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A quick trip over to Hollywood Atheist, If Jesus Then Aliens, and similar tropes will quickly confirm that atheism is a widely misunderstood theological position. Just to start with, "atheist", "agnostic" and "non-religious" are not interchangeable, any more than "no", "I don't know", and "I don't care" are in any other circumstances.
Atheism in the broadest sense is simply the lack of belief that any deities exist: essentially, an atheist is a person unwilling to say "I believe in [a] god". This does not necessarily mean active disbelief (also called hard atheism or strong atheism), the willingness to say "I believe no gods exist" — someone who refuses to commit either way is usually called a "negative atheist" or "weak atheist".
Now, that said, while ( most ) people who identify as atheists fit this description, so do many persons who profess other identities, such as "freethinker", "bright", or "agnostic". Additionally, many people who identify as belonging to a religion are also atheists — Buddhism and Jainism are often atheistic, for example. In addition, newborn children, having never heard of God before, are de facto atheists — this is referred to as "implicit atheism". Naturally, "explicit atheism" is the opposite — note in particular that explicit weak atheism is perfectly possible, and in fact common. 1
A quick aside on one of the more common confusions: although typically presented as a third, stand alone position, "agnosticism" means not having knowledge about whether God exists or not. (The word literally translates from gnosis, knowledge, and a, a prefix meaning "not".) It, too, has a "strong" variant — the belief that it cannot be known whether any god exists. Although it should be noted that agnosticism is certainly not incompatible with any form of theism or atheism — fideism is the usual form of agnostic theism — in most cases persons identifying as agnostic are negative atheists.
"Non-religious" people do not adhere to any religious beliefs, and virtually all are atheists — however, there are some nonreligious theists, such as Epicurus, who believed that the gods do not concern themselves at all with human affairs.
A final note: remember that atheism is not an organized religion the way Christianity or Islam is. Nor is it a belief system. Although secular humanism is a belief system adopted by many atheists, the two are not the same thing. As such, it's very difficult to talk about atheists as a group, since the only universal criterion for being an atheist is not believing in some sort of god. It's like trying to make meaningful statements about, say, people who don't play baseball. (In essence, again, the major commonality in atheist "doctrine" for lack of a better term is "I don't believe in God/gods/flying spaghetti monsters".) What follows are mostly generalities and some recurring themes in the atheist/theist discourse.
Atheism Myths
Contrary to opinions expressed as facts by the uninformed, atheists do not:
- Worship Satan. Atheists do not believe in Satan any more than they believe in God. Therefore, they cannot worship either.
- Hate God, any more than they hate Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy. They also do not shake their fists at the heavens, for the same reason.
- The belief that God is real and a dirty rotten bastard is called Dystheism, not atheism.
- Dystheism is the belief that God is not wholly good and may be evil. The conviction that God exists and is evil is Maltheism. If you hate God as a result of that, it's also Misotheism.
- The classic origin of the Hollywood Atheist—a terrible event that causes the atheist to lose faith in their deity—does happen, but is far less common than the media supposes.
- Hate Christians/Jews/religious people. Atheists are totally capable of having friends who believe in God, as long as neither person in the relationship is a jerk about their beliefs. Please assume the other party is willing to not be a jerk.
- Most don't look down on religious people, either, or point and laugh and say "Those fools!" (Those who DO are what we like to call "assholes".) It's like having friends and family who are deeply into, say, stamp collecting: they have a hobby that they clearly get a lot out of, so good for them.
- Most atheists are not interested in deconverting others from their theistic beliefs. A majority of atheists do not care what others believe as long as they are respectful of non-believers. However, it is common for atheists to support strict separation of church and state, on the grounds that governments should not promote or endorse religion even in very general terms and even if a given religion is followed by most citizens. While most atheists are not interested in deconverting others, many will explain what they believe and why if asked politely by somebody they trust not to use the conversation as an excuse to attempt to convert them.
- Some atheists, perhaps unexpectedly, even practice religions. Atheism is quite compatible with Buddhism, secular Judaism, and Unitarian Universalism; some branches of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) have atheist/agnostic members as well. That said, religious atheists are not likely to self-identify as "atheists," but instead as members of their religions. There are even atheists who attend deist churches (such as Christian Services) because they grew up in it and find it comforting, or because it is a part of their community—or because they like singing really loud where no-one complains if they do badly.
- Worship Darwin. Atheists as a rule do not worship, venerate, or idolize - in the religious senses of those terms - anyone, regardless of their stature. They may respect Darwin for his achievements as a scientist (similarly, Newton, Galileo, Curie, and a host of others), but they do so without thinking he or anyone else was infallible or had all the answers - or was even necessarily a nice person. (In other words: claiming "Darwin was racist" doesn't disprove evolutionary biology, so don't do it.)
- In the same vein, atheists do not "adhere to" or "believe in" science in the religious sense of those words. For scientific atheists, the scientific method is seen as an objective method to ascertain how pretty much everything works (or as much of it as we can figure out). It is not a dogmatic belief system.
- Indeed, the scientific method is based upon the principle that we do not really 'know' what is going on. The nomenclature for hypotheses, theories, and even laws is the statement that these are things which 'seem to work pretty well', not 'complete and immutable understandings'. Science assumes every theory will eventually be proven incomplete by a newer, more comprehensive theory.
- For that matter not all atheists think scientifically or agree with The Theory of Evolution (though most do and you can bet they don't agree with intelligent design)
- Spontaneously find God in foxholes. Contrary to the popular adage, there are and have been atheists in foxholes. Sometimes it may well be the old "trauma leading them to abandon religion" as per the usual origin of the Hollywood Atheist. More often than not, however, some soldiers started as atheists and live through their horrible experiences with their atheism intact. Many such atheists find "No atheists in foxholes" shockingly insensitive to atheist soldiers who served their country well. Fortunately, thanks to the Freedom From Religion foundation, there is now a monument erected to honour their existence and sacrifice.
- A related misconception is that, in times of great danger or trauma, any atheist (soldier or otherwise) will prove to be so uncertain about his or her convictions that he or she will immediately abandon atheism and turn to the nearest deity. While some atheists not so certain about their standpoint may do that, a lot fewer do so than what popular media would have you believe. Just as the atheist soldiers in the above example, most atheists are perfectly capable of living through horrible experiences with atheism intact. Suggestions otherwise aren't just insensitive, they're downright insulting.
- Adhere to Communism. Atheism by itself does not entail any political views; there are atheist who are liberals, conservatives, socialists, anarchists, libertarians and every other affiliation conceivable. Certain trends or tendencies occasionally manifest — for example, the strong religious bent of the American right causes many atheists to gravitate towards the left — but they are by no means decisive or shared by all.
- Indeed, Objectivism, which is an ideology based on an atheistic understanding of the world, endorses a radically pro-free market and laissez-faire agenda.
- The reason Communism is associated with atheism is because most communist philosophies denounce religion and embrace state-wide atheism, and the Red Scare was America's first encounter with widespread rejection of religion (one that would last for several decades).
- Have an angry and bitter disposition. Another common stereotype is that atheists are perpetually angry and/or defensive, and therefore this proves that atheism makes people unhappy. Ironically, atheists might be less cranky if "why are you unbelievers so mad all the time?" were a less common question. For one thing, the existence of angry atheists does not invalidate the existence of generally cheerful and upbeat ones (just as there are "God is love" believers as well as "fire and brimstone" believers). For another, many people have things they get upset about, and for atheists it may be the perception and treatment of atheists in society. It doesn't mean that the non-religious are angry all the time.
- The mileage may vary, but typically, the most bitter atheists are bitter not BECAUSE of having no faith, just that people of faith can't see them as anything but bitter and hateful and therefore don't listen to them. It's an endless cycle.
- This atheist troper quickly becomes bitter and hateful when well-meaning but clueless religious individuals push their faith without listening to his objections. He ceases to be bitter as soon as they leave. Unfortunately the said individuals undoubtedly presume that it is his standard condition.
- Are inherently amoral or immoral: The arguement goes that without God, it's not possible to know the difference between right and wrong. On the contrary, there are lots of ways to determine right and wrong (see below) and atheists can figure them out without being threatened with hellfire and holy books; they do not default to Evil Bastards. The closest concept that religion recognizes would be that of the "virtuous pagan", someone not of the religion or who was around before the religion existed and still did good works.
What Atheists Believe
- What leads many people to become atheists is skepticism, which is derived from the same basic principles as the scientific method. The argument is: as there is no good evidence for the existence of a god or gods, there is no reason to believe that they exist, and anyone who thinks otherwise is invited to prove it. Skepticism does not necessarily mean the atheist is a cynic; atheists' opinions range like everyone else's.
- People can also be atheists simply by never having considered whether or not gods exist — this is implicit atheism. Since these people have not yet considered whether or not a god exists, they have not had the opportunity to decide whether or not to form a belief in one, and therefore do not possess a belief in one.
What do atheists think of organized religions?
- Many atheists believe that religious organizations generally do more harm than good to society, and some may even quote scientific studies on the subject; and for atheists who are not certain God doesn't exist, they generally think that if one exists he's not doing much good compared to the harm caused by religious organizations overall. Then again, this harm tends to be comparable to any other political group with pervasive powers, such as commercial corporations or governments. Indeed, religion has historically formed the core of many governments and trade organizations (and still does).
- Some atheists take the opposite route and believe that religion is positive and enriching, but they are less likely to advertise their atheism — indeed, some atheists go so far as to pretend to be theists and become priests and suchlike because they still think that their chosen religion is a positive force, even if they don't believe that it's true.
- In fact, many atheists believe that organized religion can be a positive force in a person's life, and they like the sense of community and acceptance that it offers, and many have kind and accepting belief systems, and can be a good way for a person to organize their life and put things in perspective. It's when their belief in the organized religion starts getting extremist, out of hand, or to the point where members try to force conversions on others that most atheists have a problem with it.
- Most atheists believe that old holy books (of any religion) are plagued with centuries of Adaptation Decay, Anvilicious politics, Too Many Cooks Spoil The Soup, Executive Meddling, Ret Con, and Epileptic Trees being used and retained to justify new beliefs which were grafted into a religion by virtue of historical accidents or intimidation/bribes by large empires, and other notable flaws, all while believing God himself has never done much wrong by virtue of non-intervention or non-existence. Also, decades of oral tradition and the evolution/death of the language it was originally written in leaves room for Fridge Logic interpretations which was certainly not 100% reflecting the original nor the best a God should come up with — all which results in more Adaptation Decay in the versions religious leaders use, as opposed to selectively ignoring the written version.
- Atheists nearly universally loathe the practice of attempting to save a soul by knowingly lying to him or using material and political manipulation. This annoys atheists more than any other method that well-intentioned people use to save souls.
What about other supernatural or paranormal beliefs?
- If Jesus Then Aliens does not necessarily apply. Atheism and skepticism complement each other but are not synonymous. While most atheists are skeptics, not all are, and atheists are often quite willing to believe in things that they consider more likely than the existence of God (and on the other side of the coin, many theists are skeptical about psychic powers, aliens, Bigfoot, and so on). However, many vocal atheists tend to be skeptics who actively refute the existence of what could be considered "supernatural" phenomenon, as well as pseudoscientific claims.
- Lack of belief in an afterlife is not a requirement of atheism, but since 1) atheism is strongly correlated with skepticism and freethought in general and 2) people who, for whatever reason, don't believe in the supernatural at all are atheists by definition, the two tend to coincide. This does not mean that atheists believe in The Nothing After Death; rather, those who don't believe in an afterlife or reincarnation view life as an event, like a rainstorm or a fire, that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Whatever is left of a person's existence After The End does not really resemble a living person, any more than a pile of ashes resembles a fire.
Morality and Meaning
- Atheism does not prescribe a system of morality or code of behavior. There is no built-in sense of reward for good acts and punishment for evil ones. While many would expect this to lead the average atheist to become a nihilistic Nietzsche Wannabe, atheists generally supply moral codes of their own. They have to, since if you don't have any moral code, you don't get the benefits of Good Feels Good. (And also that Sanity Is Its Own Advantage. )
- Atheists will often point out that we each build our own morality, as most Christians don't follow all the rules and laws of the Bible (like many things in the Old Testament, for any reason), but only those which make sense for them in the modern world. As Einstein said: "Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death."
- The moral philosophy most closely associated with atheism is secular humanism, which is derived from the same basic principles. It is a popular philosophy with atheists, but by no means the only one. The main tenets of secular humanism are:
- Need to test beliefs — A deeply held conviction that all beliefs, be they political, religious, or otherwise, should be challenged and tested on a regular basis, rather than simply being accepted on faith. By challenging and discarding flawed beliefs, people can replaced them with newer, less flawed ones, and so grow as a person.
- Reason, evidence, scientific method — The belief that the answers to questions and solutions to problems should be sought through reason, critical thinking, and scientific methods of inquiry, rather than faith or mysticism.
- Fulfillment, growth, creativity — A concern for fulfillment, growth, and creativity for both the individual and humanity in general.
- Search for truth — A constant search for a universal, objective truth, through the use of reason, evidence, and the scientific method, with the awareness that new discoveries can alter our perception and knowledge of truth.
- This life — A concern for our life on Earth above a hypothetical afterlife, making the most of the time we have and making our lives meaningful through our understanding of each other.
- Ethics — A search for a clear code of ethics, judged on their ability to improve life for humanity through individual responsibility.
- Building a better world — A conviction that reason, understanding, and good will can lead to improvements in the world.
- Morality determined by human need — The scientific concept of morality as an evolved strategy of human beings who needed to band together in groups in order to survive.
- Once the supernatural is rejected, the meaning of phrases like "the meaning of life" seems to fall away. Most atheists do not believe in a meaning to their existences or a purpose given to them by a higher power (after all, who would give it?). Like the no afterlife thing this can seem depressing, so most atheists have learned to invent their own purposes instead. This is a liberating feeling, with plenty of destiny-screwing satisfaction.
- The philosophical concept that there is no ultimate meaning that can ultimately apply to all human beings is called, somewhat confusingly, Philosophical Absurdism. R. Scott Bakker coined the slightly cooler term Semantic Apocalypse.
- The person who coined this term Absurdism, Albert Camus, did a significant body of work writing about this idea. The term 'absurdism' comes from the idea that the conflict between the impermanence of life and human actions is a paradox and, well, absurd. To quote The Other Wiki on this: We value our lives and existence so greatly, but at the same time we know we will eventually die, and ultimately our endeavours are meaningless. While we can live with a dualism (I can accept periods of unhappiness, because I know I will also experience happiness to come), we cannot live with the paradox (I think my life is of great importance, but I also think it is meaningless). Camus' writings were based around the theme that the paradox, the absurd, showed that the universe was meaningless- but that human endeavors could still create meaning. Basically, that we live in a Cosmic Horror Story, where the Nietszche Wannabe is right...but that we still, despite that, create meaning.
- Oddly enough, most atheistic belief systems have a tendency to sit farther toward the idealistic end of the Sliding Scale Of Idealism Versus Cynicism than the religious ones do. This is Probably related to the acceptance of one's own mortality, and the focus on this world and this life as the only chance one has to make an impact. Also, since atheists believe that we humans have only ourselves to rely on when it comes to moral guidance, the (arguable) fact that most societies grow more compassionate and egalitarian over time suggests that human nature is pretty virtuous.
- It might also help that atheistic belief systems usually (not always) assume that anything proposed is going to go through a some pretty rigorous testing for logical and rational integrity before actually being implemented. Thus, they can afford to start out as idealistic as they like; the ideal will conform to reality as it develops.
A Few Words on Faith
Faith gets bandied around a lot by both sides in the religion versus atheism debate, and the term is misused quite frequently, mainly because the two groups most often at odds — atheists and Christians — see the core issue as being something completely different.
- When an atheist accuses a Christian of having "blind faith," he is referring to using faith as a replacement for evidence, in order to believe that figures like God or Satan even exist at all. Faith in the sense of trust (as in trust in the scientific method, or the pull of gravity) does not enter into the matter.
- When a Christian speaks of "faith in God," he is usually accepting the existence of these figures as a foregone conclusion and is referring to faith that God is merciful and will save humanity from their sins.
This misunderstanding is where the Hollywood Atheist comes from. Most atheists do have faith that their good deeds will be rewarded, or that a good deed is its own reward. It's what keeps atheists from turning into a bunch of Nietzsche Wannabes. Faith is in different things. Humanity ( bastards or fantastic depending on the atheist) is a popular recipient, as is modern society in general.
Atheism in the Media
- Recently, Atheism has gained some mainstream traction, though even before this happened, there were many people in the entertainment industry who were atheists. Noted examples include Gene Roddenberry, J Michael Straczynski, Joss Whedon, and Russell T Davies. Atheistic themes tend to show up primarily in science fiction and its subgenres, often alongside religious themes.
- Prominent television characters who are atheists included Dr. Gregory House of the series of the same name and Admiral William Adama of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica. Though never explicitly stated, Captain Picard of Star Trek: The Next Generation often articulated ideas consistent with Roddenberry's brand of secular humanism (the right of civilizations to develop unimpeded, the immorality and danger of using religion as a tool of manipulation, etc...).
- Unlike the clergy of organized religions, well-known atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens do not actually represent other atheists in any official capacity. This is something that non-atheists sometimes have trouble with, because they are used to the idea that a Baptist minister for example represents a Baptist ministry, but atheists don't have ministries, and indeed atheism is a negative position, a lack of belief, so aside from that lack of belief there's not really not much else that all atheists have in common, as there are no central tenets or dogmas specific to atheism.
- In London, an Atheist Bus Campaign decided to raise £100,000 to counter the evangelizing of religious groups, and Lo and Behold, atheists put aside their differences and stumped up the cash (Richard Dawkins offered to match £5,500 worth of donations)! And when the campaign decided on the slogan 'There's probably no God so just stop worrying and enjoy life', then they fell out again. Some atheists don't like the 'probably' and plenty of atheists aren't hedonists either.
- Ironically, the unpopular 'probably' was a concession to avoid trouble with truth-in-advertising laws, since "There's no God" could have been challenged as an unsubstantiated factual statement. Meta-ironically, "There's probably no God" has been challenged as an unsubstantiated factual statement.
- Carlsberg got away with 'Probably the best lager in the world' for years. Can't see that challenge getting anywhere, really.
- Also ironically, it would not have needed to be changed, as any attempt to prove it wrong would require proving the existence of God, which is something Atheists the world over have been asking the Theists to do for years.
- The Advertisments Watchdog skirted the problem by saying that Christian advertisments where technically a "Political Campaign" for people to support the Catholic Church, that is to say, a technicality... the story continues.
- Noteworthy here is that adverts by religious organizations are generally considered appeals for membership: "Join Our Church (because) we believe in X", with X automatically ruled an expression of faith or point of doctrine. Atheism operates from a purely secular perspective and constitutes a public call to action, therefore falling under a more stringent set of commercial and political advertising rules.
- Which, incidentally, is a perfect example of why atheists tend to be a little angry...
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