The Connotations Of "atheism"

[Fonkey]

I've barely considered myself atheist for half a year, and wanted to ask the other atheists out there... how long did it take before "atheism" ceased to be pejorative? I haven't been a fundie for years, and that word still makes me angry whenever I hear it, as if it couldn't ever be anything but an insult.

[Evelyn]

Unfortunately, it is still used as an insult by xians and others.

[highvoltage]

It was hard to get used to for me for a long time (about a year), but now I actually like being called (and calling myself) an atheist. It's like a badge of honor. Even if it's meant as an insult. They say "Atheists are immoral" or some other derogatory remark about atheism, and I say "hell ya I'm an atheist!"

 

People who use the word "atheist" in a derogatory way are simply trying to shame the person they are calling an atheist. If I refuse to feel shame for my beliefs, or I show pride, it usually causes them to go away or otherwise drop the subject.

[Vigile]

I don't recall it ever being a big deal to me. As I continued to study, I realized that I no longer believed in gods and the descriptive label became the only plausible way to identify myself.

 

I've been an atheist for about 10 years now, so perhaps the connotations have since changed.

[Piprus]

It's the connotation, fonkey.

 

I know what atheist means to me, but to the unenlightened, it means "immoral, self-centered, god-hating, hellbound, infidel, crucifying-jesus-all-over-again, etc etc." Just as the word "fundie" to me means "bigoted, holier-than-thou, stupid, illiterate, self-righteous, intolerant, fascist, hypocrite, gullible, etc etc." It's never pleasant to be stereotyped and discriminated against when you know that another person's feelings negative feelings toward you are without foundation, but instead come from fear and prejudice.

[ShackledNoMore]

I have mixed feelings about the term. No, it's not that I care that it's used as a pejorative, there's absolutely no dishonor that the ignorant will twist its connotations, and in fact I'd agree with highvoltage with it being a badge of honor in that sense. It's more along a sort of sentiment I've heard expressed somewhere on this board (I believe): there's no special term for those who don't buy into the existence of Santa Clause, or unicorns, or monsters under the bed. It just doesn't seem like there should be such a term for those who don't buy into the existence of god (I know there's good reason, most people are theists, etc., but still...). Maybe just for that I tend to prefer the term freethinker.

[☆ TexasFreethinker ☆]

I vary the label I use (when I'm forced to use a label).

 

I tell someone I'm a freethinker or non-theist if I want to defuse the situation with religious extremists.

I say I'm an atheist if I'm talking to anyone but religious extremists.

Lately, I've been warming to the term anti-theist - the more I learn the more I think most religion has to be actively opposed because of the harm it causes.