Christians, please tell me your understanding of the word "atheist"?

Question

Explane to me what you understand from their way of thinking and what you really think they are

Do you think they actually *know* that there's a god, and they just deny it so they can do what they want?


Yes, I know not all of you have such deffinitions, so just give me your thoughts

I can't pick a best answer for this question since there is none. I am puting the question for voting, and hoping to have a christian's best answer, since I asked the question to christians

Thanks everyone for answering, every single answer was a great help

Answer 1

I will say from a Buddhist perspective:

They are merely the balance to the belief in God. They are the "disbelief" in God, or, better worded, the "belief that there is no God."

The balance is merely "Belief" itself. Believing there is no God is "Up" and Believing there IS a God is "Down" - without "Down" can you define or reference "up" and if not, how do you explain it?

Since one cannot prove God nor disprove God, the only thing one should do is not waste time on such trivia and to "stop believing" all together.

Belief is the illusory mind of the ordinary person

Answer 2

As a Pagan. I know that there are different forms of Atheism. The only one I can think of right off hand, are the DALO Atheists. Although I don't know the difference between the different sects, I think that the majority of Atheists are those who believe mostly in science and evolution. I'm sure that some believe that their "higher power" resides in themselves, but I don't remember what those people are called, Jainists, I think. However, I'm not an Atheist nor have I ever been, and have no basis for judgement. Especially since it's not my place. Good luck.

Answer 3

The atheists I know do not believe in God, gods, goddesses, deities, or (in most cases) supernatural phenomena of any sort. However, I've spoken with atheists about the "spiritual atheism" movement, and have heard varying opinions from atheists who both support and deny the concept of spiritual atheism. The atheists I know, and I know many of them, don't worship deities, generally because they don't see any strong evidence to support such belief. Otherwise, the primary difference between myself (as a Christian) and them (as atheists) is that I believe in God, and they don't. Otherwise, we're pretty much the same. We're human beings. I know that in my social, political and other dealings, I often find myself agreeing with atheists.

Answer 4

My understanding is that Atheism is a philosophical view. A Belief that must be nurtured else it withers away.

I think it has a lot to do with "how" a person is brought up. Perhaps a personal experience led them to become non-believers. Classic example is Madalyn Murray O'Hair's philosophical view about religion in general, prayer specifically. Her passion led to historical changes concerning avocation of prayer in our school system. Her death along with the death of Jon her son and Robin her grand daughter was their payment for their beliefs or non-beliefs.

So that's the "beat around the bush" answer. I sincerely believe atheists have had a "reason" or "experience" or "trauma" in their life which fostered their belief that God does not exist. It is a mind set. They refuse to "see" the living signs that God shows us daily that he does exist. I think they are the "Thomas'" who wanted to "touch the wounds" before he could believe Jesus was resurrected. Atheist want scientific proof. Concrete documented proof before they accept God's existence.

As we can surmise atheists must have their belief nurtured to remain active. As we know her son Bill now deplores his mother's stance and is a "born again Christian" but many believe he did it for the same reason his mother became an atheist -- political and economical reasons.

Answer 5

I've never been much of a Christian, but I did grow up in a pseudo-Christian cult, soooo...

much like religious folk, atheists come in all kinds of flavors.

Some (well, many, actually), were religious, perhaps spiritual, but were devastated by some kind of tragedy and decided that there must not be a God if ______ happens.

Of course, that's not logical, because some people go through a tragedy and become more faithful. I mean, it's a personal choice to believe in God or not, but it's not logical proof that God doesn't exist because of a bad event.

Some atheists are humanists, believing that all good and bad comes from humans and nature and whatnot.

If atheists had proof of God's existence and chose not to believe...well, that wouldn't happen. Nobody's come up with conclusive, scientifically verifiable proof of God's existence yet, only anecdotal evidence.

So if they had proof, of course they'd sell it to every tabloid available and make millions.

I suppose some atheists are ornery critters who play devil's advocate and are atheist just to be contrary...but I'd say they're few and far between.

Many people wouldn't mind believing in God but just can't. Some atheists are actually a little jealous that believers have faith, even if it's faith in something they don't think exists. They might feel a little wistful, or bitter at the faith they just don't have.

Some atheists are far removed from everything good and so avoid religion like vampires avoid garlic.

Of course, not all religious people are particularly good, either.

Atheism is a personal reaction to God, spirituality, the universe, all the big stuff. I don't think atheists are that easy to categorize.

That said, I'm no atheist, and though I'm OK with their non-belief, I don't espouse atheism in any way. But as with people in other religions, as long as their atheism makes them a better person (like, if it gives them a strong sense of personal responsibility), then OK, it works for them. That's alright.

Part of religious freedom is the freedom from being religious, if that's what you choose. Yay, U.S.! At least we mean well...

Answer 6

An athiest is someone who does not believe in theism. An athiest would believe that God is not real and does not exist. They have no religious or spiritual influences in their beliefs. They do not belief in any Divine being above mortal man.

They also do not believe in Heaven or hell, angels, spirits nor afterlife in any form. When you die, thats it your body eventually vanishes and so do you. They do not understand the application of faith. They will tend to ask for proof that God exists and is real due to this misunderstanding.

More than likely they see religion as a social construction to separate people. Anything spiritual must be "made up" to an athiest. Their argument is that religion causes war and separation as well as confusion.

Can you answer me what is your understanding of a Christian?

Answer 7

I read all these answers and found many of them terribly depressing. First, the term "atheist" means not believing in any god. Period. Some atheists are complete materialists, some have a spiritual life but see the term God as a myth. But all this stuff about being satanists or "angry at God" (How can you be angry at a fictional character?), or "secretly" yearning for God, etc. -- that's all pure speculation. Each hypothesis may be true of one or two atheists, but it is certainly not implied merely by the term "atheist."

Please remember that we are speaking about human beings here, very likely some of your friends and neighbors.

Answer 8

Greetings,

An Atheist would be someone whom rejects any notion of the existence of any type of deity or deities.

A person whom holds to a Atheist worldview would differ with someone whom holds to a Agnostic worldview though not by too much. Agnostic worldviews hold to the idea that personally, they are not moved by any current evidence of a deity of any kind or number however they would hold open the possibility of a deity should the right kind of evidence appear.

So an atheist would hold to a dogma that says "There is no God" while an agnostic would hold to "There is no God that I know of" but it's possible that they could be convinced at a future date of Deity.

Hope that helps,

Jeff
Seattle, WA

Answer 9

An atheist does not believe in any gods or goddesses.

The guy who said that all Christians think atheists are immoral is WAY off base. That is a lie.


There are good and bad people in ALL groups.

Thank you for asking this!

Answer 10

The prefix (a) means indifferent. Not caring one way or the other. Like Agnostics are not Atheists. They say they cannot prove there is a God, and cannot prove there isn't. I don't where all these Charismatic Agnostics and Atheists on here come from. They are nothing less than the self-righteous, hyocrites they claim many religious peoples are. Personally, I welcome a little intelligent debate.