I've recently heard various people attempt to redefine atheism.
I'm personally not cool with that. The act of one person enforcing their definition of atheism onto others seems very authoritarian and religious in its style. And I don't like atheists who try to turn atheism into a religion.
But there is this popular notion that atheism is "merely a lack of belief in Gods". This definition needs teasing apart. Is anybody, or anything that possesses this property an atheist? What about rocks and plants and trees? Surely this definition isn't enough. It must be limited to people who lack belief in God.
But okay, so maybe we all decide it's better to limit it to human beings. But here too, we have some problems. Are infants atheists? And senile old women atheists simply by virtue of not having the capacity of remember or understand, let alone believe? What about people in a coma? Are they atheists?
Strictly speaking, a potato can be an atheist, as long as a potato merely "lacks belief in Gods".
Quite evidently, I think this definition comes with some problems of its own.
Earlier in our history, the definition of atheism was quite different. When atheists were intelligent, atheism was typically defined as "A denial of the existence of God". But when it was quickly determined that this belief isn't rational, the definition fell by the wayside.
But I still think this definition carries some weight. Not in the definition itself, but in its broader implication.
You see, when people were so-called strong atheists, I think rationality didn't matter. Whether or not there was evidence for the belief didn't matter. What mattered was what they believed, and how they lived, and what they wanted. And they WANTED to live without this God-concept.
I think that is the essence, the spirit of atheism. A desire to live without the intervention of God into our daily conscious lives. And whether or not God actually existed was irrelevant.
Think about it- would any of us really be surprised or shocked if it turned out that God existed? Would we weep and mourn and cry and beg for forgiveness and try to become Christians hoping God wouldn't notice?
Of course not. We'd remain atheists.
So let's not kid ourselves that we're doing this for the evidence. I know I'm not.
I'm personally not cool with that. The act of one person enforcing their definition of atheism onto others seems very authoritarian and religious in its style. And I don't like atheists who try to turn atheism into a religion.
But there is this popular notion that atheism is "merely a lack of belief in Gods". This definition needs teasing apart. Is anybody, or anything that possesses this property an atheist? What about rocks and plants and trees? Surely this definition isn't enough. It must be limited to people who lack belief in God.
But okay, so maybe we all decide it's better to limit it to human beings. But here too, we have some problems. Are infants atheists? And senile old women atheists simply by virtue of not having the capacity of remember or understand, let alone believe? What about people in a coma? Are they atheists?
Strictly speaking, a potato can be an atheist, as long as a potato merely "lacks belief in Gods".
Quite evidently, I think this definition comes with some problems of its own.
Earlier in our history, the definition of atheism was quite different. When atheists were intelligent, atheism was typically defined as "A denial of the existence of God". But when it was quickly determined that this belief isn't rational, the definition fell by the wayside.
But I still think this definition carries some weight. Not in the definition itself, but in its broader implication.
You see, when people were so-called strong atheists, I think rationality didn't matter. Whether or not there was evidence for the belief didn't matter. What mattered was what they believed, and how they lived, and what they wanted. And they WANTED to live without this God-concept.
I think that is the essence, the spirit of atheism. A desire to live without the intervention of God into our daily conscious lives. And whether or not God actually existed was irrelevant.
Think about it- would any of us really be surprised or shocked if it turned out that God existed? Would we weep and mourn and cry and beg for forgiveness and try to become Christians hoping God wouldn't notice?
Of course not. We'd remain atheists.
So let's not kid ourselves that we're doing this for the evidence. I know I'm not.
