Don't like saying "I'm an atheist"? Try this instead.

[CapnAwesome]

It's funny how people have a problem with the word Atheist.

It's too in your face or something.  I like it though. Probably for that reason. Brights is ironically the stupidest name ever.

Well, atheist is a negative term because it describes what one doesn't believe in, instead of what one does believe in. That's why I use the word "Freethinker," it describes what I do believe in: freedom of thought and freedom to reach your own conclusions about things. If I lemming off a cliff, it's only because I followed my nose and not the ass of another lemming, as Dennis Miller once said.

Freethinker is stupid. It could literally mean anything. I think its funny that the "freethinker" reddit page, basically everyone has the same set of ideas. Atheist is accurate, number one, and it's a good word that riles up the religious. A freethinker isn't necessarily an Atheist by definition. I am an Atheist and I want to let people know that.

If Mormons show up to your door and you tell them you are a freethinker, they aren't going to know what you mean at all. If you say you are an Atheist, they get the idea right away.

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Why not just say "I don't believe in God" if and when someone asks?

That is what I say. That or I'm an Atheist. I think there is something about left wing people that makes them want to relabel themselves in unclear ways all the time. Same way liberal, which is a fine word with good connotations got relabeled progressive, which is a stupid meaningless word. Something about the left likes to change labels all the time.

Atheist is fine. There is nothing wrong with the word.