what is an atheist?

I'm a faithful christian and i was reading a few posts....and i heard someone say they were atheist....and that they didn't believe in god....just curious if an atheist could tell me exactly what it is that they believe in....or don't for that matter, just need to get the facts and clear up this hear say stuff i keep getting.
HoundDog

There was another thread on this somewhere, but I've given up trying to get anything from the search function these days.

Why do you assume that an atheist HAS TO believe in anything? I don't believe in gnomes. That does not mean that I have to believe in something else in order to justify that gnomes don't exist.

for the record i didn't assume anything....i simply asked a question what it is they do....or don't....believe in....if nothing at all....then simply say that....if gnomes....than say that....wasn't a hard question...definately not one to biccer about!
HoundDog

Originally posted by HoundDog
definately not one to biccer about!

Who is bickering? I just answered the question the best way I saw fit. A bit defensive, are we?

Atheism is the condition of being without theistic beliefs and alternatively the disbelief in existence of deities. In antiquity atheism was represented by Epicureanism. It disappeared from European philosophy when Christianity became dominant. During the Age of Enlightenment, atheism re-emerged as an accusation against those who questioned the religious status quo and by the late 18th century became the avowed position of a growing minority. By the 20th century, atheism became the state-supported position of countries governed by Communist parties and the dominant position amongst scientists and rationalists.

you find same stuff in ordinary dictionarys!

check out: Evil Atheist Conspiracy

regards

dc

[edit on 4-2-2005 by dacruz]

Originally posted by dacruz
check out: Evil Atheist Conspiracy

Now that is funny! So how do I become a non-member to an orginazation that does not exist?

Originally posted by dacruz


check out: Evil Atheist Conspiracy

regards

dc

OMG your kidding me...what a joke! How do you people find this silly none sense....do you actually go looking for it or what,,,,and if so for what reason on earth...why!?

One who lacks belief in God(s). I believe buddhism was traditionally taught as atheistic. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Either way I know many buddhists who are atheist. For me, it's not so much that I "believe" in the non-existance of God(s), as much as it is that im convinced that a God does not exist. I could be wrong, of course, but this is where I lean.

[edit on 4-2-2005 by Alec Eiffel]

I would suggest reading from this site, pretty much sums it up so I don't have to.

www.jovialatheist.com

Atheist does not mean a "non god believing person". It really just means they dont believe in "religion".

Originally posted by HoundDog
I'm a faithful christian and i was reading a few posts....and i heard someone say they were atheist....and that they didn't believe in god....just curious if an atheist could tell me exactly what it is that they believe in....or don't for that matter, just need to get the facts and clear up this hear say stuff i keep getting.
HoundDog

Not athiest here; just agnostic. I believe in myself and my family. I find little comfort in believing in an entity for which there is no proof of existence.

I've often wondered why religious individuals often berate themselves when they fail at something and thank God when they succeed at something

I am wat you might call an athiest, but that doesnt neccesarily mean i wont beleive in a GOD ever. I feel that there simply isnt enough proof, at least for myself, that a GOD exists at this point.

i beleive that we really aren't as special as some people beleive. I think we are jsut an organism that reacts to an environment. Much like a plant, obviuosly smarter, but the same non the less. We adapt to an environemnt and change accordingly to that environment. I dont know why we are here, and beleive this is a pointless question. the fact of the matter is we are here. I dont like to beleive we are some master plan put into place by some diety, when choas is all around us.

I think this is where most people will disagree and say: "well the fact that we are so complex and organized in a universe of choas is reason for me to beleive we were created". I might be wrong, but i feel that out of choas something organized and complex can evolve if given the right curcumstances. i feel we are simply in the right place at the right time. I do agree with people that say "the chances of life forming from random interaction of molecules etc etc is astronomical". The chances are astromical, but if you just consider how many billions of planets and solar system are out there in the universe, i feel it has to happen somehwere. It just so happend here. If it didnt happen here, then surely it would have happend somewhere else and the same topic might have been covered there.

Originally posted by Freedom_for_sum
I've often wondered why religious individuals often berate themselves when they fail at something and thank God when they succeed at something

Those are the evangelicals. Bush is one. Be careful, Please don't treat every religious person as if they as similar, I know you didn't mean it that way.

Alec Eiffel,
Origonaly Buddhism was taught from more of a naturist perspective, now a days there are about five different kinds of Buddhism, the form of Buddhism believed in varies where you go.

I consider myself to be the atheistic form of Buddhism, the only reason my side bar says Atheist, is because most people dont know alot about Buddhism, and suppose I believe Buddha was a deity.

I'm an antitheist. I'm actually opposed to religion and think it is a the root of many of the worlds problems.

Originally posted by FatherLukeDuke
I'm an antitheist. I'm actually opposed to religion and think it is a the root of many of the worlds problems.

I disagree. People are the source of this world's problems. Particularly their egos. Not religion. Without religion, there's always something else to fight over. It's their ego that strives to exterminate everything around them, it's the ego that proclaims "I am right", or "My way is the only way".

I don't think religion helps nor hurts the human psyche. In some, religion is a noble thing, it helps make them better people. In others, religion makes them worse off. I firmly believe it's the individual that is the problem.

As for atheism, the absence of a God with personal characteristics in Judeo-Christian religions is enough to qualify, I think.

However, I don't think mystics of the likes of Yogananda and Vivekananda who believed in advaita vedanta would consider themselves atheists. Neither would Einstein though he did not believe in a personal deity.

Buddhism, IMHO, was not meant to be an atheist (at least in terms of Eastern religion) religion. I believe that its main belief was that the existence of God does not matter. Not that God does not exist, but that the existence of God does not matter.

[edit on 4-2-2005 by bhagavadgita]