What is your definition of an atheist?

Question

I know what the dictionary definition is, I'm after your definition please!

JP ironic it may be, people have different ideas on their own definition, ask half a dozen people "what is a Christian"?

JT Point taken, but I'm not really interested in 'valid' merely in a cross section of opinion!

Answer 1

in short - atheist means non-theist

from http://atheists.org - an atheist civil liberties organization that was born from the landmark case won by Madalyn Murray O'hair in the 60's, and is the reason why we don't have prayer in public schools in the U.S. to this day.

We Are Atheists Because...

* There is no proof of the existence of god.
* There is no need of, or use for, a god.
* A good god would be useless if it were not powerful.
* A powerful god would not deserve worship if he were not good.
* There is no all-powerful good god; otherwise there would be no imperfection.
* If this is the best world god can make, the stories of Heaven must be lies.
* History shows that godism is accompanied by ignorance and superstition.
* There has never been such intolerance and persecution as godists have practiced.
* Godism had to be fought when humankind made its successive steps toward science, liberty, and reform.
* Godism was invented in the earliest days of mankind's ignorance. It is incredible that primitive humans guessed wrongly about everything else, but discovered the truth about the origin of life. Everything about which science has discovered the origin was claimed previously to have been the work of a god. Godism recedes when a new fact is discovered. No new discovery ever supports a theistic explanation of anything.
* All revelation proves, on investigation, to be human, and generally fraudulent.
* Godism is consistent with crime, cruelty, envy, hatred, malice, and uncharitableness.

Atheism Teaches That...

* There is no heavenly father.
Humankind must protect the orphans and foundlings, or they will not be protected.

* There is no god to answer prayer.
Man must hear and help man.

* There is no hell.
We have no vindictive god or devil to fear or imitate.

* There is no atonement or salvation by faith.
We must face the consequences of our acts.

* There is no beneficent or malevolent intent in nature.
Life is a struggle against preventable and unpreventable evils. The cooperation of humankind is the only hope of the world.

* There is no chance after death to "do our bit."
We must do it now or never.

* There is no divine guardian of truth, goodness, beauty, and liberty.
These are attributes of humankind. We must defend them or they will perish from the earth.

Have a nice day!

Answer 2

Someone who thinks that all Christians,Muslims,Hindus etc believe in a God that doesn't exist. Frequently atheists I know make fun of people who have faith of a God, many ridiculing them and insulting their intelligence, because they choose to believe something others may not. Some insult the intelligence of believers yet choose to believe that just by some, i don't know fortunate chance, at precisely the right minuscule second of all of time an explosion of matter happened, forming the universe. I hold nothing against atheists for not believing in a God (after all you can't make someone believe something they don't and I have many close friends who are atheists and they're lovely people) however I don't like it when they some (and I know some do-I get it quite a lot) insult believers for having faith in a God. How can some of them insult believers calling them stupid when they can believe something such a the Big Bang theory and not see a God behind it?! lol. Everyone has a right to believe what they want.

Answer 3

budding author,
I know that there are many definitions as well. I usually treat them all the same though, only because I don't care, the distinctions are silly and time consuming. So here is my definition.

Atheist - (from the dictionary of KingReef)
A person that has decided that there is proof of no God. The biblical definition of a fool. ( Pslam 53:1).
1) Those that God does not want.
2) Those that are chosen by God but have not come around yet.

Answer 4

Someone who is not theistical. I would assume that they don't believe in ghosts or the human spirit either. Most of the atheists I have met, mostly on this site, seem to be that way because of Christianity or Christians. Perhaps they are simply targeting the largest religious group for ridicule. I would have more respect for an atheist who has studied religions from around the world and then come to their conclusion about the lack of human spirit. Coming to any conclusion with only a narrow field of experience is what fools do. Do some research, do your homework, before coming to broad, absolute ideas about life.

Answer 5

I am an atheist, my interpretation is that literally it means you believe in no god.
I often find that people make all sorts of assumptions when I say I am an atheist, usually that I am too lazy to go to church, that I 'know' there is a god but have chosen not to worship him, or that I am just too immoral to adhere to any religious code.
In fact, I arrived at my position after a long journey and serious consideration. I think I am a moral person, and I am passionate in my atheism, it is not that I simply can not be bothered to belong to a religion, I feel religion is wrong and harmful. I guess I take atheism to another level of being pro-actively anti-religion, but that is me, it is not inherent in the definition of atheist.

Answer 6

My own opinion is:

My dad was an atheist... he deliberately bad mouthed God... or should I say... constantly challenged Him to prove existence and loudly made it plain, that he laughed at any God existing.

An atheist to me, is someone who not only doesn't believe, but goes out of their way to damn the whole idea.

Whereas, in my view, an agnostic is someone who doesn't believe, but isn't 'closed' entirely to finding proof, or the idea of 'wondering' about the possibility of god existing, but in the main, has no belief either way.

This link might be useful to those who want more information

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/mathew/intro.html

Enjoy

I am a lifelong Christian, who's had lifelong constant, daily, personal proof.

That's what it is all about really... a personal journey... in your own time, and no one else can prove it to you, one way or the other because... it's between you and your maker, and happens only in His time, when He knows you're ready:-)

PS... I forgot to add... on dad's death bed, he changed his mind... he had an 'enlightening experience' of some sort just a few short hours before he died aged 53, and his last words to me before slipping into coma were...

"When you're lying here like this, you change your mind about a lot of things..." (a look of wonder and peace was on his face, so new to dad, a lifelong pessimist) then he added, "It all comes out in the wash Jeanie... it all comes out in the wash."

Answer 7

Someone grown up who does not beleive in santa claus, god or the tooth fairy who bases decisions or opinions on rational evidence based thinking and that includes morality

Ie sexaul morality forms the same codes ad other morolity ie rape is bullying, two timeing hurts but orgies are find as you and others are not at risk from unsafe sex.

Judges groups by how they treat others... Worships nobody trust nobody, questions everything and everyone holding nobdy as sacred.

A communist who worships the state is not an athiest for example.

No blind faith in anything inc big bang theroy...

Who has engough sense to work out it will be thousads of years before we know where the universe came from as our technology is not advanced.

Who works out morality based on contex and conditions... ie mugging a old lady bad, confiscating a 10 year olds air gun is good.


Who does not see sex as dirty and gays fine.

Answer 8

"One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods." is where I would start. From there, I would have to say that atheism is a religion onto itself. Here is my reasoning.

In order to know that something does not, never has, and never will exist (ie - God or gods), then one would have to know everything, as total knowledge would be necessary in order to prove a negative. In order to know everything, one would have to know the beginning position of all matter and energy in the universe and its direction, thus extrapolating all future events as interaction between particles. Logically this is not possible since a) we presently do not have the capability to trevel back to the origin of the universe and b) as physics tells us that the mere act of observing matter at the quantum level alters the object being observed. Thus, it is impossible for us to know for certain that a Higher Power of some kind does not exist. Since knowledge is not obtainable, the person calling themselves an atheist would have to have a measure of faith that their notion of no god or gods is correct. Therefore, they have a faith based position not unlike that of theists who do believe in the existance of a Higher Power.

Answer 9

It's rather ironic to ask for a definition of a well defined dictionary word.

My definition is everyone's definition. The word has only one meaning: A person who does not believe in a god or in many gods.

Answer 10

Being a self confessed devout atheist my personal definition is a person who does not believe in any religion or devine being of any form.

I don't believe in anything myself but accept and appreciate that many other people do and respect that. I do not attempt to shake their beliefs nor do I try to convert them. All I ask in return is they don't try to do the same to me.