I'm also assuming many will give me tailored definitions of what atheism means. Atheism attempts to describe a lack of belief in a deity, multiple deities, gods, a sumpreme being, etc. We don't have words for people who do not believe in unicorns (An-unicornism?), but because most of the world is religious, we have to apply a name to these people who just don't believe. Saying, "I believe there is NO god" is a positive atheistic belief. However, saying, "I don't believe in a god" is atheism, although it is NOT a belief, per se. Not believing is not the same as believing there is not something. Atheism is NOT a belief system. By definition, infants, people who have severe mental retardation, and people not aware of a god are all atheists. It's not surprising that irrational, exclusive connotations would come from theists about this.
2006-12-22 03:26:27 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Definitions of atheism on the Web:
* the doctrine or belief that there is no God
* a lack of belief in the existence of God or gods
http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
* Atheism is the state either of being without theistic beliefs, or of actively disbelieving in the existence of deities. In antiquity, Epicureanism incorporated aspects of atheism, but it disappeared from the philosophy of the Greek and Roman traditions as Christianity gained influence. ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism
* The belief that God does not exist.
http://library.thinkquest.org/25416/gloss.htm
* One who denies or disbelieves the existence of a God.#
http://www.stsams.org/dictionary.html
* A belief that there are no gods. Greek "a-theos": without-god.
http://www.reasoned.org/glossary.htm
* belief that there is no god and that religion should be suppressed.
http://www.naiadonline.ca/book/01Glossary.htm
* n a) a disbelief [or unbelief] in the existence of deity b) the doctrine that there is no deity
http://tangents.home.att.net/data/rlgdef.htm
* Atheists In modern times, those who do not accept the monotheistic Christian God or any god. It formerly signified those who did not believe in the accepted divinity or divinities of the State or populace.
http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/etgloss/***-atm.htm
* An atheist is one who does not believe in the existence of God or gods. Pretty simple, right?
http://studentorgs.georgetown.edu/guskeptics/definitions.htm
* a (“without”) the (“deity”, or “god”). Atheism is a lack of belief in a god or gods.
http://www.strongatheism.net/intro/lexicon/
2006-12-22 03:27:44 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Atheism is the lack of a belief in a god or gods.
Some people divide atheism into strong and weak atheism, with strong atheism being the positive belief that there isn't a god, and weak atheism being just the lack of a belief that there is one. So while people who have never heard of any gods are atheists, they are not strong atheists.
Either way, atheism involves only one belief at the most, and is therefore not a 'belief system' in any sense.
2006-12-22 03:27:41 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Atheism is a lack of belief in a god or gods.
Whether you specifically believe there is no god or simply don't have a belief in god, then you are lacking a belief in god or gods.
Yes, anyone who is unaware of the concept of "god(s)" is, by default, an atheist.
2006-12-22 03:31:02 · answer #3 · answered by Phoenix, Wise Guru 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not retarded and don't believe in (the existence of a) God, which means (except if you go into a philosophical debate) that I believe there is no God. It's the same, basically. And I came to the conclusion after a lot of thinking. Not just because my parents told me so and imposed their beliefs on me (they were both Catholics).
2006-12-22 03:30:53 · answer #4 · answered by Offkey 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Precisely. I am technically an atheist because I do not believe in deities; but I am a Neo Pagan Taoist, so I do have spiritual beliefs.
2006-12-22 03:31:31 · answer #5 · answered by KC 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
atheism are people not believe in God. No God for them.
2006-12-22 03:29:48 · answer #6 · answered by ken 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I've asked this question to atheists (I'm a Christian). In fact, I asked it twice by accident. Here are the links to the responses:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsCDAx61NqhN8Q42msH5KFIjzKIX?qid=20061126194941AAfVQKf
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmE3dO.xyv8RkNWbCz_3EwcjzKIX?qid=20061126194433AAIRNCR
The answers were quite varied, but Zero Cool's answers went into great detail about the different "levels" of atheism.
2006-12-22 03:37:35 · answer #7 · answered by frenzy-CIB- Jim's with Jesus 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋