whats the difference between nihilism and atheism?

Answer 1

atheisem is when u dont believe in god well the cathlic,muslim christian or any powerul god...did i spell it right this time? anyways nihilism basicaly means they dont believe that life has a real reason, and there is a big difference so to the other ppl who said there is no difference yall are idiots and dont kno much....

Answer 2

Nihilism is a very negative way of looking at the world. Nothing is ever good enough and because it's never good enough, it should be rejected entirely.

Atheists don't believe in God or an afterlife. They can be nihilists as well but it's not inevitable. Atheists often live with great love for their families, friends, nature, science, learning in general and that makes them anything but nihilists.
In fact, according to some ways of thinking, religion is closer to nihilism than atheism. The very reason behind their religion is that the world is not good enough for them as it is. The world has no value at all next to Heaven, Nirvana etc. Not all religious people think this way, in fact most of them do value their daily lives very much.

Answer 3

I believe that realizing that there is no God can make your thinking nihilistic. It's not really depressing, it's just a different way of seeing things.

"Once upon a time, in some out of the way corner of that universe which is dispersed into numberless twinkling solar systems, there was a star upon which clever beasts invented knowing. That was the most arrogant and mendacious minute of "world history," but nevertheless, it was only a minute. After nature had drawn a few breaths, the star cooled and congealed, and the clever beasts had to die. One might invent such a fable, and yet he still would not have adequately illustrated how miserable, how shadowy and transient, how aimless and arbitrary the human intellect looks within nature. There were eternities during which it did not exist. "

-Friedrich Nietzsche

Edit: I didn't explain what the difference is because I think you were trying to make a point. Here are definitions for you to compare.

a·the·ist

a·the·ist [áythiist]
(plural a·the·ists)
n
unbeliever in God or deities: somebody who does not believe in God or deities

Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.


ni·hil·ism

ni·hil·ism [n ə lìzzəm, n ə lìzzəm, níhi lìzzəm]
n
1. total rejection of social mores: the general rejection of established social conventions and beliefs, especially of morality and religion
2. belief that nothing is worthwhile: a belief that life is pointless and human values are worthless
3. disbelief in objective truth: the belief that there is no objective basis for truth
4. belief in destruction of authority: the belief that all established authority is corrupt and must be destroyed in order to rebuild a just society
5. or ni·hil·ism or Ni·hil·ismRussian political movement: a political movement in late 19th-century Russia that sought to bring about a socially just new society by destroying the existing one through acts of terrorism and assassination


[Early 19th century. From German Nihilismus , from Latin nihil “nothing.”]


-ni·hil·ist, n
-ni·hil·is·tic [n ə lístik, n ə lístik], adj
-ni·hil·is·ti·cal·ly [n ə lístikəlee, n ə lístikəlee], adv
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Edit: for the fellow below me, pondering the idea that your whole life is meaningless is something that people from all sides avoid. For you to say that you are concerned with the truth is a joke. Realizing that truth may not exist might bring you closer to it. I try not to avoid contemplating anything.

Answer 4

Nihilism (from the Latin nihil, nothing) is a philosophical position which argues that the world, especially past and current human existence, is without objective meaning, purpose, comprehensible truth, or essential value. Nihilists generally assert some or all of the following: there is no reasonable proof of the existence of a higher ruler or creator, a "true morality" does not exist, and secular ethics are impossible; therefore, life has no truth, and no action can be preferable to any other

Atheism is simply the belief that there is no God. Atheists can still have moral beliefs & ethics.

Answer 5

Atheism doesn't believe in any god.

Nihilist don't believe in anything and don't think that anything really matters because it is all the same in the end.

I find nihilism to be rather depressing.

Answer 6

I enjoyed the many answers already provided, especially nihilizer's citation of Nietzsche.

I continue to be disturbed by the misrepresentation of atheism. A- simply means without. An atheist is without belief in God or gods. To reemphasize, "without belief".

Nihilism is belief in nothing.

Atheists belief in many things, they just don't believe that sufficient evidence or reason exists to justify belief in God or gods.

Nihilists do not believe in God or gods, so they are also atheists. Most atheists believe many things, they just don't believe in God or gods. Atheists are not nihilists.

Answer 7

It takes 9 seconds for the YAnswers web page to open for me to be able to click on the [add your answer] button. does this mean my laptop is slow?

Answer 8

You know, Wikipedia exists for a reason. Read both articles and compare them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihilism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

Answer 9

Atheists search for truth. Nihilists don't believe truth exists.
Religionists are closer to nihilists than atheists are - they substitute mythology for the truths that both they and the nihilists fear to contemplate.

Answer 10

nihilism says nothing exists... You are all figments of my imagination,,, muhahahahahahahahah

atheism just denies the existence of God... so to answer your question, not much....