Atheism

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Some people think this is the symbol for atheists. Looks more like the logo for the "Annapolis Nukes" triple-A baseball team...

Atheism is the absence of belief in the existence of any gods. This includes the Abrahamic God(s), Zeus, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and every other deity from A to Z. The terms "God" and "god" are used interchangeably here, with the deliberate intent of ignoring the privileged position Yahweh has held in English grammars.

Atheism is logically the default state for any human being, as there is no empirical evidence of the existence of any supernatural entities. This was stated most famously by Bertrand Russell in his famous "teapot argument" which suggests that we must start with disbelief when it comes to any concept - be it an interplanetary teapot or vengeful god - until argument or evidence successfully implies otherwise.

Atheism throughout history

History has been riddled with doubters. In the Western world, there have been atheists almost as long as there has been philosophy and writing; some of the most famous men of the ancient world eschewed religion in favor of logic and rationality. Democritus, who conceived of the atom, hypothesized a world without magic holding it together. Critias, one of the Thirty Tyrants of Athens, preceded Marx when he called religion a tool to control the masses. And Socrates, the founder of the system of Western thought, was accused and executed for the "crime" of teaching atheism (a charge he denied at trial, unsuccessfully).

It is not until recent history, however, that the term known as "atheism" began to carry its current connotation. In an increasing number of countries around the world it is a neutral or unimportant label. The nation of New Zealand, for example, has thrice elected an agnostic woman to be Prime Minister. However, in more religious areas such as the United States or Saudi Arabia the term carries a heavy stigma of unpleasantness. Indeed, prejudice against atheists is so high in the United States that one study found that they are America's most distrusted minority.

From a rational standpoint, the reason for this distrust in these nations is unclear. There is no stated creed with which to disagree (except perhaps for "strong" atheists, whose only belief is that there are no gods). Nor are atheists generally organized into lobbies or interest groups. There is no political action committee for atheists, unlike the many PACs that lobby on behalf of various religions. And yet an atheist would be the least likely to win election to the Presidency of the United States. Only 49% of the American population would vote for an atheist. In contrast, no other grouping - including Mormons, African Americans, and homosexuals - would fail to get at least 79% of the potential vote based on that single trait alone.

One reason that atheists are so mistrusted and distrusted in the United States is because Christians have managed to implant the concept that without religion (Christianity is best, but others will do in a pinch) there can be no morality. And who trusts someone who has no morality? The reasons that Christians have been able to get away with this are many, varied and complex.

Misconceptions about atheists

Some clarifications about atheism must be made clear immediately. Please consider all of the following.

• Atheism is not a religion, contrary to what some critics may claim (see secular religions).
• Atheists do not worship Charles Darwin! Although some think that atheism requires evolution to be a complete worldview, there is no worship of anything in atheism. That's the point. If atheists worshiped Darwin, they wouldn't be atheists.
• While atheism may require evolution, the converse is not true: evolution does not necessarily imply atheism. At least this is the conclusion of those who believe in non-overlapping magisteria and theistic evolutionists. Equally, though, there are those such as Richard Dawkins who would most certainly argue that evolution implies atheism.
• Atheists are not a unified group. In fact, a disaffectation with organized religion of any kind is what drives many to become atheists. Why would these individuals immediately organize an alternative group? It just doesn't follow. Debate within the atheistic community is robust, and the fact of this debate presupposes no dogmatic mandate from an organized group.
  • It follows from this that there is no atheist equivalent of the Bible, Koran, or other holy text. There are atheist writings, of course, but they have the same status as those of, say, C.S. Lewis; one does not need to agree with Richard Dawkins to be considered an atheist, except, of course, on the matter of whether God exists.
• Atheists do not deny the existence of the Christian God because they "hate God" or simply "want to live in sin." Atheists do not believe in any gods, and, consequently, the concept of sin. Some may wish a god did exist, some very much dislike the god portrayed in the Bible, some simply do not care, and many will fall somewhere in between these definitions. In any case, the God character in the Bible is seen as fictional, and feelings about him are seen as no more or less consequential than, for example, whether or not one thinks Hamlet or Dumbledore were good people.
• "No gods" does not equal "no morality." There are strong humanistic, cultural, and genetic bases for morality and ethical behavior, and atheists recognize this fact.
• Atheism and agnosticism are not mutually exclusive, and atheists are not "actually agnostic because no one can ever know whether God exists." Atheism is a statement of a lack of belief, not a lack of knowledge. Most clear-headed believers and atheists alike would agree that no one in this life can ever know if God exists, and thus both groups are technically agnostic. Atheism takes the position that it is rational to believe that gods don't exist, based on logic and evidence.
• The evils of Communism are not inextricably fused with the values of atheism. In reality, the evil actions of Stalin and others had more to do with the power struggles of the time than with the political or religious beliefs of these tyrants.

Why do people become disaffected with religion?

These are some of the reasons given by atheists:

• The hypocrisy of professed believers and religious leaders, who exhort their followers to help the poor, love their neighbors and behave morally but become wealthy through donations to the church and carry love for certain neighbors to an immoral extreme.
• The contradiction between talk of a loving god and a world in which children starve to death and innocent people are tortured.
• The enmity among different religions, and even among sects within the same religion.
• The insistence by fundamentalists that their holy texts are literally true, leading to attempts to undermine education by censoring scientific knowledge that seems to contradict their beliefs.
• The fact that most world religions posit that all other faiths are wrong, which suggests the possibility that no religion is right, and further suggests that, because the vast majority of believers in any faith are born into it, being a member of the "correct" group or "the elect" is a mere accident of birth.
• The evidence provided by daily experience suggesting that there are no events that cannot be explained by common sense and scientific study.
• A rejection of the absurd idea that a supreme all-knowing deity would have the narcissistic need to be worshipped, and would punish anyone for worshipping a different god (or none at all).
• Historical evidence that organized religion, while professing a peaceful moral code, is often the basis for exclusion and war as well as a method to motivate people in political conflicts.
• Lack of conviction in the existence of a divine being, or a gut feeling that there isn't one.
• A conclusion derived from rational thought.
• Questions about the contradictions in Holy Books that religious leaders refuse to address.

Types of atheism

There are many ways to describe different types of atheism. Some of these are explained below. In all types of atheism natural phenomena are explained through science without resort to supernatural explanations, and morals are not based on religious precepts. See also apatheism.

Pragmatic

Pragmatic atheism (sometimes equated with "weak atheism" or "implicit atheism" or "negative atheism") describes the state of living as if no gods exists. It does not require an absolute statement of God's non-existence. The argument is based on the fact that there is no evidence that gods, spatial teapots or fairies exist and that we have no reason to believe in them. This argument could also be classified as extreme agnosticism.

Pragmatic atheists however are frequently reluctant to make the statements like "Gods (or fairies) do not exist", because of the great difficulties involved in proving the absolute non-existence of anything.

Consequently many pragmatic atheists would argue that the burden of proof does not lie with them to provide evidence against the weird idea that gods exist. They would argue that it is up to the supporters of various religions to provide evidence for the (unique) existences of their various supposed (multiple) deities and that no argument is necessary on the atheist's part.

Christopher Hitchens put it another way when he said: "What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence."

Theoretical

Theoretical atheism (sometimes equated with "strong atheism" or "explicit atheism") makes an explicit statement against the existence of gods. Often, theoretical atheism specifically combats religious beliefs and other arguments for belief in some god (or gods), such as Pascal's Wager, and argument from design because religion is seen as a distraction from work needed to solve world problems such as poverty, disease and crime.

Most theoretical atheists would disagree with pragmatic atheists about the inability to disprove the existence of gods. While gods (or fairies) cannot be absolutely proven not to exist, their existence could be provisionally described as extremely improbable.

Apatheism

An apatheist has no interest in accepting or denying claims that god gods exist or do not exist. An apatheist considers the very question of the existence or non-existence of gods or other supernatural beings to be irrelevant and not worth consideration under any circumstances.

Types of arguments for atheism

Logical

An example of a logical argument for atheism is that the existence of a god would defy the known laws of physics, demonstrated in all other aspects of the universe.

The argument from design is often given as proof of a creator, but it begs the following logical question: if the world is so complex that it must have had a creator, then the creator must be at least as complex and must therefore have a creator, ad infinitum.

Evidential

An evidential argument for atheism would be saying that all evidence points towards there being no gods, or at least that there is no evidence pointing to there being any.

Moral

One important ethic stressed by many is "truthfulness", and many atheists believe that religion presents an inherent attack on truth.

Atheists sometimes ask the question:

• "Can you think of an evil act committed by a good man because of his religion?"

The answer to this is clearly,"Yes", and it invites the obvious follow up question:

• "Can you think of an evil act committed by an atheist because he is an atheist?

Experiential

Just as the born-again Christian "knows" that God exists, the day-to-day experience of the atheist demonstrates quite clearly that there is no supernatural being responding to human prayer and fighting against evil in the universe. The God described in the Old Testament who constantly intervened in human affairs, razing entire cities and turning people into pillars of salt for peeking, is nowhere to be found, and neither are any others.

What god is being denied?

There is also the question of what god is being denied.

If the god being denied is the interventionist God which some theists hold to exist, then the argument against the existence of this being is easy. The lack of any demonstrable interventions demonstrates its lack of existence. In this case absence of evidence is evidence of absence.

However, if the god being denied is of a more non-interventionist deist type, then the above argument doesn't work. But, by the same token, worship of this non-interventionist god would also seem rather pointless.

Religious views of atheism

The Bible, in common with other books which contain the only revealed truth, is a bit irritated with those who do not believe in either it, God, or Christianity. It includes ad hominem attacks of the type: The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." - Psalm 14:1 (KJV)

Since the Old Testament is more or less the same as the Jewish Tanakh, the above quotation goes double, substituting Judaism for Christianity.

(Other religions are invited to add reasons why their holy books have the only revealed truth.)

Atheistic view of the Bible

Since atheism is not a unified belief system ("religion"), there is no single "atheistic" stance on most topics other than the nonexistence of God. Atheists may view the Bible and other religious works as literature, mythology, epic, philosophy, agit-prop, irrelevant, history, or various combinations thereof. Many atheists see religious works as interesting historical records of the myths and beliefs of humanity. By definition atheists do not believe any religious text to be divinely inspired truth. In other words, "Dude, it's just a book" (or, in fact, a whole bunch of different books).

There are several types of evidence to support the idea that "it's just a book." Textual analysis of the various books of the Bible reveals vastly differing writing styles among the authors of the individual books of the Old and New Testaments, suggesting that these works represent many different (human) voices, and not a sole, divinely inspired voice. The existence of Apocrypha, writings dating from the time of Bible that were not included into official canon by Jews or Christians (and peppered with mystical events such as encounters with angels, demons, and dragons), further suggests that "divine authorship" is not a reliable claim. Within Christianity, there are even differences among sects regarding which books are Apocrypha and which are included in the Bible, or which are included under the heading "Apocrypha," indicating that they constitute holy writings but are not meant to be taken as literally as the other books. The Book of Tobit, for example, is included in the Catholic Bible but considered Apocrypha by Protestants and wholly absent from the Jewish Bible.

Another problem with the "divine authorship" of the Bible is the existence of texts that predate it but contain significant similarities to certain Biblical stories. The best-known among these is the flood story, found in numerous versions in texts from across the ancient Middle-East, including the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, which bears textual similarities with the Biblical account. Another such story with apparent Babylonian origin is that of the Tower of Babel. It has been suggested that some of these stories were appropriated by the Jews during the Babylonian Exile.

Studies of the history of the Bible, although not undertaken with the intent of disproving it (in fact, many Biblical historians set out to prove the Bible's veracity), shed light on the Bible's nature as a set of historical documents, ones which were written by humans and affected by the cultural circumstances surrounding their creation. It should be noted that this type of rational discourse neither proves nor requires an atheistic worldview: one can believe that the Bible is not the infallible word of God either because one adheres to a non-Judeo-Christian religion or because one is a Christian or Jew but not a Biblical literalist. These criticisms of Biblical "truth" serve mainly to counter the arguments of fundamentalists, who are among Atheism's most vociferous critics.

Atheism and American bigotry

Research in the American Sociological Review finds that atheists are the group that Americans least relate to for shared vision or want to have marry into their family. What is equally disturbing about the responses in this table is that it shows that almost 30% of Americans seem to be racists.

	This Group Does Not At All Agree with My Vision of American Society:		I Would Disapprove if My Child Wanted to Marry a Member of This Group:
Atheist	39.6%		47.6%
Muslim	26.3%		33.5%
Homosexual	22.6%		Not asked
Conservative Christian	13.5%		6.9%
Recent Immigrant	12.5%		Not Asked
Hispanic	7.6%		18.5%
Jew	7.4%		11.8%
Asian American	7.0%		18.5%
African American	4.6%		27.2%
White American	2.2%		2.3%

Famous quotes

I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.

~ George H.W. Bush

We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further

~ Richard Dawkins

Yeah I know because there's no fing 'cause I can't see it. Nathan reckons there's no God, its [religion] bollocks innit?

~ Vicky Pollard

I ... do not ... believe ... in ... God

~ George Washington

We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes.

~ Eugene Wesley Roddenberry

Demographics

The atheist conspiracy against God is everywhere!

Specific research on atheists conducted in 2006 suggests that the true proportion of atheists is 4% in the United States, 17% in Great Britain and 32% in France. A 2004 Telegraph poll found that 44% of Britons believed in a god, 35% did not, and 21% did not know.

Many studies put atheists in the higher intelligence group of the population. A recent meta-analysis of 39 eligible studies from 1927 to 2002 was published in Mensa Magazine, and concluded that atheists are more likely to be of higher intelligence than their religious counterparts. According to an article in the prestigious science journal Nature in 1998 the belief in a personal god or afterlife was very low among the members of the U.S. National Academy of Science. Only 7.0% believed in a personal god as compared to more than 85% of the general U.S. population. This also suggests that the more intelligent subjects are more unlikely to believe in god or supernatural powers.

A recent study published in the Annals of Family Medicine suggests that atheist doctors are more likely to care for the underserved compared to religious ones. (35% vs 31%)

See also

• Antitheism
• Agnosticism
• Apatheism
• Deism
• Theism
• Methodological naturalism
• The Brights Movement
• RationalWiki Atheism FAQ for the Newly Deconverted

External links

• American Atheists and The American Humaist Society debate the existence of God
• [1] Some thing about some other thing - ScienceBlogs