Why call yourself athiest, when the dictionary clearly says you are to be called heathen?

Question

websters collegiate clearly states-uncivilized, irreligious, does'nt believe in the God of the Bible. It's not name calling, it's just what the dictionary says, don't balme me, blameWebsters'

Answer 1

It doesn't. Unless it's the Fundie Dictionary you're reading.

Heathen is a prejorative, and is used by Christians to describe those outside the faith.

Answer 2

Oh boy, a Webster's dictionary thumper! Look, Websters is not the end all and be all of knowledge. Google is your friend.

Expand your mind and vocabulary a little.

Atheist means someone who believes that no Gods exists. That is why atheists call themselves that, because they do not believe in any deities.

Heathen means someone who practices an Reconstructionalist Pagan religion. (Such as yours truly.) Heathens believe in many Gods and Goddess.

Answer 3

A heathen has to worship a false God. An Atheist believes in no God. The Bible is not a dictionary. Use the dictionary to define words. Use the Bible for what ever else you need in your spiritual life.

Answer 4

What is even better is when I am called a godless heathen. Isn't that the meaning of heathen in the first place?

Either way, it doesn't really matter to me. Heathen, atheist, it isn't going to change what I believe.

So, if it makes you feel better to call me that, knock yourself out. It isn't like I care about what most people of the world think of me. And, given I live in a small town Texas, I am used to it.

Answer 5

heathen is usually used to describe a people that specifically do not accept the God of the Torah, Bible, or Koran, with the implication that they have some other faith. it has been perverted by people such as yourself to be a perjorative term to be used when you are reduced by reality to name-calling. an atheist is someone who is not inclined to believe ANY religion, who denies all deities. however, if you use heathen as just meaning someone who doesn't believe in the Jewish, Christian, or Muslim God, then it can apply to atheists (as well as Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, Wiccans, and all other religious peoples).

Answer 6

I'm sure this is just trolling on your part, but just in case...
Any dictionary that says that was written by a Christian with the sole intent to criticize. It would be yet another example of deliberate ignorance, and attempts to spread ignorance. (So I would be very concerned if I had a dictionary that had that definition. Who knows what else the idiot author screwed up?)

Answer 7

Here's the thing - the words "heathen" and "pagan" referred, originally, to people who lived in certain places - "heathen" was used by the Romans to refer to someone who lived in the wild upcountry areas of the Germanic tribes (i.e. Northmen).

"Heathen", like "pagan" only came to have religious meaning attached because those people living in the heath (the wild upcountry areas) were resistant to conversion to Christianity.

"Pagan", similarly, was used to refer to a country dweller, but etymologically this is closer to the word for "villager" or "peasant", and so we think it was used for more southerly peoples. "Pagan" went through the same kind of meaning shift to acquire a religious connotation because the peasants in small villages were resistant to Christianizing.

So what we have is two words that originally referred to two different ethnic/cultural groups, and these two words have been reclaimed by modern followers of pre-Christian religions (or their modern recreations) from those ethnic cultures or geographic areas.

Heathens are folks who follow the pre-christian religions of the Northmen (or their modern recreations), and Pagans are folks who follow the pre-christian religions of other, more southerly, folks (or their modern recreations), although there's some overlap - many Heathens say they practice Germanic Paganism.

Modern Heathens don't include atheists as being among themselves. Neither do Pagans. And most atheists are well-educated enough to know that there are *religious* people who call themselves Heathens.

Read more about Heathenry:
http://www.answers.com/topic/heathenry-1

So, no matter what your dictionary says, atheists probably won't refer to themselves as "Heathens" because *they're better educated than that*.

Words and symbols chage their meaning over time. "Heathen" and "Pagan" have changed their meanings, and in a religion forum, it's best to know how those are used by the people who call themselves "Heathen" or "Pagan".

Answer 8

A. The fools who are given the oppurtunies to write for dictionaries are probably stupid christian skum.
B. I don't personally care what you call me, because the only thing I'll be calling you is an ambulance! But it is highly unlikely that I would ever talk to anyone like you.

Answer 9

Is that supposed to be hurtful? It's not.

A heathen implies that I adhere to biblical ideals. I do not. The word atheist fits better and is a more acceptable description of me. And for the record, I "sin" less than most christians I know!

Answer 10

Wow, it's religious extremists like you who give the rest of the religious world a bad name.

WWJD? He certainly wouldn't go around calling people "heathens" and he definitely wouldn't single out people for being different then him.

Please, stop acting like your point of view is the only point of view! You're making things worse for everyone!

Answer 11

Why don't you state which "dictionary" you claim to have gotten this definition from? The only heathen here is you.