Semantics (labels, words & definitions)

[Jason Jarred]

***Updated 28/08/08***

Atheism

the belief that Gods do not exist, or the absence of belief (disbelief) that a God exists.
This is the entirety of the definition of atheism, and the *only* single commonality between all atheists. All other spiritual beliefs, political beliefs, moral values, attitudes, and shoe size can be any possible combination you could think of.
A person is either Theistic or Atheistic, those who claim simply not to know or care could be called Atheist by default as they do not actively believe in a God. Atheism can be considered the default position.

Theism

noun [U]
the belief that there is only one god, who is completely separate from those things (the Earth, people, etc.) he has created, rather than being part of them

Nontheism

Nontheism is a term that covers a range of both religious and nonreligious attitudes characterized by the absence of—or the rejection of—theism or any belief in a personal god or gods. It is in use in the fields of Christian apologetics and general liberal theology. "Nontheism" should not be confused with "irreligion".

Comment: As far as I can see, atheist and non-theist are essentialy the same thing, but nontheism may have a broader context than atheism.

Polytheism

noun [U] SPECIALIZED
belief in many different gods

Deism

noun [U]
the belief in a single god who does not act to influence events, and whose existence has no connection with religions, religious buildings, or religious books, etc.

Agnosticism

The philosophical view that certain truths are unknowable. Agnosticism is not a position on belief (ie non belief in God due to it being unknowable), but a position on the knowability of belief.

Gnosticism

The philosophical view that certain truths are knowable, or known by certain people.
Gnosticism is not a position on belief (ie belief in God due to it being knowable), but a position on the knowability of belief.

Irreligious

adjective FORMAL DISAPPROVING
having no interest in religion, or generally opposed to religion

Jedi

Someone who wears a roab and swings a lighting fixture.

[Tiberius]

I think you can take out the "God or" in the definition of atheism. Atheism doesn't mean you don't believe in just one god, it means them all, so it should be:

"the belief that gods do not exist"

Once we get a rules page up we can write an F.A.Q with definitions. My contribution:

Agnosticism

The philosophical view that certain truths are unknowable.

Gnosticism

The philosophical view that certain truths are knowable, or known by certain people.

Should be emphasized that neither of the above are positions on the existence of God, merely the position on whether we can know the existence of God for certain.

[Brick-top]

Jedi:
Someone who wears a roab and swings a lighting fixture.

[Ace Otana]

Atheist: Absense of belief, Without faith, Dis-belief.

Atheist: Lack of belief, Non-religious, Anti-theist, Complete opposite to theist, dis-believes in the existance of god or gods.

[Brick-top]

Atheist: Absense of belief, Without faith, Dis-belief.

Atheist: Lack of belief, Non-religious, Anti-theist, Complete opposite to theist, dis-believes in the existance of god or gods.

Dictionary.com???

[Ace Otana]

Atheist: Absense of belief, Without faith, Dis-belief.

Atheist: Lack of belief, Non-religious, Anti-theist, Complete opposite to theist, dis-believes in the existance of god or gods.

Dictionary.com???

Not all dictionarys are accurate. Understanding what it means to be an atheist would mean you can pick out the false word use.

Atheists don't believe, They dis-believe. Absence of faith, Absence of any kind of belief in god, afterlife, magic ect ect....Absence of anything supersitious in other words.

The correct word use is dis-belief, Lack of belief, Lack of faith and absence of belief.

[Brick-top]

The correct word use is dis-belief, Lack of belief, Lack of faith and absence of belief.

No I was just asking if you got those definitions from dictionary.com.

[Ace Otana]

The correct word use is dis-belief, Lack of belief, Lack of faith and absence of belief.

No I was just asking if you got those definitions from dictionary.com.

Oh...well no. Never visited that site.

[Tiberius]

Disbelief is in turn a belief though. For instance, I disbelieve in the Loch Ness Monster, which means that I logically believe that the Loch Ness Monster does not exist. I disbelieve in gods, which means I believe that gods do not exist. The words are opposites of each other, so it falls to reason that inverse relationships still stand. If you are a support of abortion, you are a opposer of not having abortion.

Welcome to the wonderful world of inverses.

A lot of atheists reject the term "lack of belief" for the reasons stated above, but also because the word "lack" suggests that belief in God is default and required. A car with three wheels "lacks" a wheel, it is incomplete. A lot of dictionaries define atheism as both a belief and a disbelief as it rightly should be.

Furthermore, since atheism does not have any proof of the non-existence of God, it cannot possibly be anything other than a belief. Theism, which likewise does not have any proof of the existence of God, is also a belief.

[Jason Jarred]

Beliefs can be based on fact or fiction, so I would be careful of implying that both positions of Theism and Atheism are beliefs simply because they can not prove certain assertions.

Sure Atheism is a belief, but what we need to clarify is that it isn't a belief *system* or a religion simply because it's a belief, just as my disbelief in unicorns does not qualify as a belief system or religion.