Can Atheism exist without Theism?

Question

A bit of confusion here. People don't start off as Atheist. Atheism much like Theism is a "choice," by yourself or people choosing for you - so it is an "effect" of knowledge, or experience. To be a Atheist you have to have knowledge of its paradox, so it becomes reactionary by default. They are polar opposites, without knowledge of what is, how can one say a person starts off as a Atheist when they are becoming aware of their very environment of physical existence?

Bottom line it is a choice. People are attempting to throw their subjectivity on the word Atheism, its classical definition is the denial of a God, or deity whatsoever. Being unaware is not Atheism, that's not even reasonable. :p

Answer 1

Atheism IS an explicit rejection of a concept set up from another source. There are no a-gorpists because there are no gorpists. So if you allow atheism to be a positive position, then no, it can't exist without theism existing first.

If theism ceased to exist, and we can only hope, then atheism would still exist because theism HAS existed - and been rejected.

Answer 2

Of course it can BUT Theism can not exists with out Atheism cos most thinking, rational people know that Invisible Sky Critters are scamming parasitic constructs designed to keep the gullible enslaved and giving money to the leeches in society.

[edit]
I noticed up above a mini-brain assumed Atheists hate god.
I can assure you that it is impossible to hate something that doesn't exist without sounding particularly stupid.
Try this at home: Is it possible to hate Pink elephants with Blue spots?
Of course not.
Why not?
Because it's a stupid question - how can you hate something that doesn't exist without sounding particularly stupid?

Answer 3

stupid question!! Mankind has been right here for over 2 MILLION years. there have been a good number of claims for hundreds if no longer 1000's of hundreds of gods in that era and christianity at in basic terms 2 thousand years is a trifling upstart!! Atheism is the understanding that there are not this form of issues as gods!! Does understanding a tumbler is empty place self belief in there being a liquid that would desire to fill it?!!

Answer 4

It can in the meaning of no one beliving in things. If there weren't theists, everyone would automatically be atheist. Though, there wouldn't be those determinations, for atheism, is opposed to theism. So, there would exist the feeling and thought, but not the denomination of it!

Answer 5

This is kind of like asking "Can vegetarians exist without meat-eaters?" The word "atheism" is a grammatically negative one, with the prefix "a" (meaning "without"). So granted, yes, it is defined on a negative. However, that hardly invalidates atheism. The people would be no different; they just might have a different label.

Answer 6

Yes, but when theism has totally disappeared (hypothetically) we just won't generally bother to name it.

The intermediate stage will be where atheism is the norm, and theism is defined against *it*.

I suppose at one point the revolutionary a-flat earthers defined themselves by what they didn't believe, but that changeover is now effectively complete.

Answer 7

Well, know. Atheism is willingly not believing in anything religious. Without Theism, you can't make that decision. You have a good point!

Answer 8

Sure. In a sense, the rest of the animal kingdom are atheists. They don't pray or believe in any higher power. They live their lives and experience the world through their senses, not by re-interpreting the world through their emotional needs.

Answer 9

The concept, oh definitely.
A-theism means "not having a god in which one believes."
My cat is very atheistic!
But, she has no words for it,
so the word really would not exist, no.

Answer 10

Atheism has always existed without theism.