What is the name for modern atheists?

[RoadRunner79]

[quote='lkingpinl' pid='1070073' dateline='1443807013']
Bambi,

I appreciate you asking the question, I think it's a good one.  What I find is that unlike religious ideologies where there are core beliefs and subsequent beliefs which delineates the sect of the core belief, Atheism spouses one belief and one only:  There is no God or Gods.  Out of that there are no subsequent beliefs.  Evolution is separate and there are atheists who accept evolution and atheists who think it has serious issues, but it has nothing to do with their atheism.  I honestly think Atheist has no sect, nor needs one.  They are not espousing a belief in anything requiring sub-categorization, they are only espousing a single statement about a specific topic.  No God.  

At best, you will get agnostic atheist or gnostic atheist.  There are some that are not comfortable with the logic of making a definitive statement about something unknowable, others are fine with it.

You have selected one of the two common definitions of "atheism," but you have selected the one that is not the most popular here.  I have started a thread about this before; here is the first post from it:

There seems to be quite a lot of time wasted on the question of the meaning of the term "atheism."  I think I can explain why people talk past each other on this.  Quite simply, there is more than one standard meaning of the English term "atheism."

Take a look at:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/atheism?s=t

There you will see (unless, of course, they change it between when I quote it and when you look at it):

atheism
noun
1.  the doctrine or belief that there is no God.
2.  disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings.


Notice, the two common and proper definitions are not the same.  They are, as is common with words, related in their meaning, but they are not the same.

People commonly insist that the word "atheism" means one of these, but the simple fact is, in English, either meaning is right and proper.  Notice, one of these is a lack of belief, and the other is a belief.


So, when someone uses the term with one of these meanings, and you want to use the other, the best thing to do is to explain which of the standard meanings you intend.  It is of no use to tell people that they are wrong to use a term in accordance with a standard meaning of the term; being a standard meaning, they are right to use it in accordance with that meaning, but one is wrong to insist it must mean only one of the standard meanings of the term.

The same idea applies to other words.  Most words have more than one meaning in a dictionary, and it is ridiculous to believe that everyone else uses one and only one of the meanings contained therein.  If there were only one right meaning of the term, there would only be one definition in standard dictionaries.

Sometimes, with the word "atheism," both senses are given as if they were one definition in a dictionary.  As in this case:

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/atheism

a·the·ism

 (ā′thē-ĭz′əm)
n.
Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods.


Notice, in this case, two different ideas are presented as if they were one definition, and not two separate and distinct ideas.  Still, if you pay attention, "disbelief" and "denial" are not the same thing.  One is not believing something, and the other is believing that something is false.  One is a lack of belief, and the other is a belief.

Excellent post, and I have noticed that some also equivocate the two. Sometimes I think it's because they are simply ignorant of what you have espoused here, other times it seems like a tactic to wiggle out from a corner. In either case, I think this is good for most people to keep in mind, and to not get angry, if someone assumes the other definition.