What is an atheist?

Question

From what I've heard, an atheist is someone who says that there is no God. Right? But isn't that a universal statement? It's like saying, "There is no gold in China." But to say that, you have to look everywhere in China, under every rock, in every house, in every chinaman's mouth...And THEN you can say there is no gold in China if you find that to be true. To say that there is no God would mean that you have searched everywhere for God, and have found Him to not be anywhere, or that there is no evidence for Him. No man has done that. So if you're an atheist, you're not really, you're an agnostic, right? Which means that you don't know if there's a God or not. So shouldn't that mean that you should be more open to people who are seeking to give answers, and to really research and see if any of those answers are true? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Answer 1

Atheism, in its broadest sense, is the absence of theism (the belief in the existence of deities). This encompasses both people who assert that there are no gods, and those who make no claim about whether gods exist or not. Narrower definitions of atheism, however, typically only label people who affirmatively assert the nonexistence of gods as atheists, classifying other nonbelievers as agnostics or simply non-theists.

Many people who self-identify as atheists do tend to share common skeptical concerns regarding the evidence (or lack of evidence) of the world's many deities and creation stories as well as questioning the goodness and morality of religions that have brought us such things as holy wars and inquisitions. Yet while some adhere to philosophies such as humanism, naturalism and materialism, there is no single ideology that all atheists share, nor does atheism have any institutionalized rituals or behaviors. Indeed, atheism is inspired by many rationales, encompassing personal, scientific, social, philosophical, and historical reasoning.

Still other atheists argue that they are firmly against faith in general, as opposed to religion specifically.

Although atheism is commonly equated with irreligion in Western culture, some religious beliefs (such as some forms of Buddhism), though not often so identified by the adherents, have been described as atheistic.

Answer 2

Joe Shmoe is hitting the nail on the head, the etymology of the word is a + theism. A refers to a complete reversal theism which means belief in some form of God, gods, goddesses e.t.c
In a person is unsure (sceptical) about the existence of God the proper terminology would be agnostic which like above is the reversal of gnostic (wisdom) so agnostic literally means ignorant.

Yoda Green is incorrect as he expands the term to widely though I do admit that the position he takes is generally the same as other atheists. The problem with that is that an atheist could believe in ghosts or other supernatural things though of course because the average atheist is one of a scientific bent now a days so at least they consistently disbelieve in all sorts of things.

sanstheism is close but not quite, atheism does not mean without God but quite clearly your second sentance shows that you are an atheist "knowing there is nothing out there". Yet in your second paragraph you state that you can't prove it either way (this would make you an agnostic.)

Intresting side note the idea that atheism is not a belief system is bull it quite evedently. In order to be an atheist one needs one article in your creed that 'no gods exist'. Hence atheism is a system of belief the belief that there is no such thing as God. Only an agnostic can claim to have no belief system but no one I know is a true agnostic although there are many people who are agnotics on the issue of wheter God exists or not. Everyone believes somthing and nothing can be proven 100%. Everyone must start with a blind leap an axiom. For a fundementalist this is the inerracy of scripture, for a neo-darwinist its the validity of reason, for a theist its that every efect has a cause and the uncaused cause is colocaly know as God.

Answer 3

An Atheist believes in no religion.
There is no control or moral system. Just the social pressures, surrounding the person. Some cases where the city law or company rules is the religion.
No worshiping anything at all.
If a no religion society says college, or military, or divorce. It works for the atheist.
no after life either, live it up now.

if someone calls you one, dont act like one. to fit the callers think whatever it needs to be. unless you can find it in print in 5 books and 3 cities, 2 county(s), even 2 different countries.

Answer 4

I am an atheist, meaning that I no longer believe in the existence of a supreme being, nor an afterlife in the Christian sense of the word (heaven/hell). I say "no longer" because I was a strong Christian for the past ten years of my life. I did not have any terrible experiences that turned me off...In fact, it was one of the best times in my life. I still hold Christians in very high regard, and respect their beliefs strongly. Most of my best friends are still believers.

I simply remained open to the possibility that there is no god, and after consistent questioning and learning more about life, the world, the universe, and Christianity itself, I no longer find the position tenable (i.e., believable).

It is not true that atheists have no moral system. We can be quite moral and good people.

Answer 5

Atheist: One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods.
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I disagree with you. The gold example doesn't work because we know gold exists, we don't know that god exists. According to what you're saying, we should assume that Teletubies, Pokemon, Barney, and Santa Clause might exist. The average adult will tell you that Santa Clause doesn't exist, even though they haven't checked every building on the entire planet, just like an atheist may tell you that god doesn't exist.

This video may explain it better than I did:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVQoxrrMftA&search=dawkins

(To correct an answer below, atheists don't believe that god doesn't exist, they don't believe god does exist. This is a slight but important mistake that people make. (Atheism isn't a belief, it's a lack of belief)

Answer 6

I am an atheist. An atheist is someone who has stopped believing in blatant lies and sat down and though hand on a minute god wheres the proof? And so come to the logical sensible conclusion that there isn't a god. Say no to jesus.

Answer 7

No that person before me you are wrong, atheism is not a belief it is not a theory either ...it is just not sharing other people's belief in a God.

God is other people's belief ... whether or not there is a God doesn't interest me at all... God is other people's fixation it's not mine.

I don't have a belief in no God, I just don't have any room in my life to think about other people's fantasy figures at all, I don't care about God fantasies so keep it to yourself as it's just meaningless drivel and not even worth not believing in, how can I not believe in a nothing?

I have a naturalistic world-view.

Answer 8

You are wrong. At least according to how I translate atheism. Atheism means without god to me. That's how I live my life, without a god or a religion telling me how to live. I live my life knowing there is nothing out there that is going to help me if I pray or worship it.

I don't like being asked to prove there is no god. Just as you can't prove that there is a god, I know I can't prove the opposite. That isn't important to me. I'm not going to waste my life worried about proof.

Answer 9

Like most christians grasping at straws, you're wrong.
Atheists, like myself, reject the idea that there is anything but a natural answer to any question in the universe. To simplify, there are NO ghosts, no spooks, no sky-pixies, no leprechauns and no god. Period.
I hope that's not too complicated for you...

Answer 10

well like u said atheism is a "belief" in no god theory right, and belief doesn't mean you have to prove it. its like u said i believe there is no gold in china and this statement does not mean there is no gold it means that i do not think there is some. same thing with atheism