ATHEISTS: What defines an Atheist: Lacking a belief in any gods or actively denying any god exists?

Question

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Please explain this to the Christians.

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Answer 1

Either one. But mostly lacking belief. Some do positively affirm the nonexistence of gods, but the majority of atheists are what's known as "weak atheists", meaning they lack belief.

Here's how the word breaks down:

a- (prefix) meaning "absent, lacking, without"
theism (noun) meaning "belief in the existence of a god or gods"

theism word parts:
● theos, the Greek word for "god, deity"
● ism, a noun meaning "belief or system of beliefs"

SO.... put it all together and you get "atheism", simply meaning "without god belief" or, to put it a bit more eloquently, "lack of belief in the existence of a god or gods".

Answer 2

Hmmm.... a TRUE atheist lacks a belief in any gods AND actively denies the existence of any gods.....

Someone who does not actively deny that a god(s) exist(s) would be an agnostic. An agnostic does not believe in any god but also does not deny any god. Atheists do not believe in any god and also are SURE that none exists. There is no such thing as "weak" atheism... it's agnosticism. If you lack a belief and you're not sure that there is or isn't a god... you're agnostic.... however many atheists feel that saying "I don't know" is somehow "weak" and prefer to mistakenly label themselves as atheists when they're really agnostics.

I'm actually offended that many of these definitions seem to confuse atheism vs. agnosticism. I lack a belief in any gods but I am ABSOLUTELY NOT atheist... And many atheists I know would also be offended by people simply defining them as lacking a belief in god as they also would want to be recognized as knowing that there is none.

The confusion comes from "a" which means "without" so literally atheism means without a belief in god which means the same thing as an active disbelief in god, though many misconceived atheists think that it's inactive. Agnosticism means without knowledge, which means that you lack any active belief about anything when it comes to divinities. Atheism--active; agnosticism--inactive.

Answer 3

again?

atheists lack a belief in gods.

militant atheists actively deny the existence of any & all gods.

Answer 4

There are many types of atheists. Both of these definitions could define an atheist. Whether they are weak, strong or militant atheists, they all do not believe in gods. If you don't believe in gods, it stands to reason that you would deny they exist. You can also be a humanist and a liberal, and still be an atheist.

atheist

Answer 5

I've seen this explained to Christians dozens of times in this forum. But what the hell, let's do it one more time:
Atheism is the lack of belief in a god or gods. Nothing more, nothing less. It does not indicate a belief in anything, nor does it preclude a belief in anything other than a god or gods. Clear enough?

Answer 6

"Lacking belief in". Denying the possibility of the existence of a god isn't really defensible, however one can fairly say that in the absence of any evidence or compelling reason to believe otherwise, gods should be filed with all the other human fiction until proven otherwise.

After all, you can not disprove the existence of Dionysus,

Answer 7

A lack of belief in any god and actively working against the deluded ones who do believe and are a danger to our world.

Answer 8

Their has been a recent trend to divide atheists into two categories based on what you have described:

Weak atheist - lack of belief in God.

Strong atheist - belief that their is no God.


I guess it would be up to each individual to decide how active they want to be.

Answer 9

Lacking a belief that any gods exist.

Answer 10

well imo i believe that an atheist is someone who doesn't lack a belief because the idea of lacking it would mean that they would be missing out on something, if they are actively denying it then that means they are probably just really insecure about the idea that there is a god and then would most likely be agnostic...but if they truly just don't care in general...then they have achieved the true rank of atheist =)

Answer 11

A true Atheist does not believe in God or any religion, they believe that this life is the one and only, end of story. Thomas Paine believed in god, but that is where it ended. There is some interesting info regarding him on the web. He is the most noted so called atheist.