What is an Atheist?
by Dr. Gordon Stein

Origin of Atheism The word "atheist" conjures up a multitude of images in the minds of Americans, from courageous to horrible. In fact, the term is one of the most misunderstood in the English language. The derivation of the word reveals exactly what it mean to atheists themselves, and atheists should best know what the word means.

The word derives from the Greek "theism", which is a belief in a god or gods, and "a", which means "without". Thus, atheists are people who are without a belief in a god or gods. Contrary to common belief and some older dictionaries, the vast majority of atheists do NOT absolutely deny the extremely small possibility of God. In order to deny God categorically, an atheist would have to know all possible definitions of God, examine them all, and find them all logically self-contradictory or false, and therefore reject them all. To do this would require the atheist to be omniscient. In addition, atheists refuse to make the "leap of faith" past the evidence to a conclusion not merited by it. Atheists leave that logical mistake to theists. Since atheists can not logically deny god, they do not. Anyone who says they make such a simplistically all-encompassing statement is simply unfamiliar with the literature of atheism.

Square Circles

Where did this confusion come from? First, until recently the only people who spoke publicly about atheism were clergymen. Beyond that unfortunate fact, there is the idea that one can deny the existence of a specifically defined god if the definition of that god leads to a logical self-contradiction. Of course, all that particular self-contradiction means is that a specific god cannot exist, any more than a square circle can exist, because logically self-contradictory things by definition cannot exist.

OK, so atheists are people without a belief in a god or gods. What does that mean? Well, it means that atheists have adopted this position because they realize that the burden of proof about whether something is true logically always rests upon the shoulders of the person who says that it is true. So, the theist claiming that God exists is obligated to prove that position. This is done by offering physical or logical "proofs" and trying to reach a logically compelling conclusion. When the atheist asks the theist to present his or her evidence, the evidence is insufficient to logically conclude that there is a god, no matter how "god" is defined. Almost every philosopher admits this reality.

Faith vs. Experience

The theist, however, has an "out". The theist says that even though there are no logical (rational) proofs for the existence of a god, nevertheless one should still accept the idea of a god on faith. Faith is basically believing something without adequate evidence because you want to believe it! Atheists refuse to make this "leap of faith" or to believe anything because of faith, realizing that this is simply lying to oneself. Atheists and most other people view a lie as immoral. In addition, religion is the only area relying upon a
concept of faith. It is true that we often sloppily use the word "faith" when what we really mean is "confidence based upon experience". For example, when we come to a red stop light, we stop and wait for it to turn green. We don't have faith that it will turn green but instead we have confidence based upon past experience with red lights. We know that over 999 times out of 100, a red light will eventually turn green. If we have never seen a red light before, we wouldn't know what to do when we first came upon one. If we stopped and waited for it to turn green without ever having seen a red light before, then we would be acting on faith.

Faith also suffers from many more problems. Knowledge is gained through reason and never through faith. Knowledge requires facts, independent verification of the facts, and ultimate widespread acceptance of them. Faith does not provide a method to obtain facts or verify them. Instead, faith is pure wish fantasy; we wish something were so, even though we can't rationally prove its truth, so we believe it anyway.

Evidence Lacking

The atheist, of course, remains open to any additional proofs or evidence which theists may offer. If any of the arguments are convincing, the atheist will accept them. Meanwhile, the atheist lives his or her life without a god, or as if there were no God. Although the atheist does not dogmatically say that no God is possible, the atheist thinks that it is highly improbable that there is one. After all, religious people have been offering supposed "proofs" for the existence of God for over a thousand years, and all such proofs have failed logical analysis. Its pretty unlikely (although certainly remotely possible) that anyone will come up with valid proofs in the future.

Now that the atheist has swept away the "theological rubble", what is left? Is there any reason to live? Of course! Atheists know that there are lots of difficult problems facing mankind. Without a god, humans are the only source of solutions. This earth is our home and it is the only home we will ever have. Past generations have devoted their lives to improving conditions here on earth. Present humans continue in that quest for the sake of themselves and future generations. Therefore, atheists feel that the "purpose" of life is to make people happy and to leave the world in a better condition that when we entered it. Some people call this lifestyle "humanism". Atheists do this by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, improving health, etc. Each person can contribute up to the limit of his or her abilities. We become happy by making other people happy.

Well and good, you may say, but how can you know that this will work as a motivator for everyone? don't some people need to feel that there is a life after death, or a god watching over them? Atheists reply that if you need religion, and such belief makes you happy, then you have the right to be religious. Atheists are for total religious liberty. Of all groups, we have been among the most persecuted for our positions, so we, above all other groups, realize the importance of freedom of (and from!) religion for all. Of course, true religious freedom involves the right not to believe as well as to believe. Atheists, of course, think that it is far better to believe only what is true, but people have the right to believe in anything, true or false.

What do atheists want?

Well, we want nothing more than to be left alone and to be free from persecution
and harassment. We want to be able to publicly say that we are atheists without fear of economic or social retribution. We want to be free to distribute our literature in the same way members of religions distribute theirs. We want the same kind of governmental respect religions have. We want the same access to the media that religions have. We want neither more nor less than any group is entitled to in a society that prides itself on its religious liberty and pluralism.

If you agree that we make sense, we welcome you to join Atheists United for fellowship, education, and the never-ending fight for church/state separation.