Are you an atheist?

Question

What is the belief of an antheist? Or do anthiests have NO belief?

but isn't having no belief in god or superstition itself a form of belief?

Gnu: I didn't say "lack of belief". I said NO belief in god and/or superstition....The difference is big. Ppl who believe in god and/or deities surrender their creative power and their ability to know the potentially unknown to some higher spiritual power.

Also even if this lack of belief is a form of belief does not necessarily mean that you have to believe any nonsense you see, hear, feel or touch.

i need to go now, but will explain when i come back.

Gnu: back, lets continue.

"....Just as having no money is lacking any money".

Yes, but just because a person lacks in money doesn't mean that he/she lacks in everything else. Lacking in one thing is NOT lacking in everything. One thing is not everything.

"You seem to be attempting to draw some distinction, but you're failing."

There is a distinction. Your comments over generalize things. Just because i don't score above 180 points in my IQ test, does this make me "lack in intelligence" and therefore a complete moron??

“I don't believe that there are matrilineal tribes in Uganda. I don't disbelieve either. (See, this works with things one can test and observe.)……….My lack of belief regarding such tribes does not constitute a belief of some queer sort. I simply have no beliefs on the subject."

Ahh......so this is where the confusion is. That’s because you don’t CARE and this may or may not have anything to do with your belief system in general. Well, actually being apathetic could also be a form of belief, eg, political apathy.

Now, atheists and religious ppl don’t see things that way! They either believe in GOD and try to argue that god exists, OR that they don’t believe in GOD and try to disprove its existence. So finally let me explain this statement I made earlier:

“..but isn't having no belief in god or superstition itself a form of belief?”

So how is having No belief in God or superstition itself a form of belief? Am I saying that being a non-atheist is also a form of belief? What exactly does a non-atheist and non-religious person believe?

Well, a person’s view can be sacred (hold belief in god) or atheistic (hold belief that there is in fact, NO god & try to disprove its existence) or SECULAR…..Interesting isn’t it? Most ppl think there should only be two general forms of belief system but I am saying there are THREE. Want prove? – Modern capitalist and anarchist values belong to the third form and many of us are living by those values RIGHT NOW.

Hmmm… is there anything else I can help you with? ;-)

just wanna add one more comment:

"Is not believing that there are purple leprechauns hiding in your closet and rummaging through your laundry basket when you aren't looking a belief"

Yes. its simply impossible for us humans not to be living within some kind of ideological framework. you could believe that there are purple leprechauns hiding in your closet if you really wanted to. Absurd? Many ppl believe that ghosts exist but where is the prove?

Penny - perhaps you should try to understand why so many modern day men/women insist on using 'facts'.

Answer 1

I don't like being called an "Atheist", it infers that there is something to be against.
I prefer "Realist" because I only believe in what is real.
The religious zealots just call us that to belittle us and they are just as bad and even worse than we realists who would just rather live and let live.

Answer 2

Is not believing that there are purple leprechauns hiding in your closet and rummaging through your laundry basket when you aren't looking a belief?

There are countless matters about which one may lack belief, most of which have simply never come up! (Like any number of absurd things I could propose, such as the purple leprechauns.)

If you start counting lack of belief as a belief, then you have to accept that you have beliefs about all sorts of things you've never even considered.

Certainly an odd view.

By the way, I am neither atheist, nor agnostic, nor theist.

EDIT

Having no belief is lacking any belief. And having no belief on a subject is lacking any belief on that subject. Just as having no money is lacking any money. You seem to be attempting to draw some distinction, but you're failing.

EDIT

You also completely missed the point with the leprechauns.

I don't believe that there are matrilineal tribes in Uganda. I don't disbelieve either. (See, this works with things one can test and observe.) I haven't studied the matter. I haven't considered it. My lack of belief regarding such tribes does not constitute a belief of some queer sort. I simply have no beliefs on the subject. And there are countless other subjects about which I have no belief.

Answer 3

Atheists do not believe in gods.

Of course atheists believe in lots of other things - trees, cars, streets, cats, clouds, love, right and wrong, and all of the gajillions of other real things in the world around us.

How could anyone possibly "have no belief"?
================
"but isn't having no belief in god or superstition itself a form of belief?"

Well, no. How could having no belief be having a belief?

Don't be fooled by word games - words have meanings, and you have to pay attention to them.

Shivers (below), most American atheists were Christians before they became atheists. It's not a matter of "not having heard" or of "being too young". It's a matter of having decided to be honest about the fact that there's no evidence for the existence of any gods and drawing the obvious conclusion.

Answer 4

I have a belief in a higher power, so I cannot claim Atheism, even though I don't believe in a God nor am I sold on the idea of an afterlife.

"Some people spend their lives in pursuit of happiness and a paradise on Earth, I found paradise at the age of three, when I met my friend, a little plumber named Mario, and we got the princess out of the appropriate castle." - Mighty Macabros

edit: I believe I have a thumb stalker. Must have made someone mad with one of my answers tonight...Oh well, I will have to remind myself to care about that later on.

Answer 5

A - the - ist
"A" = Without
"the" = god
"ist" = subscriber / believer

Basically.
Given that a "theist" believes in a god in some form or other... an "atheist" is by definition without belief in a god.


Nothing more is defined by the term.

Now while my personal beliefs are atheistic in that they do not include a god of any sort... I don't tend to call myself an atheist as it does absolutely nothing to describe my world-view.


Oh, and you pique my interest in your strange choice of spelling when you say "antheist" .... Were you trying to refer to "antitheists"? ... I'm sure if I tell you that where "A" means "without" that "Anti" means "against"... you'd be able to figure that one out.
And yes.... more specifically my beliefs are also antitheistic.... in that I am directly opposed to the idea of gods (and those who would believe such).

Answer 6

I'd always thought an atheist was a person who had not heard of any religion/god and therefore is unaware, whereas someone who is agnostic is aware of possible existence of a god, but chooses not to believe.
Edit: after reading some definitions, an atheist appears to be someone who denies any existence of god or is too young to know about such matters.
Edit : Apologies Paul S, as I'm an Australian and have very limited knowledge of American history.

Answer 7

Yes I am an atheist because I do not believe in any god or gods.

As to your second point - you must be an Apotterist because you do not believe in the existence of Harry Potter.

Answer 8

No way am I an atheist. In my life I have seen and experienced too many wondrous things.

Being a nominal Christian I cannot say I am enamoured of organized religion but didn't one of Shakespeare's characters profoundly say "Horatio, there are more things in heaven and earth that we can conceive of". That about sums it up.

Answer 9

I'm an athiest and I believe in lots of things ( humanity, equal rights, pro choice movements, social responsibility.... ) - just not deities.

EDIT - being an athiest isn't a form of belief as we dont believe in things without evidence. There is no concrete evidence to support the existance of a god - it is not Faith based but Fact based and therefore not a form of belief.

Answer 10

An atheist is a person who has no belief in any higher power. And no, that's not a belief, it's a view over life