- Atheist: one who disbelieves or denies the existence of God/gods;
- Non-theist: one who has no belief in BOTH the existence and the non-existence of God/gods;
- Theist: one who believes in the existence of God/gods (monotheistic/polytheistic).
---
So, according to these definitions:
- a theist believes in the existence of God/gods;
- an atheist believes in the non-existence of God/gods;
- a non-theist doesn't believe in both the existence & the non-existence of God/gods.
A theist and an atheist believe.
A non-theist doesn't believe.
So: are you an atheist or a non-theist?
2006-08-19 09:26:38 · 22 answers · asked by Axel ∇ 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
lol Mr. Mister :-): thx for bringing me back to reality lol.
2006-08-19 09:36:52 · update #1
lol - sticky pro/anti-religious labels...
2006-08-19 09:38:45 · update #2
You've defined atheist incorrectly.
atheism.
break down the word...
a- (prefix) meaning, in this context, "without".
theism (noun) "belief in the existence of a god or gods."
Therefore.....
atheism is defined as "without belief in the existence of a god or gods."
I'm an atheist with ignosticism mixed in (yes, IGnosticism, look it up at Wikipedia). I'm also a fan of conceptualism, but that's more philosophy than religion.
2006-08-19 09:31:56 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
Consider the following sentence:
I do believe that god does exist.
That sentence can be negated in two ways:
1. I DO NOT believe that god does exist.
2. I believe that god DOES NOT exist.
The first sentence expresses the WEAK atheist position, also known as the agnostic-atheist position. The second sentence represents the STRONG atheist position.
The weak atheist position is characterized by an ABSENSE of belief, brought about by the lack of evidence that would be necessary to bring about or sustain 'belief'. In this sense, the absence of belief in god is equivalent to an absence of belief in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Thor. The weak atheist (agnostic) position bears no burden of proof, since it is not asserting anything to be 'true'.
The STRONG atheist position is arrived at by a CERTAINTY that god DOES NOT exist, and implies that compelling evidence exists to support such a certainty. That being the case, it would seem that the strong atheist position DOES bear a burden of proof, since it is asserting that 'no god' is a 'true' proposition.
2006-08-19 09:59:01 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well i'm an atheist because i don't believe in god i believe in science (which is the alternative) but by these rules a non-theist doesnt believe in god or science and yet there is irrefutable proof that science exists, so technically isn't a non-theist denying existance?
2006-08-19 09:32:54 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I'm a non-theist. I don't believe in anything, I simply know the truth of what I experience. If I were to believe in one thing because of what someone tells me without knowing the real facts, then why not believe in everything else? I like to know whats true and whats not, and I know for a fact about the things that I experience. I can't deny or question what I experience.
I think belief in something is for many people, but not for everyone.
2006-08-19 09:33:54 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
I am an atheist by the definition of atheism as "lack of belief in the existence of God/gods," but this definition doesn't come up for some reason...I guess that I would be a non-theist as well (?). I am unsure.
2006-08-19 09:37:28 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
According to your definitions: who cares. I'm an Atheist, I don't believe there are any gods. I don't believe in religion. If you want to call it something complicated, fine. But I still call myself an Atheist.
Belief doesn't enter into it, since I distinguish between that which I know (i.e. the earth is at least 4.5 billion years old, since that's what the scientific evidence tells us) and that which I believe (i.e. I believe mankind will eventually settle on other planets).
2006-08-19 09:36:11 · answer #6 · answered by ThePeter 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Good question! I've never been sure what to call myself...it's not that I don't believe in God; it's not that I do believe in God; it's that God is irrelevant in my life. Whether there is a God or not, I don't care...it means nothing to me. So...what word do I use?
2006-08-19 11:24:27 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. Non-theist means not being theist. Theist is believing in god. Non/not believing in god would be non-theist.
2006-08-19 09:43:51 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't believe in God or a god, which i think is Atheist. An Agnostic is someone who believes in the possibility of a god, but won't accept it on faith alone.
2006-08-19 09:36:20 · answer #9 · answered by rhambass 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
We commonly refer to non-theists as agnostics.
And I don't really care, although I strongly believe that even if God exists, God is not relevant to human existence.
2006-08-19 09:34:35 · answer #10 · answered by NHBaritone 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋