What do atheists believe in?

Question

I am a Christian and enjoy learning about religion and understanding people's religious rituals and/or peferences. Many people judge groups before understanding what they believe in. But I will like to know more than "Atheist don't believe in God!" What do you all believe in? And if its not too much, why did you choose to become an Atheist?

Answer 1

This question gets asked a lot.

The only thing that ties together atheists is the belief in no gods. Typically, though not necessarily, atheists extend that no-gods idea to include no-supernatural, no ghosts, spirits, magic, 'energy', crystal healing, horoscopes, or any other woo. They generally accept the theory of evolution, abiogenesis, and the Big Bang, but saying they 'believe' in those theories is mildly inaccurate - it's not a matter of belief when there's lots of supporting evidence.

Belief, in atheists, is typically something like this: I believe that the world is basically as it seems. There are no behind-the-scenes masterminds, no invisible beings, no revelations, no 'great lie' or 'matrix' or anything like that. I believe that our senses, while capable of being fooled, are useful tools in determining the reality of the world we inhabit. I believe in freedom of religion, and within that, freedom from religion. (Again, this is generalizing, and you can find exceptions to just about all of the above. But I think the majority of atheists would agree with each of the above.)

Personally, I don't know that I chose to become an atheist. When I was about twelve, I realized that I didn't believe what the church taught, and that I had never really believed it. I thought it was sort of like telling kids about Santa Claus.

Answer 2

First off as the official representative of the Atheists I want to say we don’t have a representative. That means there is no single book we all subscribe to and we all believe the same thing.

I think most atheist agree that they don’t know how the universe and life started but they don’t see any evidence that an all powerful god has had anything to do with it or with our development. i think most would be very open to understanding how this all happened but its not in our capability. because I don't know does not mean a god did it.

In human history man has always blamed god for everything we did not understand. Sickness, plagues where of god. Then the germ was discovered and we started being cleaner and disease where reduced.

The stars where gods at one point. What do you know they aren’t.
People in the past believed in gods well before Jesus ever showed up. Those people lived and died for their beliefs; but just because they believed did not make it true. nothing has changed.

It is arrogant to say that we know more about god today than anyone in the past so how could they be wrong and we state we are correct. The answer is simple human arrogance.

Humans make all gods focused on their needs when in reality if they where gods we should be focused on their needs.

The more I would study the less I could believe. I finaly came to the conclusion that if he did exist, it was a god who has not and does not communicate with us.

Faith is believing in what other humans tell you to believe without evidence. By asking these question in a manor that is logical, you might have the same realization I did.

Answer 3

Well, you should probably know about the Dawkins scale;

7 - absolute Atheist -there is no god
6- de facto atheist -there's probably no god
5 - strong agnostic - there might not be a god
4 - absolute agnostic - no idea
3 - weak agnostic - there might be a god
2 - de facto theist - there's probably a god
1 - absolute theist - there is a god

Personally, I'm all over the upper half of the Dawkins scale depending on which god you're talking about and how much I know about the mythology associated with them. Jehovah; 7. Allah: 6.5. Zeus, Thor etc, 5. God-like aliens; 4.

Philosophically, I am a humanist. I have a conscience.
Politically, I believe Democracy as we know it isn't democratic enough. I'm an Altra Democrat but not an Ultra Liberal. I'm a moderate liberal. If every single non-liberal were killed tomorrow, I would be Bill O'Reily. I believe in equality and freedom, but if I have to pick one, Freedom it is.

But above all, I believe in logic.

Answer 4

Atheists don't believe in a God, dogma, or religion. There are many reasons why someone will choose such paths. This may include not feeling a presence of God, seeing inconsistencies in religion, or wanting hard proof.

Don't confuse Atheists with Agnostics as I have seen people do. Agnostics are somewhat skeptics for both sides. They believe you cannot prove or disprove God. As an agnostic, I see religion as a cultural/moral guideline but not necessarily the truth. I try to only believe what I can logically understand but won't shun other beliefs either for petty differences.

Answer 5

The necessity of a BELIEF is contingent upon an unknown and an immediacy.

It is a feeling that generates this immediacy. It is not necessarily a requirement of survival to let this feeling dictate the 'need' for an explanation. Therefore, beliefs largely unnecessary, albeit everyone has them. They certainly don't need to be cuddled or tucked into bed at night as most 'believers' like to do.

For me, my 'beliefs' only surface when asked a direct question about a specific conjectured belief. I also don't have a box of beliefs that I pull out to show someone when they ask such a generalized question.

Answer 6

Basically, not believing in god is all that makes one an atheist. We don't have rituals or rules or anything like that, especially no beliefs in the supernatural. I became an atheist in college, after examining the religion I was brought up in, and then the concept of god itself.

Answer 7

Because we are not part of a religion, it is hard to say what atheists believe in. The only thing that anyone can generalize with certainty is that we do not believe in the existence of gods.

Answer 8

Well, I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman's back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days. [pause] Goodnight.

From Bull Durham

Answer 9

Many atheists have an affinity for the acquisition of knowledge by the scientific method.

I chose to become an atheist because
1. there is a lack of any evidence for god(s)
2. supernatural beliefs seem rather silly
3. all theistic systems of belief suffer from logical fallacies and contradictions

Answer 10

It's really hard to generalize. For people who do believe in god or whatever, I think the idea that life can be lived, and quite fully, without a supernatural kind of support system is really hard to grasp. But, guess what? It's possible!
Not believing in god actually doesn't leave a hole! WOW!