leads them to believe there is, or might be a god, but won't claim they never possibly could in the future.

The ones that do already think there might be a god are called agnostics. And the ones that do believe there is a god who created everything, but that he has been keeping to himself ever since are called deists.

 

[allieisme]

Thanks for clearing that up Marcel.. I for one didnt truly know what it was that athiests believed in..

 

[jayem]

I consider myself a naturalist, which is, the belief that everything in the universe can be explained as a result of matter and energy. That would necessarily make me an atheist, at least as regards any kind of supernatural deity. Now just like belief in a god, this isn't something that can be definitively proven at the present time. It does require a degree of faith. But that's the direction in which I think the available evidence points.

 

[Brimshack]

Oh come on Marcel!! Get to the good stuff. You know, about the secret meetings, the conspiracies, and the 38 point creed. Tell them about our initiation rights; everyone loves a good crime story!

 

[Secular Deist]

The ones that do already think there might be a god are called agnostics. And the ones that do believe there is a god who created everything, but that he has been keeping to himself ever since are called deists.

Not exactly. It's a bit more than that. You only stated the view written, most likely, in a dictionary. We, like atheists, are not at all as mainstream (society) depicts us. Not all of us, anyway. I really shouldn't speak for the rest of us...not all of our views are the same.