Why I Call Myself An Atheist

[Guest rtgalileo]

An agnostic is someone who responds "I do not know" when asked about the existence of God. I think it has been said before that everyone is an agnostic.Let me explain why I think "agnostic" is not an acceptable answer for "What is your religious view? (Christian/Catholic/Muslim/Atheist/Agnostic/etc)"

 

God is somewhat of an enigmatic character. One of his problems is that no one has ever actually seen him; there's no real hard evidence for the existence of God. It follows that though you can not prove his existence, you can neither prove his non-existence (although there might be some reason to doubt his existence since you can't prove that he does...). I think most reasonable people, which includes a lot of religious people, will acknowledge this. Even if you believe that God exists, you must concede that you take his existence on some amount of faith, which makes you an agnostic -- you don't know. On the other hand, if you believe that God does not exist, you are also taking this on faith which also makes you an agnostic.Therefore, everyone is an agnostic. (I think I would have to admit though that there are some people where "just agnostic" is an acceptable definition, but I'm not really fond of the idea.)

 

I was once a theist; I used to believe in a personal creator-God, but that is no longer the case. Eventually I changed my mind to deism. This belief says there is a God, but he is impersonal, and doesn't really care about us as humans. Deism is not a far stretch from weak atheism though. (The two different kinds of atheism are strong and weak atheism. The first asserts "I know there is no God," and the second says"I do not believe in God.") If you do not believe in a personal god, then why bother with a god at all? Requiring God be responsible for the creation of the universe, or the creation of life, or any other god of the gaps ideas is a bad way to live; God will soon be replaced by a scientific explanation. Disbelieving in God is not very different from disbelieving in a personal god.

 

I now have a vague kind of idea that the universe/cosmos as a whole is "alive." Not that it is sentient, but it defines a single entity that is composed of all the smaller pieces found within. An analogy would be a colony of ants working together as a single system, or all the cells in your body which work together to define "you." All the laws of nature and everything else that we know of work together to define one large amazing system. This is the closest thing to God that I choose to believe in: an impersonal non-sentient force that defines existence (pantheism).

 

Pantheism, with the slightest hint of deism is what I believe, but I think that atheism is very closely related, and I find it is the term people are most able to identify with.

[Deva]

Pantheism, with the slightest hint of deism is what I believe, but I think that atheism is very closely related, and I find it is the term people are most able to identify with.

 

I am also thinking along the same lines as you, rtgalileo.

 

I personally have been resisting the word "atheist" in application to myself because of the freightload of unwarranted assumptions that goes along with it in American culture, but I think it does apply.