Ideoligical atheists

[Lebneni Murtad]

I don't like it when people associate atheism with a certain ideology.
Like you need to be an atheist + a feminist or + a Marxist.
To each of their own, but atheism is the lack of belief in god, not making it like a cult or religion.


Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

[Alex K]

There's a difference between saying you need to be a Marxist or feminist and an atheist, or to say you have to be a Marxist or feminist in order to be a proper atheist. The former is just someone who wants you to follow their ideology, the latter is BS.

[masterofpuppets]

That's right. It's a common misconception that atheism entails certain worldviews and beliefs, such as scepticism, accepting evolution, and so on. Such beliefs are often the cause and result of someone being an atheist, and that is why atheism tends to be viewed as an ideology.

Theism is also sometimes viewed as an ideology when, just as in atheism, this isn't the case. All it means is belief in a God who actively participates in the Universe. Theists don't have to be religious, although nearly all of them are.

[Alex K]

That's right. It's a common misconception that atheism entails certain worldviews and beliefs, such as scepticism, accepting evolution, and so on. Such beliefs are often the cause and result of someone being an atheist, and that is why atheism tends to be viewed as an ideology.

Theism is also sometimes viewed as an ideology when, just as in atheism, this isn't the case. All it means is belief in a God who actively participates in the Universe. Theists don't have to be religious, although nearly all of them are.

What I've heard e.g. from the A+ crowd or PZ Myers is that an atheist *activist* today should also include other progressive causes because fighting for secularism and the recognition of atheists often entails battling religious bigotry and defending women's rights against religious interference, and that to me makes sense to a certain point. But saying that atheism itself includes those things does not appear helpful.

[AceBoogie]

Atheism is a lack of belief in a supernatural deity or intelligent creator or personal god or whatever you want to call it. It can even be considered taking a position on the question of the existence of any gods, even if that position is simply saying, "I don't hold that particular belief." Christians make the mistake of thinking that because the idea of god is a developed concept in the world and that because the majority of people accept this concept in different forms to explain their existence and the existence of things around them that it is a self evident fact.

They fail to realize that because spirituality is seen to be such a "personal" thing... it has mostly become immune to criticism over the years at least in the eyes of the general public and the media at large. Most people seem to think that spirituality and religion is personal and isn't even to be discussed, much of the time. Therefore religion is not open to a critical, rational evaluation of its tenants, rules or claims. Or maybe the chicken laid the egg first, I guess I don't really know.

But there's nothing necessarily wrong with ideologies in society. It just so happens that many of them are completely irrational and not based in reality at all. Some are even dangerous. It's not such an evil thing even for atheism to be associated with ideology, as long as we understand that atheism itself is not an ideology. It is not a religion. It is not an ideology. At most it is a position, even if that position simply entails choosing not to believe in something.

[Neo-Scholastic]

While I agree that Marxism isn't identical to atheism, Marxism is atheistic. Ayn Rand's libertarianism would be a good example of an atheistic ideology at the opposite end of the spectrum. Nevertheless I would call them kissing-cousins of atheism.

[Alex K]

While I agree that Marxism isn't identical to atheism, Marxism is atheistic. Ayn Rand's libertarian ideology would be a good example of atheism at the opposite end of the spectrum. Nevertheless I would call them kissing-cousins of atheism.

Why? Because they are atheistic? You might just as well call Islam a kissing cousin of not drinking alcohol.

[Chad32]

Doing that is just a way to smear atheists. Like when they claim Hitler was an atheist, even though there's plenty of evidence to the contrary. It's silly, and unproductive, but christianity and other religions have a long history of demonizing anything they don't like. It all started with claiming the gods of other religions are just demons, and went from there.

[Brian37]

I don't like it when people associate atheism with a certain ideology.
Like you need to be an atheist + a feminist or + a Marxist.
To each of their own, but atheism is the lack of belief in god, not making it like a cult or religion.


Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

I agree. "Atheist" merely means "off" nothing more. We don't need to create moral lists or demands of others sharing that "off" position. Our species ability to be cruel or compassionate, to seek cooperation, or use force, is not in a label, but in our species evolution. "Atheist" is not a political party, economic view, or moral code. To me you are either a good person or you are not as an individual. I don't owe atheists blind loyalty either. I have met over the years atheists I don't agree with or like. Just like I have met theists I do like and agree with, outside the god claim.


Humans are always individuals first to me. When we do find agreement, then that agreement is topic specific not based on a general loyalty demand.

[vorlon13]

No ideology per se, but we do all eat Christian babies.