Is there such thing as an athiest?

Question

Athiesm is the belief that there is no God, right?
In order to know that there is no God, you would have to know absolutely everything. Everything!
It's like saying, there are no watches in the north pole. I would have to know every rock, nook, and cranny in the north pole to make that statement.
So, all you self proclaimed athiests are really agnostics (someone who doesn't know about God), right?

I keep seeing this recurring theme refuting proof of the existence of God. I look out at the creation, and say that there must be a creator. The same way I know there is a watchmaker without seeing him or her.

Science I like. It's provable and tangible. Evolution I don't. Evolution should be taught as a theology class (not a science) since it is a "belief".

Answer 1

True. I myself do not know whether to believe or not. To know with certainty that no God exists would require omniscience. On the other hand, if there is a God I suppose that there are means by which one can gain knowledge that such a being exists. Therefore, one can either know that God is real, or not know, but one can never know that there is no God. I have concluded that I will either come to know one day that there is a God, or that I will remain agnostic until I die. I don't think I can ever be an atheist.

Answer 2

Atheism is not a belief system. It is the lack of a belief system. The only way you could compare atheism to religion is with extremist atheism where someone who does not have beliefs tries to make other people think the same way in a religious zealot/evangelist type way.

Also, your argument that you must know everything to have personal disbelief in a god or gods is flawed. The same can be said for belief in a god or gods. How can you know that your beliefs are 100% true? You simply cannot. The truth is you are either inclined to have faith in a baseless assumption or you aren't, it's as simple as that.

If you choose to believe in something that you can never prove exists then it's your prerogative, you can't make the decision for other people though.

One other thing I should mention is that you can never, the burden of proof always falls on the ones who make a positive claim. Put simply, if I was to say I had a live horse in my pocket, would I have to proove it or would you have to disproove it to believe it or not?

Finally, to answer your question:

Yes, there are such "things" as atheists. While an atheist may not be able to proove there is no god or gods, they only need to think logically and rationally to know that belief in something that has no positive proof towards it's existence is something that they don't need.

Answer 3

Let me assume you don't even believe in Santa Claus. Did you search every nook and cranny in the North Pole? Then how can you make that statement? And while we're at it, I hope you check all the barnyards in the world before you speculate on whether pigs can fly, or the Easter Bunny.

Do you see where this is going? You don't go around "believing" in something just because some Tom, Dick or Harry says it could exist.

Answer 4

Agnostic says that the question of whether there is a God or not is both undecidable and does not matter. The Ignostic says that until God is defined there is no sense even trying to discuss anything about it. An atheist believes that God(s) don't exist.
One old take on the term atheist was like you have it in that there is just a lack of faith but most people recognize that it has become much more like a faith of lack.

http://www.palmyra.demon.co.uk/humour/ipu.htm

Answer 5

Granted, atheists don't know everything. I've never met one who did. I certainly don't. Life is a learning process. When we stop learning, we stop living. Anyone claiming to "know everything" is either a fool or a teenager. However, I have met a large number of Christians who claim that because they "know God," they have no need to study anything else, because their bible gives them all the "wisdom" they require. That's why I like science: It keeps looking. Even when it thinks it knows an answer it keeps looking for other, maybe better, answers. Christianity stops at "It's God's will," or "God works in mysterious ways." It's lazy, and not a great way to make it in the world. I've been learning new stuff every day of my life. It's more fun than the restrictive, myth-centered education of my Catholic school youth.

Answer 6

I don't know absolutely everything, but I'm pretty sure there are no such things as circular squares, or freezing heat.

In a sense, everybody in the world is an agnostic - we have no definitive proof for or against God - we believe or disbelieve because of faith. However, atheists see the evidence as pointing towards the non-existence of God.

Answer 7

Atheism is non-belief in God/gods. Fair enough.
Agnostics are non-committal or unconvinced in the existence of God/gods.
Atheist do not believe in god, agnostics do not know if god exists.

If you ask an atheist if god exists, the atheist will say "nope" the agnostic will say "Dunno" There IS a difference.

What about the Loch Ness monster?
I do not know the layout of Loch Ness, nor the bottom of the Loch including the caves and gullies and rocks in the water. So I cannot guarantee that there is no monster there. But I do not believe in Nessie at all. A negative cannot be proven. I cannot prove that Nessie does not exist. It is not my responsibility to disprove Nessie, it is the Loch Ness Monster's responsibility to prove that she exists.

So would you say that I must just be a Nessie agnostic? I am not. I see no evidence of the beast, and until I see one at seaworld, I am not going to change my mind.

Answer 8

Agnostics are different in that they don't believe it is possible to know whether there exists any deity/deities. Atheists, on the other hand, feel positive or more certain that there is no God. Honestly, this question has been asked at least a 100 times. Stop being a dumbass.

Answer 9

wrong, and yes I am an atheist.
Your logic is flawed. Atheists do not have to prove the existence of deities, it is up to the one making extraordinary claims to supply extraordinary proof.

If I claimed that I had an invisible pink unicorn locked in my closet that breathed fire, was all powerful, and demanded our worship, would you believe me even though you can't see it or be shown its existence? Or would you look at me as if I were crazy and say "prove it"? For the 8 millionth time, it is not up to atheists to "disprove the existence of God", it is up to the Deists to prove the existence of God.
Under this (VALID) logic, I can say that I do not believe in God because no one has been able to show me proof of his existence.
Under your (invalid) logic, you should also believe in Santa the Easter Bunny, and my invisible unicorn because no one can prove that they DO NOT exist.

Got it?

EDIT: Ok, from reading your update you apparently don't get it. LOOKING at something, and saying "This is beautiful, I don't know how it came into existence, therefore God did it", is NOT a valid argument and NOT proof of a god. How do you not see this? If I look at my watch, I must admit that I do not know the name of the person that made it. But not knowing the identity of who amde it or the processes that created this watch does not give me the ability to say "god did it". I am simply ignorant of how the watch came into being. Being ignorant, is not an logical argument for giving credit to god and ceasing to understand the processes behind its creation.

ok, now I understand from your update about evolution that you have absolutely NO IDEA what you are talking about. Evolution isn't about a theory and faith, it is FACT, GET OVER IT!

Answer 10

Here I am!

And NO, it's NOT a belief. It's a LACK of belief. Break down the word if you're still confused. Atheism: the prefix "a-" means "without" and the noun "theism" means "belief in the existence of a god or gods". Put them together... see what you get.

YOU, in fact, are atheistic. YOU don't know absolutely everything and yet you don't believe in Zeus, Krishna, Dionysus, Ninsun, Quetzalcoatl, Ganesha, The Flying Spaghetti Monster, Xenu, etc.

You are without belief in all of these gods (well, Xenu wasn't a god, he was supposedly an alien, but I digress)... therefore, you are ATHEISTIC towards all of them. You DON'T know everything and yet... you are atheistic.