Question for Atheists

[Ben Davis]

My beagle lacks a belief in God. He's an atheist.

So's my rock

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Ahem... as per our other discussions: no, that's anti-theism

Not for me, I believe no gods exist and that's a gnostic claim, not an anti-theist one, I am not against belief in god simply because I believe he doesn't exist - Let's imagine I was like our former fellow Mozart Link and thought religion brought lots of benefits, therefore I'd incentive it - Is this anti-theism? It looks the opposite to me.

*risks the derail

The only discrete definition of atheism is 'absence of theism'. In no accurate use is atheism a 'belief in the non-existence of god/s'. In fact, that misdefinition is commonly used by theists in order to misrepresent the position of most atheists, often for nefarious purposes. As soon as you start adding values (e.g. belief in the non-existence of god/s), you need to start looking for different words. Since 'belief in the non-existence of god/s' is a position which is in direct opposition to theism, it is, by definition, 'anti-theistic'. That's only one of the possible definitions of anti-theism but it is an accurate one; as we've discussed before, 'opposition to religion/religious organisation' is another (and your default definition, I assume from your use). Remember that anti-theism is a term which can be applied to specific context, depending on the definition being used.

I know you prefer the term 'gnostic atheist' and I think I've explained to you why I prefer to use 'anti-theist'. Both are accurate.



...although 'anti-theist' is more accurate