[split] Definitions of Atheism

[Atheist(KM)]

Atheism is the lack of belief in a god or gods existence, and I, have proof.
http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definit...?q=atheism

[frz]

Hey, I'm a material guy believing in a material world. God/s and supernatural doesn't make sense to me. And if you think about it, god/s and supernatural falls under the same category of things that are not there. So I don't see the point really to believe or disbelieve in one and not the other. I find it silly to replace one imaginary thing with another.

[CleanShavenJesus]

Atheism is the lack of belief in a god or gods existence, and I, have proof.
http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definit...?q=atheism

A bit of an old topic

[Atheist(KM)]

Atheism is the lack of belief in a god or gods existence, and I, have proof.
http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definit...?q=atheism

A bit of an old topic

My apologizes, I didn't look at the date, sorry about that.

[iameatingjam]

A theist doesn't necessarily believe in all supernatural things
So why does an atheist have to not believe in all supernatural things?

[Brayton.l]

A bit of an old topic

My apologizes, I didn't look at the date, sorry about that.

I wouldn't sweat it. I for one, do not have time to scrutinize every single post on every single topic. I think they are pretty accepting here. Although I did get a scary picture posted at me for "necroposting" not long ago. lol

I like to add confusion by stating that I am an anti-theist. I think saying I am an atheist is rather passive. Anti-theist seems to me to suggest an active disbelief which best describes my view. Rather than a simple lack of belief

I am also a skeptic. Which, like a few people above have already stated, seems to come with the territory.

[Ryantology]

I like to add confusion by stating that I am an anti-theist. I think saying I am an atheist is rather passive. Anti-theist seems to me to suggest an active disbelief which best describes my view. Rather than a simple lack of belief

Anti-theist, as the term is generally used, is probably more accurately described as 'anti-religious', as in, actively opposed to religion or faith, because you can't be against something that doesn't exist. I think the term you're looking for is 'gnostic atheist'.

[Brayton.l]

I like to add confusion by stating that I am an anti-theist. I think saying I am an atheist is rather passive. Anti-theist seems to me to suggest an active disbelief which best describes my view. Rather than a simple lack of belief

Anti-theist, as the term is generally used, is probably more accurately described as 'anti-religious', as in, actively opposed to religion or faith, because you can't be against something that doesn't exist. I think the term you're looking for is 'gnostic atheist'.

I'm afraid I have to disagree.

From the Oxford Dictionary.

An antitheist is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "One opposed to belief in the existence of a god." The earliest citation given for this meaning is from 1833. An antitheist may be opposed to belief in the existence of any god or gods, and not merely one in particular.

[Angrboda]

I think it would be helpful if there were an additional confirmation dialog between the posting submission and actually posting the comment, such that the user would be more likely to recognize the import of their actions. I don't know how possible or impossible this would be under myBB however.


As long as we're on the age old question, a few observations. First, lexicography has historically been in the control of theists who, it seems, tended to use the "denies the existence of" language in definition of the word atheist in English language dictionaries. While in theory, dictionaries are simply descriptive tools, they're often used in a proscriptive manner and definitions motivated by concerns other than usage can and have impacted the language all on their own.

Beyond that, I think that when people refer to "atheism" they may not all be referring to the same thing, especially when talking to theists. An atheist may be thinking specifically of atheism as either a statement of belief or a "philosophical" position, and, as noted, a person can embrace either skepticism or anti-theism in addition to atheism as a lack of belief (and skepticism isn't a unified position, either; you have people who are skeptical of ghosts and ESP, but not of alternative medicine claims like healing magnets). A theist may, in particular, be looking at the social dimension of how people who are atheists express themselves socially. The possibilities and realities in this area have been made all too visible by the Atheist+ movement. There is a sense in which atheism is both a position on the existence of gods, but also a social movement or peer group. I think it's a valid observation that there is more going on with a typical atheist than just "lack of belief," at least in a self-consciously atheist person. However, to the best of my understanding and knowledge, the psychological and sociological concepts and constructs for describing such a dimension do not exist at this time, so we're left dealing with the question in terms of the language of belief, and an anthropologically oriented "self-description," in which members of a group have privileged status in terms of defining group membership. Perhaps eventually, we'll have a better way of characterizing these things, but for now, I suspect that the lack of belief language is the best and most robust description available. For now, the paradigm of "belief" is the most natural and defensible model for describing atheists, and I suspect, that attempting to get a handle on additional dimensions of atheism while remaining within the paradigm of "belief" will be futile; lack of belief is likely the best we can do given this particular psychological conceptual framework.

(I'll respond briefly to Mister Agenda's ghost to point out that, particularly in the Eastern world, there are major religious traditions which either do not postulate something which could be labeled a god, or, if the gods exist, they do not occupy a central role in the affairs of believers. Henotheism is an additional problem. However, many of these religions accept the existence of metaphysical postulates and phenomena which would readily attract the label of supernatural belief.)

(ETA: A minor observation. When people talk about "supernatural" in relation to atheism, and specifically in relation to atheists who define their atheism as rejection of the supernatural, the term "supernatural" achieves a breadth of scope it seldom does in ordinary usage. Typically supernatural is a modifying property of a specific proposition or concept, like ghosts or ESP. However, its usage in discussing atheism is much more inclusive and ill-defined, such that even unnamed beliefs fall under the umbrella, whether enumerated or not. In particular, beyond the fact that this trends towards a breed of scientism in practice, and includes an undesirable indexical, the change of usage of the word "supernatural" suggests to me that there's more here than meets the eye.)

[Anomalocaris]

I've been speaking with RaphaelDrake, and he disagrees with the common definition of atheism that is strictly adfhered to on AF: that atheism simply means: lack of belief in god/s.

Raphael states that atheism is also this:

Atheism is the lack of belief in anything unproven/ Atheists don't believe anything supernatural without proof

So what do you think?
Is the above statement accurate for all atheists?
Is a-theism: literally not a(without) theism(belief in god/s)?
Is atheism also anti anything supernatural?

No.
Yes.
Can't even be dignified with a "no"