Can a potato be an atheist?

[Whateverist]

I've recently heard various people attempt to redefine atheism.

So other people redefine atheism while you actually have the definition? Shall we debate who's claim to the correct/best/original definition is most legitimate? Count me out. I don't care. The usage of words in English is fluid. It evolves over time. I know what the word means to me, you know what it means to you and you feel entitled to claim that only your own use is objectively correct. Whatever.

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 you're the only one doing that.

Strictly speaking, a potato can be an atheist, as long as a potato merely "lacks belief in Gods".

Geez. You are obsessed. Most often when we are discussing the having of particular beliefs we would be necessarily discussing only those objects which are capable of having such. So humans mostly.

Earlier in our history, the definition of atheism was quite different.

Very condescending of you. Even if you had the credentials to opine intelligently on history, no one here is obliged to take a back seat to you. Far from being a hard science, history is very definitely a subject about which intelligent people may disagree.

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.

But do you really think it is necessary to misrepresent the truth to yourself in order to live without the intervention of God? Are you or are you not an atheist yourself? Do you live free of concerns regarding God's intervention or is that something you only long for? Me, day in and day out, I am unaware of ever giving any consideration to the possibility of God/gods existing. So far as I can tell no belief, conscious or otherwise, is operative in me. So I live free of any concern regarding God's intervention. I don't find it necessary to shout that His nonexistence is a stone cold fact. It isn't and it doesn't matter.

So let's not kid ourselves that we're doing this for the evidence. I know I'm not.

Doing what? In the absence of evidence there is no need to waste any time over religion. For me, being an atheist is strictly a non-action, nothing in its own right, no big deal.