What defines an atheist person? How can you believe there is no God?
2007-03-20 07:20:52 · 25 answers · asked by Amy 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Well, I'm not an atheist, but I can answer the question from an atheistic point of view!
> What defines an atheist person?
An atheist believes there is no god; there aren't any gods.
> How can you believe there is no God?
Most Christians do not believe in Odin, Shiva, Zeus, Huitzilopochtli, Ra. An atheist simply believes in one fewer god than you do.
The problem is that there is no direct evidence for a god, in recent years. Faith is required. It's hard to have faith with the lack of direct evidence. Sorry.
2007-03-20 08:07:38 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
An atheist is someone who does not believe in distinct supernatural entities that exert influence over the material world. That defines an "atheist person". Not just not believing in your God, disbelief in all gods that are, or have ever been believed in.
The same way you believe that the Egyptian, greco-roman, Mayan, Babylonian etc. gods are phony. Only we don't believe in one more deity than contemporary monotheists.
Its pretty straightforward. Like not believing in the Loch Ness monster. People who believe Nessie exists might get a little insistant or peevish, but that can't be helped and has no bearing on the non-existance of Nessie.
2007-03-20 14:56:04 · answer #2 · answered by corvis_9 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
An Atheist believes there is no god, a theist believes there is at least one. Christians are a particular form of theists (as are muslims, hindus, or many religious people). There is a third option, an Agnostic, who states that it is impossible to know whether or not a god exists.
How can I believe there is no god? Because I cannot believe that a hateful god would have created the universe and I cannot believe that a loving god would permit the misery (caused by nature, not free will) that exists on Earth. I also do not believe that there exists a "supernatural" realm - be it of ghosts or gods - and that all of nature is knowable (in theory) even though it may be currently unknown.
2007-03-20 14:24:29 · answer #3 · answered by Dave P 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Everyone is born an atheist. You need to be TAUGHT to believe in a God. There are literally thousands of gods out there to choose from, (spread throughout the worlds religions) and the one you wind up believing in is simply based on who you are born to, and who is teaching you.
There's a quote from Stephen F. Roberts that says:
"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."
It is simply a theory is that there IS a God. It's a theory because it is not the natural state of being. Atheism is the natural state. Now it is up to the believer to prove his/her theory that not only IS there a God, but that his/her God is the right ONE. Right now I have no reason to believe otherwise.
2007-03-20 14:26:22 · answer #4 · answered by Jess H 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
An atheist is a person who believes that there are no gods.
As to the second part of your question, let's imagine that it's Christmas Eve and you're just about to go to bed. Do you make certain that you've put out cookies and milk for Santa?
Why not?
The answer you encounter in your own mind is the answer that the atheists encounter with regard to God.
2007-03-20 14:29:33 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I was raised christian untill high school and started asking questions that no one could answer and i got labled everything from a trouble maker to a satanist for asking questions about the bible. I was not being a smart *** i had honest questions and got no answers so i went elsewhere and found the answers myself.
how can one believe there is a god? And if you do believe in a god, which one is it? there are over 2000 of them how do you know you picked the right one?
Godchecker's Mythology Encyclopedia currently features over 2,850 deities.
Your correct, neither can be proven, yet.
However you can look at the available evidence and reach conclutions.
Fact: the bible puts the age of the earth at about 6000 years old.
Fact: geology has proven the earth to be about 4,000,000,000 years old
(The oldest rocks which have been found so far (on the Earth) date to about 3.8 to 3.9 billion years ago (by several radiometric dating methods). Some of these rocks are sedimentary, and include minerals which are themselves as old as 4.1 to 4.2 billion years. Rocks of this age are relatively rare, however rocks that are at least 3.5 billion years in age have been found on North America, Greenland, Australia, Africa, and Asia)
Fact: the bible tells of a world-wide flood
Fact: no geological evidence to support the flood
(How are the polar ice caps even possible?
Such a mass of water as the Flood would have provided sufficient buoyancy to float the polar caps off their beds and break them up. They wouldn't regrow quickly. In fact, the Greenland ice cap would not regrow under modern (last 10,000 years) climatic conditions)
2007-03-20 14:28:35 · answer #6 · answered by Melanie T 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
"What defines an atheist person?" Well, I don't define myself by my lack of belief in a deity. I define myself by the things that I am, not the things I'm not. I mean, I tell people I'm a writer when discussing my profession; I don't tell people "I'm not a doctor." If you are asking what defines "atheism," it means literally "without theism," a lack of belief in the existence of deities.
"How can you believe there is no God?" I don't believe that anything exists if there is no evidence. So I don't believe in leprechauns or fire-breathing dragons or faeries or ghosts or gods or demons. I don't know of any more clear way to answer that question.
2007-03-20 14:26:56 · answer #7 · answered by N 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The definition of an atheist is someone who does not believe in any deity.
It is actually not a matter of believing there is no God, god(s), goddess(es), but more a lack of belief in any deity. You see having belief in something that cannot be proven implies faith. Atheist do not have faith that deities do not exist, they simply suspend their belief in them. Most any atheist if shown absolute, concrete, inarguable proof of the existence of a deity would accept that deity as a true entity.
As such, current theist arguments as to the proof of their deity, do not stand up to sound logical scrutiny and scientific testing, so atheist have yet to believe in a deity.
2007-03-20 14:34:16 · answer #8 · answered by DimensionalStryder 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What defines an Atheist is a belief there is no God.
How can believers believe in a God for which there is no proof? Why would anybody believe in a God? Why one God instead of another? Why not Allah or Zeus?
2007-03-20 14:25:17 · answer #9 · answered by Blackacre 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
All the above atheist responses are good but miss one other essential feature. This world is the world we live in and is the real one. All atheists hold to that view.
Therefore lack of evidence is primary: not in this world means doesn't exist.
2007-03-20 14:27:31 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋