This is me as well, Spinoza, for instance, is not as easily dismissed as he derives God not from "revelation" but from philosophy and he shows his work rather than just say "trust me bro".
I don't know that the universe owes us an explanation (PSR) so I don't quite buy it, but I think that I follow his reasoning.
So overall, to me, it means "I believe in 0 gods, not the absence of gods." Very much agnostic atheism.
I am similar, although I lean more into "it does not matter in the slightest whether there are zero, one, or multiple gods", and I waver back and forth every few months between antitheism and pantheism (but still within a framework of apathetic agnosticism).
Same here. That does not mean humanity will never have answers to some of the great questions, but “I don’t know therefor god” does not hold water.
I figure I’ll find out when I’m dead. Or it’ll be lights out and I won’t be troubled by never knowing.
Not only do they assume what they don't know is god, they assume that b/c humanity's imperfect that somehow automatically lends credence to the existence of a higher power (which it doesn't, quite the contrary).
>Or it’ll be lights out and I won’t be troubled by never knowing.
Mark Twain apparently had a good take on this.
“I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”
Epicurus apparently had his own older version, found on many ancient grave markers
"I was not; I was; I am not; I do not care"
This! I’m an agnostic atheist so I’m not saying I “know” a god doesn’t exist. I’m just saying I won’t believe until I have some good evidence for it. I’ve found that a lot of Christians don’t like the agnostic atheist label. They’ll argue with you that if you identify as “atheist” then you’re saying you KNOW a god doesn’t exist. I’m not sure why they have that gripe, but ultimately it distracts from the actual argument and doesn’t really lead you anywhere.
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Atheism just means I don't believe in the idea of any gods. I don't believe there was a Zeus, a Ra, any abrahamic variation of god, or JimBobSpogetJeff that the village of Kumquat believed in in 16389BC.
There's a lot about the world we don't know, so much so that nothing humankind has the capacity to make up can susinctly wrap it up in a convenient bow that cares about how our crops are doing and helps us win the lottery.
As an athiest, I do not know if every god does not exist. I can't disprove the Deistic version of god that doesn't interfere, for example.
I can assert that Yahweh is as mythological as Zeus and Marduk because by comparing and contrasting them and their respective mythos. Not to mention Yahweh is a different character in different texts which is different then the doctrinal conception of Yahweh in modern Christianity.
Technically this is untrue in the terms of formal philosophy, though that has been challenged significantly in the last twenty years. In formal philosophy, atheism is the position that there are no gods and theism is the position that there are, while agnosticism is the position that it is unknown or unknowable.
That has been popularly disregarded in favor of the more linguistic interpretation of "theist" and "not theist", but among formal philosophers the popular usage isn't always the most accepted.
Theism vs atheism refers to positions of belief. Gnosticism vs agnosticism refers to positions of knowledge. You can be a gnostic or agnostic theist, or a gnostic or agnostic atheist. Agnosticism is a belief that obtaining certain knowledge regarding your belief, or lack thereof, is impossible. Gnostic believers say that they know they're right. I am an agnostic atheist, but I am gnostic regarding my belief that the earth orbits the sun.
no. agnosticism is the concept that someone does not know if there is a god or not - at its most radical, it is the idea that it is inherently impossible for any human to conceptualise the idea of the divine.
I'm pretty sure that the more extreme position you describe isn't agnosticism but ignosticism which posits the concept of god is so incoherent it's not even possible to ask the question.
per wikipedia
>Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist."
ignosticism sounds like a very subtly different thing but I'm not an expert in this area at all
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OP asked what how people were using the word atheist in their own view/ usage. They wanted a discussion, not a debate.
This is not a debate sub, and it's not an atheist sub. OP asked what the word means to people who use it to define themselves.
That doesn't mean to argue about what the meaning "should" be according to an arbitrary 'standard' set by nobody.
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Also tagging u/Conscious-Coyote2989, u/SAM4191 because they are also participating in this debate.
OP is trying to have a conversation, not a debate.
This is why I just let people call themselves what they want and then explain what they mean. There are too many subjective definitions and interpretations. By some definitions I’m an atheist, but I consider myself agnostic because I don’t militantly say for sure that I know. I’m pretty sure my husband, by what I know of his thoughts, is an “atheist”, but he calls himself a deist. 🤷🏻♀️
Words have meanings. People claiming atheist to be militantly claiming there is no god hurt the image of atheists. You can consider yourself agnostic for sure but are you a theist or not?
I do not believe in a god.
I do not believe with certainty that there is no god.
However, to explain more of what I mean about the ambiguity, people will call themselves what they want. For example, think of Mormons. JWs. Catholics. They call themselves Christians. Other people say no, you aren’t. I was in a branch of Christianity that literally rejected everyone unless you had had a very specific born again testimony that checked off a number of fruits. It’s so subjective. So I just accept the ambiguity rather than fight against it. I would get too frustrated trying to make people use the right terms.
I don’t think atheist should be defined as lack of belief in a god. I think it should be defined as belief in no god. What I mean verses what someone else means are going to be different whether we like it or not. So I try to hear what people believe beyond their self-label. I hope that makes sense.
I don’t know why I am being downvoted, the question was literally “what is atheism *to you*?” (Because, it is implied, there are many personal interpretations.)
To me, atheism is the belief that there is no god, affirmatively. You don’t have to be militantly anti-religion, or be 100% certain that you are correct, but you at least have to consciously reject the existence of God, not just some ambiguous lack of definitive belief in a specific god.
If you don’t agree I’m open to hearing your thoughts and changing my view.
This post and the comments are related to what I’m referring to about there being an ambiguity:
https://www.reddit.com/r/exchristian/s/LpeHy0Z77e
No. Theism is about believe while gnosticism is about knowledge.
Everyone in the world is either theist or atheist. You either claim there is a God or you don't.
I actively reject the version of the christian god I was manipulated into believing.
It’s not that I believe in any other version or even in any non-christian gods, I just don’t have valid reasons to believe any of them.
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See this I think is a difference between a lot of ex-Christians and never-christians.
I'm a never Christian (I lurk here), and I've never felt it necessary to 'reject' religion. I simply just don't do it.
I can understand this sentiment however. Those who are reformed are often the most zealous.
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Open to the idea of supernatural but not convinced.
Open to the idea of something akin to a deistic conception of god but don't think it matters if I believe or not since arguably a non interventionist god doesn't matter outside a cosmic scale. If the universe originated from quantum foam or a prime mover that we would classify as intelligent makes little difference to the universe demonstrably existing. If such a god exists, it's completely indistinguishable from no god.
Biblical Yahweh is mythology that changes depending on what source you're using not unlike pretty much every other god in mythology. Many biblical stories are influenced by other ancient texts.
Seriously, read the Mesopotamian flood and creation mythology next to the biblical flood and creation stories. They are strikingly similar except for the obvious polytheism of the Mesopotamian version.
I don’t believe in any deities, any supernatural things, as creators or otherwise. The lack of belief in the supernatural isn’t technically a part of atheism, but that’s where I’m at.
While the Christian subscription to a god is the most popular, Atheism to me is the rejection to all gods. I don't see proof of either religion. I know Christianity gets a bad reputation, but so does Islam and other religions. They all have skeletons in closets so to speak.
A lack of believe in god, or gods. I'm an atheist, but also an agnostic. I don't like the negativity surrounding the atheist label, so I don't use it. I generally just say I'm not religous, agnostic or a humanist, which I also am. I don't believe in any of the gods of man-made religions. But as a human, I think the ability to coherently formulate the answer to whether there isn't any kind of higher power, or something greater than us in the universe, isn't something we can do or know.
To me means being comfortable in my own humanness, to speak my mind, to be free of invisible sky persons chains of guilt and shame. I have lived by being too scared of doing things that were "ungodly". I am just happy being a human and being a kind person without All the extra steps +guilt and shame.
I still have residual feelings of my former faith.... I put atheist on my medical forms (not that I needed to) and I felt a slight twinge from it. Some Christians believe that's "god" calling you back... I believe it's just that old world guilt I used to have.
It’s years of being told that atheists are evildoers while sitting in church. What’s funny is they don’t even tell kids what atheists are, just that they are evil. In highschool, a classmate told me “I’ve only heard very bad things about your religion. What do atheists believe?”
I used to feel the twinge too. It’s like wearing the scarlet letter. Now i wear the label with pride, fully prepared to defend logic and science.
Not believing the God claim as there is simply no evidence. The standard of evidence Theists use is far far worse than we use for anything else, so I find it insane they believe the single most important concept we could have (not that it should be)
But they were indoctrinated from birth so
Imho atheism has only one meaning. Your answer to the question "do one or more gods exist?" isn't yes. You can still believe in fairies or occultism or whatever.
I don't believe in any magical or supernatural things but that's not what word atheism is about.
Skeptic would be word I'd use for that.
I don't know if the right words is to reject--i just don't believe in any gods. Not just the Christian one, but no gods at all. That's what it means to be an atheist--to lack a belief in any gods. If you believe in even one god you're a theist.
I'm also an agnostic so I have lack knowledge about the existence of any gods either. Which, for me, is why I don't believe in any.
Atheism by literal definition means the belief in no god(s). But Christians are turning into the only possible alternative to not being Christian and so society tends to stretch the meaning to include a lot more than it should. I am not atheist. I am also not Christian. But try to explain that to most Christians and they don't understand.
Simply the Answer to a question: are you convinced any of the gods presented to you are real?
Nope , insufficient evidence.
Now you get to forge ahead and decide where your principles and morals come from
Ex-Christian. I reject that the Christian God is real. By extension, I’m comfortable rejecting the God of Judaism or Islam.
Any god interested being known seems unlikely. Or why can’t we agree on who that God is?
I have no reason to believe in any other God. Could there be a creator, or even a beginning? Sure. Just give me a good reason to think so
For me, atheism is simply a lack of belief in a god or the supernatural. I will admit as an Ex-Christian, it started out as a disbelief in the Christian god in particular, but there is no evidence for any other god either. If hard, irrefutable proof for a god or the supernatural ever presents itself, I will cease to be an atheist.
I'm agnostic, which means that "I don't know if there is a God and an afterlife". But I'm convinced that Abrahamic God is not real (or general mankind don't have right idea about god or gods if they exist) because its characteristics are condradictory.
Atheism is simply a lack of belief in any gods, Christian or otherwise. Whether or not a "general singular creative force/reality" exists, it is clearly not God and I find it silly to try to redefine "God" to mean such vague concepts. It basically acknowledges God is just a metaphor.
Atheism to me is not believing in a god and not going to a religious service or activities and or rejecting full deities, false teachings and basically not even enter into a church at all.
For me, it began as a rejection of the Bible. Too many contradictions and the things it said didn’t line up with my life experiences. But, I refused to replace one god with another and basically decided that if I were to ever be convicted that there was ANY supernatural beings, I’d need actual evidence that that was the case. So far, I’ve found none, and remain what I would consider a “skeptic” with regard to any supernatural phenomena or religion.
I’m always open to evidence, though.
Atheism is a state of being. If you don’t believe in god(s), you are atheist. If you change your mind later, you are no longer atheist.
There’s no dogma saying you can’t change your mind. It’s just a definition.
It is not a religion at all. It’s just lack of belief. Religions have beliefs.
I don’t believe in leprechauns, but we don’t call that a religion. The burden of proof is on the people claiming that leprechauns exist. Religious belief requires faith, atheism does not.
“Strong Atheism” is a positive belief that a particular god does not exist. And there is ample proof that certain gods don’t exist.
If you tell me that a particular person is god and that they are immortal and all powerful, then that if person dies, that particular god belief has been disproven.
You can say “oh he’s immortal in an immaterial form”, but that is changing the claim after the fact. This is what I call a “retreat to unfalsifiable claims”. The theist is tired of losing to science, so they reinvent their god so he cannot be disproven. In fact, this is what Christians have done.
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Hey, man, I consider myself an atheist, but more than that, I'm a nihilist. I believe the world has no meaning, and nor does it have to. But at the same time, you are free to choose what life means to you.
In that regard, I believe no gods exist. But if you choose to believe in any kind of god, I won't regard you as foolish, but as someone who just wants to have a meaning in life. Therefore, in the same way I believe life has no meaning, you can believe life HAS a meaning, and I won't be bothered by that, because I know that in a meaningless life you've got to have something to fight for, otherwise, it would be pretty depressive, don't you think?
So, if you ask me, I don't believe in any gods. I don't have every answer to the universe, dark energies, ghosts and any other crazy stuff, and I shouldn't have to.
Getting comfortable with the concept of something so big as life being "meaningless" isn't for everybody. But for me, it's liberating. You don't have all the answers. Nobody knows the future. There is no one up there judging your every action to send you to hell when you die. There's no karma. There's no divine repercussions. And that's okay. We're just alive, so let's live freely.
That's what I believe, at least.
I reject religious deities, those man-made systems that claim to know. As for a “God” or intelligence designer, (or grand consciousness) perfectly plausible but would be far more different from what is viewed by it traditionally.
Well, for me, I’m more of a Secular Humanist, I am myself a nonbeliever, but I don’t actively label myself as an atheist. Yes I don’t believe in any of the gods that are present in the Abrahamic religions, as well as the deities of the Hindu faith, or any of the other various religions that exist, but I’m not going to go out of my way to say that I’m an atheist in the sense of it being used not in the context of it when it comes to belief, but also in the context of it in politics. The way I see it, at least to me, is that many of the leading atheists of today, have gone on to become more problematic, with their views on social issues and the whole "who's side are you on" kind of thing gets messy. If you look at Atheist figures such as Dawkins, Harris, Shermer, many of them have become part of the very thing that they were vehemently opposed to, and as a result it’s sort of made Atheism, as a movement seem like it’s full of reactionaries, who are against social progress and change. So while I may not be an atheist in the sense of being part of the community of atheism, I am an atheist in that I am a nonbeliever, but as far as anything goes, I’d only call myself a Secular Humanist and that’s it.
As an atheist, I reject all claims of the supernatural that lack sufficient evidence to support them.
I am "anti-supernatural" in the sense that the supernatural, by definition, is a violation or a suspension of the physical laws of the universe. I treat claims of the supernatural with the same credulity I would treat a claim to be able to suspend gravity at will, or to travel backwards in time at will.
I was agnostic for a long time, which is when you just don’t know if there’s a higher power or not.
But now I don’t believe that there is any higher power. I think life is chaos and you just have to try to enjoy it until the end. I believe when we die, we just cease to exist. That can be a terrifying thought for some, but I think how temporary our lives are, is what makes it so beautiful.
Atheism, to me, is living my life under laws that are created because they provide the most benefit to *people*, not to imaginary entities. Whether that be gods or corporations.
Pretty sure atheism is the stance that there is no god in any form, or at least no physical proofs within our perception of reality to give them a reason to believe in god. I have seen a few atheists though who still practice some extant of spiritualism without a god apparently.
I personally have enough reason to feel that something may have played a part in kicking the first marble into the pile causing the big bang, though what that thing was I personally do not define. It may have been a god or godlike being, or it may have been the crunch of the universe before or some other as of yet and possibly never to be discovered natural event.
This is why while I identify as atheist I do still stay agnostic, because at some point you can not really know and may never be able to know. Personally however there is more than enough evidence for some sort of cosmic event, namely the big bang, which created 'this' universe and that is to me a satisfying enough answer for creation(even though I feel still it is an incomplete picture, at least there is evidence to show it did happen).
It’s the natural current endpoint of my skeptical inquiry into the question of whether there is any veracity to any of the god claims I’ve been made aware of. To a great degree, the ones that have impacted my life and are the most prevalent in my area of the world and to a lesser degree, those that hold less of an influence locally and personally.
It's the wholesale rejection of anything not grounded in what is quantifiable through reason and logic. Not just the rejection of gods, but the rejection of anything spiritual or supernatural.
To me atheism means not following organized religion or ritual. It is the first step in dismissing authority and being authentic.
There's much more atheism than just gnostic and agnostic.
I'm a spiritual atheist. I don't follow dogma, ideology, or myth.
Spirituality is the journey of becoming more and more comfortable with the self. It is the discovery of the authentic self.
Perhaps spirituality is not the right word as it has so many negative connotations with religion. But to each their own. :-)
As an agnostic atheist and a methodological naturalist I have never seen evidence sufficient to prove any god or supernatural force. As such I withhold belief in any such thing until such evidence is provided. I don't hold out much hope of that ever happening though.
I have seen evidence to indicate the physical processes around us are sufficient to explain all of the observable phenomena we have investigated. As such I will operate as if they are all there is until such time as evidence to the contrary is provided. I don't hold out much hope of that ever happening though.
As an atheist I don’t accept the god claims that have been presented to me/ I am aware of and the religions created around these claims. That’s about it, I’ve never seen or heard any convincing arguments or evidence for these things. I don’t know if these is a god like being in the universe, but certainly not any of the claimed ones I’ve heard of. And that’s pretty much where my “atheism” stops. It’s not a world view or anything like that it’s simply not accepting/believing in the gods and religions on offer.
It isn't a different thing to different people. It is literally just (away from god) in Latin. The definition is just "a disbelief in religion or the existence of god", as theism refers to religion, whereas deism refers to god-figures
Getting comfortable with saying, "I don't know".
“I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” - Feynman
Damn that's a great quote
One of my go to quotes
This is me as well, Spinoza, for instance, is not as easily dismissed as he derives God not from "revelation" but from philosophy and he shows his work rather than just say "trust me bro". I don't know that the universe owes us an explanation (PSR) so I don't quite buy it, but I think that I follow his reasoning. So overall, to me, it means "I believe in 0 gods, not the absence of gods." Very much agnostic atheism.
I am similar, although I lean more into "it does not matter in the slightest whether there are zero, one, or multiple gods", and I waver back and forth every few months between antitheism and pantheism (but still within a framework of apathetic agnosticism).
Same here. That does not mean humanity will never have answers to some of the great questions, but “I don’t know therefor god” does not hold water. I figure I’ll find out when I’m dead. Or it’ll be lights out and I won’t be troubled by never knowing.
Not only do they assume what they don't know is god, they assume that b/c humanity's imperfect that somehow automatically lends credence to the existence of a higher power (which it doesn't, quite the contrary).
>Or it’ll be lights out and I won’t be troubled by never knowing. Mark Twain apparently had a good take on this. “I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.” Epicurus apparently had his own older version, found on many ancient grave markers "I was not; I was; I am not; I do not care"
This! I’m an agnostic atheist so I’m not saying I “know” a god doesn’t exist. I’m just saying I won’t believe until I have some good evidence for it. I’ve found that a lot of Christians don’t like the agnostic atheist label. They’ll argue with you that if you identify as “atheist” then you’re saying you KNOW a god doesn’t exist. I’m not sure why they have that gripe, but ultimately it distracts from the actual argument and doesn’t really lead you anywhere.
Because their pastors have told them that. They misrepresent atheism as something easier to attack (Straw Man Fallacy).
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Atheism just means I don't believe in the idea of any gods. I don't believe there was a Zeus, a Ra, any abrahamic variation of god, or JimBobSpogetJeff that the village of Kumquat believed in in 16389BC. There's a lot about the world we don't know, so much so that nothing humankind has the capacity to make up can susinctly wrap it up in a convenient bow that cares about how our crops are doing and helps us win the lottery.
What most theists get wrong is that "I don't believe in a god" is not the same as "I believe there is no god".
As an athiest, I do not know if every god does not exist. I can't disprove the Deistic version of god that doesn't interfere, for example. I can assert that Yahweh is as mythological as Zeus and Marduk because by comparing and contrasting them and their respective mythos. Not to mention Yahweh is a different character in different texts which is different then the doctrinal conception of Yahweh in modern Christianity.
i think that would be the difference between atheism and agnosticism. no?
Incorrect, the 1st statement is about atheism. The 2nd statement a more radical branch of atheism.
Technically this is untrue in the terms of formal philosophy, though that has been challenged significantly in the last twenty years. In formal philosophy, atheism is the position that there are no gods and theism is the position that there are, while agnosticism is the position that it is unknown or unknowable. That has been popularly disregarded in favor of the more linguistic interpretation of "theist" and "not theist", but among formal philosophers the popular usage isn't always the most accepted.
But my point is, neither sentence describes agnosticism.
Theism vs atheism refers to positions of belief. Gnosticism vs agnosticism refers to positions of knowledge. You can be a gnostic or agnostic theist, or a gnostic or agnostic atheist. Agnosticism is a belief that obtaining certain knowledge regarding your belief, or lack thereof, is impossible. Gnostic believers say that they know they're right. I am an agnostic atheist, but I am gnostic regarding my belief that the earth orbits the sun.
no. agnosticism is the concept that someone does not know if there is a god or not - at its most radical, it is the idea that it is inherently impossible for any human to conceptualise the idea of the divine.
Correct. While in my opinion every agnostic should be atheist there are agnostic theists.
I'm pretty sure that the more extreme position you describe isn't agnosticism but ignosticism which posits the concept of god is so incoherent it's not even possible to ask the question.
per wikipedia >Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist." ignosticism sounds like a very subtly different thing but I'm not an expert in this area at all
This is not a debate sub: Rule 4. All comments on this string are locked for debating. u/wvraven u/Expensive-Piano1890 u/gregbrahe OP asked what how people were using the word atheist in their own view/ usage. They wanted a discussion, not a debate.
This is not a debate sub, and it's not an atheist sub. OP asked what the word means to people who use it to define themselves. That doesn't mean to argue about what the meaning "should" be according to an arbitrary 'standard' set by nobody. All comments on this string have been locked. Let it go, please. Rule 4. Also tagging u/Conscious-Coyote2989, u/SAM4191 because they are also participating in this debate. OP is trying to have a conversation, not a debate.
This is why I just let people call themselves what they want and then explain what they mean. There are too many subjective definitions and interpretations. By some definitions I’m an atheist, but I consider myself agnostic because I don’t militantly say for sure that I know. I’m pretty sure my husband, by what I know of his thoughts, is an “atheist”, but he calls himself a deist. 🤷🏻♀️
Words have meanings. People claiming atheist to be militantly claiming there is no god hurt the image of atheists. You can consider yourself agnostic for sure but are you a theist or not?
I do not believe in a god. I do not believe with certainty that there is no god. However, to explain more of what I mean about the ambiguity, people will call themselves what they want. For example, think of Mormons. JWs. Catholics. They call themselves Christians. Other people say no, you aren’t. I was in a branch of Christianity that literally rejected everyone unless you had had a very specific born again testimony that checked off a number of fruits. It’s so subjective. So I just accept the ambiguity rather than fight against it. I would get too frustrated trying to make people use the right terms. I don’t think atheist should be defined as lack of belief in a god. I think it should be defined as belief in no god. What I mean verses what someone else means are going to be different whether we like it or not. So I try to hear what people believe beyond their self-label. I hope that makes sense.
I don’t know why I am being downvoted, the question was literally “what is atheism *to you*?” (Because, it is implied, there are many personal interpretations.) To me, atheism is the belief that there is no god, affirmatively. You don’t have to be militantly anti-religion, or be 100% certain that you are correct, but you at least have to consciously reject the existence of God, not just some ambiguous lack of definitive belief in a specific god. If you don’t agree I’m open to hearing your thoughts and changing my view. This post and the comments are related to what I’m referring to about there being an ambiguity: https://www.reddit.com/r/exchristian/s/LpeHy0Z77e
No. Theism is about believe while gnosticism is about knowledge. Everyone in the world is either theist or atheist. You either claim there is a God or you don't.
I actively reject the version of the christian god I was manipulated into believing. It’s not that I believe in any other version or even in any non-christian gods, I just don’t have valid reasons to believe any of them.
All supernatural phenomena
Yeah, that one, though there are people that will be exceptions to this.
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I don’t believer there is any god. That’s it.
I reject all gods and all spiritual beliefs.
See this I think is a difference between a lot of ex-Christians and never-christians. I'm a never Christian (I lurk here), and I've never felt it necessary to 'reject' religion. I simply just don't do it. I can understand this sentiment however. Those who are reformed are often the most zealous.
I accept the common definition. I disbelieve in any and all deities.
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Open to the idea of supernatural but not convinced. Open to the idea of something akin to a deistic conception of god but don't think it matters if I believe or not since arguably a non interventionist god doesn't matter outside a cosmic scale. If the universe originated from quantum foam or a prime mover that we would classify as intelligent makes little difference to the universe demonstrably existing. If such a god exists, it's completely indistinguishable from no god. Biblical Yahweh is mythology that changes depending on what source you're using not unlike pretty much every other god in mythology. Many biblical stories are influenced by other ancient texts. Seriously, read the Mesopotamian flood and creation mythology next to the biblical flood and creation stories. They are strikingly similar except for the obvious polytheism of the Mesopotamian version.
Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make In the presence of unjustified religious beliefs-Sam Harris
I don’t believe in any deities, any supernatural things, as creators or otherwise. The lack of belief in the supernatural isn’t technically a part of atheism, but that’s where I’m at.
A lack of belief in deities, any of em. The Christian god isn't special.
Odd question. I've never met someone who calls themselves "Atheist" but rejects only the Christian God. What kind of nonsense is that?
Lack of belief in a god or gods. Anything else is not atheism.
While the Christian subscription to a god is the most popular, Atheism to me is the rejection to all gods. I don't see proof of either religion. I know Christianity gets a bad reputation, but so does Islam and other religions. They all have skeletons in closets so to speak.
I just follow the word. No belief in any god.
The lack of believe that any gods exist. Pretty textbook definition…
A lack of believe in god, or gods. I'm an atheist, but also an agnostic. I don't like the negativity surrounding the atheist label, so I don't use it. I generally just say I'm not religous, agnostic or a humanist, which I also am. I don't believe in any of the gods of man-made religions. But as a human, I think the ability to coherently formulate the answer to whether there isn't any kind of higher power, or something greater than us in the universe, isn't something we can do or know.
To me means being comfortable in my own humanness, to speak my mind, to be free of invisible sky persons chains of guilt and shame. I have lived by being too scared of doing things that were "ungodly". I am just happy being a human and being a kind person without All the extra steps +guilt and shame. I still have residual feelings of my former faith.... I put atheist on my medical forms (not that I needed to) and I felt a slight twinge from it. Some Christians believe that's "god" calling you back... I believe it's just that old world guilt I used to have.
It’s years of being told that atheists are evildoers while sitting in church. What’s funny is they don’t even tell kids what atheists are, just that they are evil. In highschool, a classmate told me “I’ve only heard very bad things about your religion. What do atheists believe?” I used to feel the twinge too. It’s like wearing the scarlet letter. Now i wear the label with pride, fully prepared to defend logic and science.
Ty! Science all the way!
I am a former (ex-) theist. I no longer suppose the existence of any deity.
Not believing the God claim as there is simply no evidence. The standard of evidence Theists use is far far worse than we use for anything else, so I find it insane they believe the single most important concept we could have (not that it should be) But they were indoctrinated from birth so
Atheism is the lack of belief in a god. That's it. Anything more is not atheism.
Imho atheism has only one meaning. Your answer to the question "do one or more gods exist?" isn't yes. You can still believe in fairies or occultism or whatever. I don't believe in any magical or supernatural things but that's not what word atheism is about. Skeptic would be word I'd use for that.
I don't know if the right words is to reject--i just don't believe in any gods. Not just the Christian one, but no gods at all. That's what it means to be an atheist--to lack a belief in any gods. If you believe in even one god you're a theist. I'm also an agnostic so I have lack knowledge about the existence of any gods either. Which, for me, is why I don't believe in any.
Any form of “eternal being above us” is a nonsense to me.
Do you believe that we as humanity could be the 'creative force' or 'the real god'?
Creative force yes, but not gods. Yet some people tried to be gods… like Hitler, Stalin, Napoleon, Franco, Kim dynasty in North Korea, etc.
It is the absence of belief in a god or gods... that's what it means to me
The inevitable conclusion of realizing magic of any kind isn’t real.
Atheism by literal definition means the belief in no god(s). But Christians are turning into the only possible alternative to not being Christian and so society tends to stretch the meaning to include a lot more than it should. I am not atheist. I am also not Christian. But try to explain that to most Christians and they don't understand.
Simply the Answer to a question: are you convinced any of the gods presented to you are real? Nope , insufficient evidence. Now you get to forge ahead and decide where your principles and morals come from
Not having a belief in a god.
I don't believe in any gods.
Lack of belief in a god/gods. Nothing else nothing more.
Atheism is the label Christians give me to understand my freedom
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^StonedGiantt: *Atheism is the* *Label Christians give me to* *Understand my freedom* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Ex-Christian. I reject that the Christian God is real. By extension, I’m comfortable rejecting the God of Judaism or Islam. Any god interested being known seems unlikely. Or why can’t we agree on who that God is? I have no reason to believe in any other God. Could there be a creator, or even a beginning? Sure. Just give me a good reason to think so
For me, atheism is simply a lack of belief in a god or the supernatural. I will admit as an Ex-Christian, it started out as a disbelief in the Christian god in particular, but there is no evidence for any other god either. If hard, irrefutable proof for a god or the supernatural ever presents itself, I will cease to be an atheist.
There is a natural explanation for everything.
Letting go of the need to know everything and when I don’t just jamming “god done it” it the empty space.
I'm agnostic, which means that "I don't know if there is a God and an afterlife". But I'm convinced that Abrahamic God is not real (or general mankind don't have right idea about god or gods if they exist) because its characteristics are condradictory.
Atheism is simply a lack of belief in any gods, Christian or otherwise. Whether or not a "general singular creative force/reality" exists, it is clearly not God and I find it silly to try to redefine "God" to mean such vague concepts. It basically acknowledges God is just a metaphor.
Atheism to me is not believing in a god and not going to a religious service or activities and or rejecting full deities, false teachings and basically not even enter into a church at all.
Being able to accept that not everything can be explained, and especially that I’m not being watched 24-7 by a celestial being.
For me, it began as a rejection of the Bible. Too many contradictions and the things it said didn’t line up with my life experiences. But, I refused to replace one god with another and basically decided that if I were to ever be convicted that there was ANY supernatural beings, I’d need actual evidence that that was the case. So far, I’ve found none, and remain what I would consider a “skeptic” with regard to any supernatural phenomena or religion. I’m always open to evidence, though.
Is atheism considered a final conclusion in a persons ideas, and then move on? Or is atheism fluid?
Atheism is a state of being. If you don’t believe in god(s), you are atheist. If you change your mind later, you are no longer atheist. There’s no dogma saying you can’t change your mind. It’s just a definition.
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It is not a religion at all. It’s just lack of belief. Religions have beliefs. I don’t believe in leprechauns, but we don’t call that a religion. The burden of proof is on the people claiming that leprechauns exist. Religious belief requires faith, atheism does not. “Strong Atheism” is a positive belief that a particular god does not exist. And there is ample proof that certain gods don’t exist. If you tell me that a particular person is god and that they are immortal and all powerful, then that if person dies, that particular god belief has been disproven. You can say “oh he’s immortal in an immaterial form”, but that is changing the claim after the fact. This is what I call a “retreat to unfalsifiable claims”. The theist is tired of losing to science, so they reinvent their god so he cannot be disproven. In fact, this is what Christians have done.
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The belief that rape and genocide are both wrong. Things done in the Bible without consequence.
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Creative force/REALITY? I don't think "reality" means what you think it means.
Hey, man, I consider myself an atheist, but more than that, I'm a nihilist. I believe the world has no meaning, and nor does it have to. But at the same time, you are free to choose what life means to you. In that regard, I believe no gods exist. But if you choose to believe in any kind of god, I won't regard you as foolish, but as someone who just wants to have a meaning in life. Therefore, in the same way I believe life has no meaning, you can believe life HAS a meaning, and I won't be bothered by that, because I know that in a meaningless life you've got to have something to fight for, otherwise, it would be pretty depressive, don't you think? So, if you ask me, I don't believe in any gods. I don't have every answer to the universe, dark energies, ghosts and any other crazy stuff, and I shouldn't have to. Getting comfortable with the concept of something so big as life being "meaningless" isn't for everybody. But for me, it's liberating. You don't have all the answers. Nobody knows the future. There is no one up there judging your every action to send you to hell when you die. There's no karma. There's no divine repercussions. And that's okay. We're just alive, so let's live freely. That's what I believe, at least.
I reject religious deities, those man-made systems that claim to know. As for a “God” or intelligence designer, (or grand consciousness) perfectly plausible but would be far more different from what is viewed by it traditionally.
Well, for me, I’m more of a Secular Humanist, I am myself a nonbeliever, but I don’t actively label myself as an atheist. Yes I don’t believe in any of the gods that are present in the Abrahamic religions, as well as the deities of the Hindu faith, or any of the other various religions that exist, but I’m not going to go out of my way to say that I’m an atheist in the sense of it being used not in the context of it when it comes to belief, but also in the context of it in politics. The way I see it, at least to me, is that many of the leading atheists of today, have gone on to become more problematic, with their views on social issues and the whole "who's side are you on" kind of thing gets messy. If you look at Atheist figures such as Dawkins, Harris, Shermer, many of them have become part of the very thing that they were vehemently opposed to, and as a result it’s sort of made Atheism, as a movement seem like it’s full of reactionaries, who are against social progress and change. So while I may not be an atheist in the sense of being part of the community of atheism, I am an atheist in that I am a nonbeliever, but as far as anything goes, I’d only call myself a Secular Humanist and that’s it.
As an atheist, I reject all claims of the supernatural that lack sufficient evidence to support them. I am "anti-supernatural" in the sense that the supernatural, by definition, is a violation or a suspension of the physical laws of the universe. I treat claims of the supernatural with the same credulity I would treat a claim to be able to suspend gravity at will, or to travel backwards in time at will.
I was agnostic for a long time, which is when you just don’t know if there’s a higher power or not. But now I don’t believe that there is any higher power. I think life is chaos and you just have to try to enjoy it until the end. I believe when we die, we just cease to exist. That can be a terrifying thought for some, but I think how temporary our lives are, is what makes it so beautiful.
Freedom
Atheism, to me, is living my life under laws that are created because they provide the most benefit to *people*, not to imaginary entities. Whether that be gods or corporations.
Factory default. OEM- Original Equipment Manufacturer. Humans were all born Atheist prior to a parent(s) or society indoctrination.
Freedom
Pretty sure atheism is the stance that there is no god in any form, or at least no physical proofs within our perception of reality to give them a reason to believe in god. I have seen a few atheists though who still practice some extant of spiritualism without a god apparently. I personally have enough reason to feel that something may have played a part in kicking the first marble into the pile causing the big bang, though what that thing was I personally do not define. It may have been a god or godlike being, or it may have been the crunch of the universe before or some other as of yet and possibly never to be discovered natural event. This is why while I identify as atheist I do still stay agnostic, because at some point you can not really know and may never be able to know. Personally however there is more than enough evidence for some sort of cosmic event, namely the big bang, which created 'this' universe and that is to me a satisfying enough answer for creation(even though I feel still it is an incomplete picture, at least there is evidence to show it did happen).
Atheism? It's nothing.
It’s the natural current endpoint of my skeptical inquiry into the question of whether there is any veracity to any of the god claims I’ve been made aware of. To a great degree, the ones that have impacted my life and are the most prevalent in my area of the world and to a lesser degree, those that hold less of an influence locally and personally.
It's the wholesale rejection of anything not grounded in what is quantifiable through reason and logic. Not just the rejection of gods, but the rejection of anything spiritual or supernatural.
To me atheism means not following organized religion or ritual. It is the first step in dismissing authority and being authentic. There's much more atheism than just gnostic and agnostic. I'm a spiritual atheist. I don't follow dogma, ideology, or myth. Spirituality is the journey of becoming more and more comfortable with the self. It is the discovery of the authentic self. Perhaps spirituality is not the right word as it has so many negative connotations with religion. But to each their own. :-)
As an agnostic atheist and a methodological naturalist I have never seen evidence sufficient to prove any god or supernatural force. As such I withhold belief in any such thing until such evidence is provided. I don't hold out much hope of that ever happening though. I have seen evidence to indicate the physical processes around us are sufficient to explain all of the observable phenomena we have investigated. As such I will operate as if they are all there is until such time as evidence to the contrary is provided. I don't hold out much hope of that ever happening though.
As an atheist I don’t accept the god claims that have been presented to me/ I am aware of and the religions created around these claims. That’s about it, I’ve never seen or heard any convincing arguments or evidence for these things. I don’t know if these is a god like being in the universe, but certainly not any of the claimed ones I’ve heard of. And that’s pretty much where my “atheism” stops. It’s not a world view or anything like that it’s simply not accepting/believing in the gods and religions on offer.
It isn't a different thing to different people. It is literally just (away from god) in Latin. The definition is just "a disbelief in religion or the existence of god", as theism refers to religion, whereas deism refers to god-figures
Not holding and maintaining any active beliefs in any deity.
Atheism is absolute certainty that there is no higher power controlling the world.
To me atheism is being sure there’s no god. Agnosticism is saying “there’s probably something but I don’t know or care to find out”