From New World Encyclopedia
Atheism (from Greek: a + theos + ismos "not believing in god") refers in its broadest sense to a denial of theism (the belief in the existence of a single deity or deities). Atheism has many shades and types. Some atheists strongly deny the existence of God (or any form of deity) and attack theistic claims. Yet certainty as to the non-existence of God is as much a belief as is religion and rests on equally unprovable claims. Just as religious believers range from the ecumenical to the narrow-minded, atheists range from those for whom it is a matter of personal philosophy to those who are militantly hostile to religion.
Did you know?
"Positive" or "strong" atheism is the assertion that no deities exist while "negative" or "weak" atheism is simply the absence of belief in the existence of any deity
Atheism often buttresses its case on science, yet many modern scientists, far from being atheists, have argued that science is not incompatible with theism.
Some traditional religious belief systems are said to be "atheist" or "non-theist," but this can be misleading. While Jainism technically can be described as philosophically materialist (and even this is subtle vis--vis the divine), the claim about Buddhism being atheistic is more difficult to make. Metaphysical questions put to the Buddha about whether or not God exists received from him one of his famous "silences." It is inaccurate to deduce from this that the Buddha denied the existence of God. His silence had far more to do with the distracting nature of speculation and dogma than it had to do with the existence or non-existence of God.
Many people living in the West have the impression that atheism is on the rise around the world, and that the belief in God is being replaced with a more secular-oriented worldview. However, this view is not confirmed. Studies have consistently shown that contrary to popular assumptions, religious membership is actually increasing globally.
Atheism is a belief that is held for a variety of reasons.
Some atheists base their stance on philosophical grounds, arguing that their position is based on logical rejection of theistic claims. Indeed, many atheists claim that their view is merely the absence of a certain belief, suggesting that the burden of proving God's existence is upon theists. In this line of thought, it follows that if theism's arguments can be refuted, non-theism becomes the default position. Many atheists have argued for centuries against the most popular "proofs" of God's existence, noting problems in the theist lines of reasoning. Atheists who attack specific forms of theism often claim it as being self-contradictory. One of the most common arguments against the existence of the Christian God is the problem of evil, which Christian apologist William Lane Craig has referred to as "atheism's killer argument." This line of reasoning claims that the presence of evil in the world is logically inconsistent with the existence of an omnipotent and benevolent God. Instead, atheists claim it is more coherent to conclude that God does not exist than to believe that He/She does exist but readily allows the promulgation of evil.
A form of atheism known as "ignosticism," asserts that the question of whether or not deities exist is inherently meaningless. It is a popular view among many logical positivists such as Rudolf Carnap and A. J. Ayer, who claim that talk of gods is literally nonsensical. For them, theological statements (such as those affirming god's existence) cannot have any truth value, since they lack falsifiability. This refers to the fact that claims of transcendence and of metaphysical properties cannot be tested by empirical means and must therefore be rejected as null hypotheses. In Language, Truth and Logic, Ayer stated that theism, atheism and agnosticism were equally meaningless terms, insofar as they treat the question of the existence of God as a real question. However, despite Ayer's criticism of atheism as a concept (perhaps using the definition typically associated with strong atheism), ignosticism is still considered as a form of atheism in most classifications of religious thought.
Read more:
Atheism - New World Encyclopedia - Info:Main Page - New ...
- Richard Dawkins has some regrets - Washington Examiner - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- Keeping the faith: These religious groups are flourishing as atheism takes hold - The Age - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- Pew study paints a picture of the average US atheist - Aleteia - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- 'There's No Science Behind That': Actor Rob Schneider Passionately Checkmates 'Bleak' Worldview Within Atheism - CBN.com - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- Atheists Find God at the Latin Mass: A Review of Mass of the Ages - CatholicCitizens.org - Catholic Citizens of Illinois - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- Is atheism destroying the moral fabric of society? - Big Think - July 21st, 2023 [July 21st, 2023]
- The Logic of Faith - Adventist Review - July 21st, 2023 [July 21st, 2023]
- Change of plans - USC News & Events - University of South Carolina - July 21st, 2023 [July 21st, 2023]
- 71 Years Later, The Weirdest Religion in Sci-Fi History Is Back - Inverse - July 21st, 2023 [July 21st, 2023]
- Twitter taught Microsofts AI chatbot to be a racist asshole in less ... - January 2nd, 2023 [January 2nd, 2023]
- Al-Qaeda: Islamist Qatar Bringing 'Homosexuals,' 'Atheism' to Middle ... - December 18th, 2022 [December 18th, 2022]
- His View: Fear not the atheist; they just might be right - Moscow-Pullman Daily News - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Vatican II and the Rise of Atheism - National Catholic Register - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Atheists who believe in ghosts - OnlySky - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Religion at the Chinese Communist Party Congress: Christians Told They Should Become More Marxist - Bitter Winter - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- The Rise And Fall Of Sexual Sanity In Western Civilization - The Federalist - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Duchess of York, Sarah Fergie Ferguson, is 63 - iHeart - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- On the short life and sudden death of Soviet atheism - OnlySky - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Darwin and the New Atheists - Discovery Institute - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Researchers to explore why atheism is growing across the world - Newswise - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Census Northern Ireland: Academic gives warning over figures showing rise in atheism - Belfast News Letter - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- The Rise of the Evangelical Heretic - ChristianityToday.com - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Antitheism - Wikipedia - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Biden's global initiative to replace Christianity with atheism faces ... - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Researchers to explore why atheism is growing across the world - Brunel University News - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Functional atheism: Popular pastor delivers gut-check on what worry really reveals - The Christian Post - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Why did Britney Spears turn to atheism and Shia LaBeouf to faith? | Opinion - Deseret News - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Someone who seeks the truth finds God Catholic World Report - Catholic World Report - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- On Religion: The faith questions that haunted the life of Gorbachev - GoDanRiver.com - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Atheism and Recovery What if I didn't have a mental illness? - Freethought Blogs - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- Whatever Happened to Atheists? | Gene Veith - Patheos - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- Four Very Short Introductions podcast episodes to get you thinking | OUPblog - OUPblog - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- BookLash: Are the cold, hard realities found within Bridge to Terabithia not for young, innocent minds? - The Wood Word - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- ABS to consult on religious classifications - The Mandarin - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- In defense of the Bible - iHeartRadio - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- Mubarak Bala: Atheist Activism And Liberation From Religious Oppression In Nigeria By Leo Igwe - SaharaReporters.com - July 27th, 2022 [July 27th, 2022]
- Between Grace and Nature - The American Conservative - July 27th, 2022 [July 27th, 2022]
- Religious and spiritual practices may improve mental health in older adults - 2 Minute Medicine - July 27th, 2022 [July 27th, 2022]
- If You Meet Richard Dawkins On The Road... - Daily Kos - July 27th, 2022 [July 27th, 2022]
- Why the World's Religions Are Dying a Slow Death - The National Interest Online - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]
- Atheism still not always easy in the Netherlands - DutchNews.nl - DutchNews.nl - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]
- Believing Is Bad for You: At the Museum of Russian Icons, Images of Atheism - The Boston Globe - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]
- If You Meet the Buddha on the Road... Kill Him. - Daily Kos - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]
- Hart's Turn To Heterodoxy | Gerald McDermott - First Things - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]
- For natural theologians, proving God was beside the point - Aeon - June 26th, 2022 [June 26th, 2022]
- Patrick Berg, MD To Speak On The Origin Of Life At Los Alamos Faith & Science Forum Wednesday - Los Alamos Reporter - June 26th, 2022 [June 26th, 2022]
- Head of gold and feet of clay - Deccan Herald - June 26th, 2022 [June 26th, 2022]
- Letter to the editor: LGBTQ+ students represented in Mt. Lebanon - TribLIVE - June 26th, 2022 [June 26th, 2022]
- Supreme Court ruling leads to jokes about the Church of Satan - indy100 - June 26th, 2022 [June 26th, 2022]
- Inside Amber Heards childhood, journey to atheism and early acting career - HITC - Football, Gaming, Movies, TV, Music - May 28th, 2022 [May 28th, 2022]
- Reason and Religion Go Hand in Hand Especially Paganism - Patheos - May 28th, 2022 [May 28th, 2022]
- Letter to the Editor: Find Out for Yourself What College Students Are Learning - Centralia Chronicle - May 28th, 2022 [May 28th, 2022]
- Meyer: Theistic Implications of the Multiverse - Discovery Institute - May 21st, 2022 [May 21st, 2022]
- Denton: How Science Leads the Charge to Theism - Discovery Institute - May 21st, 2022 [May 21st, 2022]
- The Musician Who Gave Me the City and Stars, Vangelis, Is Dead - TheStranger.com - May 21st, 2022 [May 21st, 2022]
- Gospel in Art: If the world hates you, remember that it hated me before you | ICN - Independent Catholic News - May 21st, 2022 [May 21st, 2022]
- Summer reading suggestions from Baylor Family authors - Baylor University - May 21st, 2022 [May 21st, 2022]
- Tired of the Media Promoting Atheism as Science? - Discovery Institute - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- The rise of 'apatheism' and what it means for Christians and the Gospel - The Christian Post - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- Images Of Atheism: The Soviet Assault On ReligionAntiques And The Arts Weekly - Antiques and the Arts Online - May 7th, 2022 [May 7th, 2022]
- Imagine Theres No Svarga: Rediscovering Crvka, Indias 2,700-Year-Old Atheistic Tradition - Quillette - May 7th, 2022 [May 7th, 2022]
- Confucianism: Atheism or Religion? 2. In Search of Confucius - Bitter Winter - May 7th, 2022 [May 7th, 2022]
- Why Elon Musk's ambition to have Twitter authenticate all real humans will get people killed - Rest of World - May 7th, 2022 [May 7th, 2022]
- Floyd Dell's illustrious writing career started in Quincy - Herald-Whig - May 7th, 2022 [May 7th, 2022]
- Exorcisms: Giving Witness to the Resurrection - Relevant Radio - April 29th, 2022 [April 29th, 2022]
- The Answer to Ayla's prayer - The Catholic Weekly - April 29th, 2022 [April 29th, 2022]
- Book Review: Can Scientists Be Religious? The Wire Science - The Wire Science - April 29th, 2022 [April 29th, 2022]
- Spain: Atheism and agnosticism on the rise in pandemic times - Evangelical Focus - April 22nd, 2022 [April 22nd, 2022]
- Atheists, spurred by growing ranks, gather for first time since start of pandemic - Religion News Service - April 22nd, 2022 [April 22nd, 2022]
- Stephen Meyer: Totalitarian Dystopias and the God Hypothesis - Discovery Institute - April 13th, 2022 [April 13th, 2022]
- Suzanne Harrington: It's refreshing that no religion is acknowledged on the census - Irish Examiner - April 13th, 2022 [April 13th, 2022]
- The trial of Anaxagoras: a soliloquy - TheArticle - April 13th, 2022 [April 13th, 2022]
- Faith, Science, and Francis Collins - The New Yorker - April 13th, 2022 [April 13th, 2022]
- EDITORIAL: On Russia, the ANC shows its moral atheism - BusinessLIVE - March 4th, 2022 [March 4th, 2022]
- Invasion of Ukraine and Russian literature III - MM News - March 4th, 2022 [March 4th, 2022]
- Percentage Of Atheists In America By State - WorldAtlas - February 28th, 2022 [February 28th, 2022]
- Atheism in China: How the Communist Party Proves that God Does Not Exist - Bitterwinter.org - February 28th, 2022 [February 28th, 2022]
- China: The 2022 Olympics and Scientific Atheism - FSSPX.Actualits - FSSPX.News - February 28th, 2022 [February 28th, 2022]
- Studying Abroad: 'Encountering God as an Atheist' | Features | valpotorch.com - The Torch - February 28th, 2022 [February 28th, 2022]
- Why I Am Catholic Will Herrmann - TheCatholicSpirit.com - The Catholic Spirit - February 28th, 2022 [February 28th, 2022]