A serious question for atheists?

Question

only asking this because i am ignorant and want to know so please don't bash me. please tell me what it means to be an atheist. i only know what i have been told by other ignorant people and that is that they do not believe in God. is that the whole belief?

then where did we come from?

Answer 1

An atheist is somebody who does not believe in gods. By extension, most atheists don't believe in any supernatural forces or an afterlife.

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We came from our parents, who came from their ancestors, who came from older variations on our form of life, who arose from simpler forms of life, which emerged as very basic lifeforms organized themselves together for survival, all of which began as complex molecules developed the ability to self-replicate.

Answer 2

An atheist is one who does not believe in God, or any deity for that matter. Rather than simply lacking in theistic beliefs, as may be the definition of an agnostic person (which is a whole other debate I wont go into), atheists actively disagree with the notion of God and religion.

The degree to which atheists deny the existence of deities differs from person to person. Whilst some are entirely intolerant to the possibility, others merely await some form of proof.

The definition, therefore, of an atheist differs greatly and is most likely affected by a combination of factors. It is NOT however, a 'belief' in a theistic sense. It's very definition, however many variables of that there are, implies a 'disbelief',

Answer 3

Atheism is simply accepting the fact that there is no real evidence for God beyond individual experiences and emotional belief.

Beyond that we all have differing beliefs and ways of life.

I personally have found great joy in Atheism. I understand that I am in control of the benefit that I can offer to mankind, and that the world isn't headed for disaster.

I used to find hope in Christianity, but only because I was told that the world was evil and that men would always devolve into chaos. That was a lie. I now have hope for the world and hope in mankind, and see the results of others who do.

Other Atheists like Doctors, Scientists, Technologists and Inventors are providing a majority of the new things that are helpful to mankind. That is not an accident, it is a result of philosophy. Preachers, Priests, Monks, Imams and Pastors do not offer mankind anything but hope. Hope is important, but not valuable if it offers itself at the expense of other humans or offers to help people to get away from something that isn't a reality, and into something else that doesn't have any evidense for existence.

Answer 4

Theism is the belief in a god or gods. Atheism is the lack of belief in a god. "Non-theism" means exactly the same thing, and is perhaps more understandable because it does not carry with it the emotional baggage often associated with the word "atheism."

As for where we come from, that's a question for science to answer over time. If you insist that somehow that knowledge is already available, that to me seems presumptuous. Atheists, by and large, are comfortable with saying that we don't yet fully understand the origins of life, but there are advances being made almost daily. Each discovery draws us closer to being able to duplicate the creation of early life. Recent estimates said that scientists should be able to do so within about 10 years. But I am certain that such findings will generate more questions than it does answers. Such is the way of science.

If I can summarize an observation, theists seem uncomfortable with not knowing, and so insert a belief that some divine power did stuff. This seems to me to be the same thing as saying a demon causes the flu (rather than, as we now understand, a virus).

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Answer 5

It sounds like another leading rhetorical question. Why do you say you ask a serious question, then ask "where did we come from?" Just because religion attempts to answer this question, does not mean they are correct or that they have your best interests in mind. More than likely it is quite the contrary.

Atheism/agnosticism does not try to answer such questions from a top down approach. Doesn't mean they aren't interested. But the bottom up is preferred, so that it has a solid foundation compared to the blow-in-the-wind top down approach of theists. Most 'non-believers' are content with the explanation: "I give my own life purpose, for I am the best equipped to do that" and "The anthropic principle should not be abused. Seeing god in everything does exactly that, and so-called 'believers' need to take a step back and realize this".

Examples of violations of the AP? "god looks just like us", "the universe is so complex, it just HAD to be created by someone who looks like us", "creation must be true otherwise my sense of causality is violated", "I can't imagine change happening over millions of generations because my life is only around 70 years and I may see only three generations; therefore those changes don't happen", "Every time a change could happen, it is because of that guy that looks like me, even though I have never seen how 'he' did it", "The way I see the world is the only way that world actually is in 'reality'", "We couldn't have come from bacteria, because bacteria don't look like us"...

....And so on. Any more questions?

Answer 6

That's it, plain and simple. An atheist does not believe in a god or gods. Generally this is because they've examined the evidence and often many religions and have concluded that there is no evidence for any supreme being and that the various religions are full of contradictions and fallacies.

There is no unified atheist movement, agenda, or even central belief system.

Answer 7

Atheists DO NOT believe that gods DO exist. That defines 'atheist'.

Religionists go around telling outlandish stories about invisible, magical, all-powerful entities and how these entities orchestrate and cause supernatural events. We simply do not believe the stories.

In general, atheists do not 'believe' simply because they find that the reasons or evidence purported to support the idea that invisible, magical sky-fairies 'exist' (gods) are not compelling, and thus are insufficient to initiate or support a mental state of 'belief'.

Religionists say that makes us 'atheists'. I say that just makes us 'sane'.

The word 'atheist' was not made up by atheists. Is there a word for people who do not believe in astrology?... the Easter bunny?... magical pink unicorns? No... there is only one reason that the word exists... another label was required ... along with heretic, apostate, etc... so they could briefly jot down the reason why they were torturing somebody, or burning them at the stake, or chucking them into a vat of boiling oil. Also, it was useful in law... making documents was expensive, so they could save space and expense by saying things like: "Heretics, apostates and atheists shalt be painfully and messily disembowled, and to defile their vile mortal remains the bishops shalt pisseth upon them, and then burn them upon a pile of dried horse dung." See? Economical use of language.

The world could get along quite nicely without the words atheist, agnostic, unbeliever, rationalist, humanist. All of those could be clumped together quite nicely if the religionists would simply refer to us as '... those sane people'.

"When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion." ~ Robert M. Pirsig
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Answer 8

To me, atheism is a reaction to the belief in God, espoused by the majority. Theism is the opposite. All Christians are theists, but not all theists are Christians. All Mahayana Buddhists are atheists (in the Biblical sense), but not all atheists are spiritual of course.

I myself am studying Zen philosophy, a school of the Mahayana movement. I am also a naturalist; I believe science explains all natural phenomena. But many atheists are strictly secular humanists with no spiritual interests.

I hope this helps.

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Answer 9

Atheism == (A) (Theism) == (Without) (God Belief)

Thats it an atheist is anyone who does not believe in gods. Atheism isn't a belief at all. Its just a lack of belief in gods. Beyond that all atheists are different and believe in different things.

As far your second question as where we came from (Really you mean why we exist) . Many atheists just honestly admit they don't know and leave it at that. Personally I am a Tegmarkian Neo-Platonist and believe everything exists because it is based on timeless necessary Mathematics.

See http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0704/0704.0646v1.pdf

Answer 10

That's pretty much it. It's not a cult. Atheist just describes one aspect of a person's belief system (there is no god), aside from that atheists can differ considerably: some are liberal, some conservative, some wealthy, some poor, some educated, some not and they can come from all parts of the globe. It's not really a lifestyle or anything like that.