Atheism/DR

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In brief, Atheism is disbelief in the divine. Some consider Atheism to be a state of merely lacking such beliefs, while others consider Atheism to be the ACTIVE disbelief or denial of the divine. Some religious communities consider the term to be cognate with Infidel and atheist can be found being used in a pejorative manner.

Etymology

The term atheism from Greek 'Αθεος atheos, meaning godless, formed from the Indo-European prefix α- (a-), meaning "without" or "not", and the Greek-derived theism (from Θεϊσμός, theismos), originally meaning "belief in (Olympian) Gods". The literal meaning of the term is read as either "disbelief in god" or "lack of belief in god".

Interpretations of atheism

Atheism is generally defined by most dictionaries and encyclopedias 1 as the "disbelief in, or denial of, the existence of God or gods", however there are differences of opinion regarding whether or not theism and atheism form a dichotomy.

Some assert that if you are not a theist, then you are (by default) an atheist. They reject the beliefs of those Buddhists who reject both atheism and theism, and they assert that even babies are atheists.

The term has also been used polemically to describe the position of someone who does not believe in one particular deity, even if they do believe in another. An example would be its use as an accusation of the pagan Romans against the early Christians, and vice versa. It was also used against Socrates during his trial.

However, many people commonly use the term to indicate the belief system represented by those who actively do not believe in the divine, or a creator God. There are many individuals and organisations that declare themselves proactively atheist, and the rest of the article adopts such an interpretation. Otherwise we would have to talk about why babies weren't sentenced to death for being atheists, struggle to explain what was going to be taught in British schools, and be at a loss as to how the CIA factbook estimates (world population) 12.5% to be non-religious and about 2.4% to be atheist.

Atheism and Morality

Just there are many different ways in which people believe in God, so there are many different types and philosophies of atheism.

Just as most religions include some form of moral code (e.g. The Biblical decalogue), atheists also accept personal responsibility for determining the morality of their behavior, and most often they stand strongly apart from nihilistic doctrines of immorality.

Francis Bacon explains: "Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all of which May Be guides to an outward moral virtue, even if religion vanished; but religious superstition dismounts all these and erects an absolute monarchy in the minds of men."

Atheistic organizations such as Secular Humanism also provide examples of atheistic moral codes.

Persecution of Atheists

In Europe's Middle Ages and even up to the 18th century, atheism was regarded as immoral, often criminal; atheists could be sentenced to death by burning, especially in countries where the Inquisition was active. While Protestants and many others suffered from discrimination and persecution by the then dominant Roman Catholic Church, Calvin was also in favor of burning atheists and heretics 2 3.

Witch hunters and the Inquisition were eager to practice torture and death upon those whom they found atheist, witches, or otherwise. (See for instance the fate of Jean-François de la Barre.)

In some cultures, promoting atheism has been criminalized, and even many western European countries such as Germany and Spain still have (rarely enforced) anti-blasphemy laws on the books. Those who hold theistic views often consider those without a belief in a deity to be immoral, amoral or untrustworthy—unfit as members of society. The scriptures of most religions contain denunciations of non-believers; see, for example, 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 in the Christian Bible.

Every military buildup in the United States since World War II has been accompanied by frequent use of the saying "There are no atheists in foxholes", a statement contradicted by the experiences of many former soldiers. During the Cold War, the fact that the communist enemies of the United States were officially atheists ("Godless Communists") added to the view that atheists were unreliable and unpatriotic.

In the 1988 presidential campaign in the United States, then Republican presidential-candidate George H. W. Bush said "I don't know that atheists should be regarded as citizens, nor should they be regarded as patriotic. This is one nation under God." 4 Similar statements were made during the controversy surrounding the inclusion of the phrase "under God" in the American Pledge of Allegiance, words which were added to the pledge early in the Cold War period.

Western intelligence agencies have often cooperated with local religious groups in order to build up opposition in hostile countries (an extreme example being the training and funding of the radical fundamentalist Mujaheddin in Afghanistan by the CIA in the 1980s), using atheism as a powerful socio-political mechanism to help focus attacks against communist Russia.

Persecution in the name of Atheism

Atheism has been the official stance of most communist countries, including the People's Republic of China and the former Soviet Union. Because of the communists' goal to eradicate traditional religion as what they perceived to be an irrational belief system, powerful religious groups such as the Catholic Church were among the strongest enemies of communism since its very inception. See also China mounts 'atheist propaganda' drive in Tibet. Communist doctrine aside, many dictatorships have regulated or forbidden religious groups which were viewed as possible centers of opposition against their totalitarian rule.

Atheism today

Atheism has been the official stance of most communist countries, including the People's Republic of China and the former Soviet Union. Karl Marx, an atheist, wrote that religion is the "opiate of the masses," which is often interpreted to mean that it exists in order to blind people to the true state of affairs in a society, and thus make them more amenable to social control and exploitation.

Atheism remains more common in the secular countries of Western Europe and in former or present communist nations than in the United States, and more common among scientists, particularly natural scientists, than among the general population (see the relationship between religion and science).

Notwithstanding Cold War attitudes, atheists are legally protected from discrimination in the United States and they have been among the strongest advocates of the legal separation of church and state. American courts have regularly, if controversially, interpreted the constitutional requirement for separation of church and state as protecting the freedoms of non-believers, as well as prohibiting the establishment of any state religion. Atheists often sum up the legal situation with the phrase: "Freedom of religion also means freedom from religion." 5

Notably, in the Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet, Justice Souter ruled that "government should not prefer one religion to another, or religion to irreligion." 6 Since Everson v. Board of Education established that "Neither a state nor the Federal Government can...pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another," which applies the Establishment Clause to the states as well as the federal government 7, the several state constitutions that contain clauses saying things like "no person shall be discriminated against because of religion, provided he or she acknowledges the existence of a deity" would be apparently going against the Court. As they have not actually faced challenge, the question has not been conclusively decided.

The recent Newdow case, involving the phrase "under god" in the United States pledge of allegiance, was thrown out because Michael Newdow did not have prudential standing, and as such it has no current bearing on atheism today.

In early 2004, it was announced that non-religious beliefs such as humanism, agnosticism and atheism would be covered alongside major faiths such as Christianity or Islam under draft guidelines being prepared by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, which regulates what is taught in schools in England. 8 A spokesman of the 'Qualifications and Curriculum Authority' stated the following about the decision: "It is very much the intention that young people in the context of religious education should be studying non-religious beliefs. There are many children in England who have no religious affiliation and their beliefs and ideas, whatever they are, should be taken very seriously." There is also considerable debate in the UK on the status of faith-based schools, which use religious, as well as academic, selection criteria 9.

Statistics

Due to some societies strongly promoting atheism, and some strongly condemning it, atheism may both be overreported and underreported in different countries. There is a great deal of room for debate as to the accuracy of any method of measurement, as the opportunity for misreporting (intentional and otherwise) a belief system without an organized structure is high.

The following surveys are in chronological order, but as they are different studies with different methodologies it would be inaccurate to infer trends on the prevalence of atheism from them:

A 1995 survey 10 attributed to the Encyclopedia Britannica indicates that non-religious are about 14.7% of the world's population, and atheists around 3.8%.

In the 2001 Australian Census 11 15.5% of respondents ticked 'no religion' and a further 11.7% either did not state their religion or were deemed to have described it inadequately (there was a popular campaign at the time to have people describe themselves as Jedi).

A 2002 survey by Adherents.com 12 estimates the number of "secular, non-religious, agnostics and atheists" as about 14%.

A 2004 survey by the BBC 13 in 10 countries showed the proportion of "people who don't believe in God nor in a higher power" varying between 0% and 30%, with an average close to 10% in the countries surveyed. About 8% of the respondents stated specifically that they consider themselves atheists.

A 2004 survey by the CIA in the World Factbook 14 estimates about 12.5% non-religious and about 2.4% for atheists.

According to motherjones.com, 52% of Americans claim they would not vote for a well-qualified atheist for president.15

Divisions within atheism

Some atheists 16 17 distinguish between two variants:

  • Weak atheism, sometimes negative atheism, is the position that there is no reason to assert the existence or nonexistence of gods. A weak atheist abstains from positive judgment and retains tolerance of the possibility of the existence and nonexistence of gods. Weak atheism is not equivalent to agnosticism, although there is often an overlap. A weak atheist maintains that there lacks sufficient evidence to certainly claim the existence or nonexistence of gods. Weak atheists do not think that belief in God is necessarily unhealthy for society. As above, there are differing views as to whether non-theists such as babies and other innocents are weak atheists by default.
  • Strong atheism, or positive atheism, is the belief that gods do not exist. Strong atheists often cite logical impossibilities and other a priori arguments intending to demonstrate theistic concepts of godly omnipotence, omniscience, and/or transcendence are contradictory and/or internally inconsistent. Strong atheists tend to assert that belief in God is unhealthy for society.

See also

  • A list of world religions.
  • List of atheists
  • The Godless Americans PAC
  • Arguments:
    • Arguments for the existence of God
      • Pascal's Wager, which states that it is advantageous to believe.
    • Arguments against the existence of God
      • Invisible Pink Unicorn, a satirical deity used by atheists to make a point
  • Ideas that are related to secular atheism:
    • Freethought, which desires to include atheism, agnosticism and rationalism.
    • Universism, which desires to include atheism, agnosticism, deism, transcendentalism, and pantheism.
    • Irreligion
    • Objectivist philosophy
    • Naturalism
    • Materialism
    • Secularism and Laïcité
    • Secular Humanism
    • Evil Atheist Conspiracy

Pro-atheism:

References

  • Baggini, J. (2003). Atheism: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Buckley, M. J. (1987). At the origins of modern atheism. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
  • d´Holbach, P. H. T. (1770). The system of nature. Electronic versions:
  • Krueger, D. E. (1998). What is atheism?: A short introduction. New York: Prometheus.
  • LePoidevin, R. (1996). Arguing for atheism: An introduction to the philosophy of religion. London: Routledge.
  • Mackie, J. L. (1982). The miracle of theism: Arguments for and against the existence of God. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Martin, M. (1990). Atheism: A philosophical justification. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
  • Martin, M., & Monnier, R. (Eds.). (2003). The impossibility of God. New York: Prometheus.
  • Nielsen, K. (2001). Naturalism and religion. New York: Prometheus.
  • Smith, G. H. (1980). Atheism: The case against God. New York: Prometheus.
  • Stein, G. (Ed.). (1985). The encyclopaedia of unbelief (Vols. 1-2). New York: Prometheus.

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