Atheism: What's up with that?

What is an Atheist?

The meanings of words matter. So, let's talk about the following word:

atheism [ey-thee-iz-uhm]
noun
1. the doctrine or belief that there is no God.
2. disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings.

That is the entire definition. My being an atheist doesn't mean that I worship Satan, because I don't believe in Satan. Logically, if I don't believe the Christian god exists, there is no reason to believe the adversary of said god exists. I also don't believe in Vishnu, Buddha, Muhammed, Zeus, or Thor. Though to be fair I can get behind the teachings of "Lebowski" Thor from Avengers: Endgame. Free wifi and beer.

Now the reason why I don't believe in any of these gods is simple. I have not been presented with sufficient evidence to support their existence. I am what I and others call an Agnostic Atheist. There are a lot of people out there who think agnostic is just atheism-lite. The reality is that they answer two different questions. Let's look at the definitions of gnostic and agnostic.

gnostic [nos-tik]
adjective
1. pertaining to knowledge.
2. possessing knowledge, especially esoteric knowlege of spiritual matters.  

agnostic [ag-nos-tik]
noun
1. a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God or gods, and the essential nature of things are unknown or unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience.
2. a person who denies or doubts the possibility of ultimate knowlege in some area of study
3. a person who holds neither of two opposing positions on a topic.

Gnostic speaks to knowing something, and agnostic speaks to not knowing. I don't know, therefore I am agnostic. Additionally, I don't believe and as such I am an atheist. It is my assertion that everyone is agnostic. The most diehard Christian Fundamentalist or Muslim Extremist BELIEVES so much that they think they know, but they don't. They have faith, they hope, they believe, but they can't provide systemic observation, measurement, experimentation, formulation, or testing to prove their hypothesis that their deity exists. Therefore, they are agnostic as well. Agnostic Christian, Agnostic Muslim, or Agnostic follower of Odin. They don't know, but believe. I don't know, and I don't believe.

I think that Ricky Gervais said it best in an interview with Stephen Colbert, where he talked about his atheism and Stephen's Christianity.

"Gervais: ...Atheism is only rejecting the claim that there is a god. Atheism isn't a belief system. So this is atheism in a nutshell. You say there's a God. I say, "Can you prove that?" You say no. I say, "I don't believe you then." So you believe in one God, I assume? 

Colbert: Uhh...in three persons, but go ahead. 

Gervais: Okay. But there are about 3,000 to choose from. Basically, you deny one less god than I do. You don't believe in 2,999 gods. And I don't believe in just one more." 

People in religion tend to be focused on just their particular deity or deities. Meanwhile, us non-believers are over here thinking you're all talking to your imaginary friends. I'm not even going to get into the whole trinity thing Colbert alluded to there, that will have to be another post. Believers of every faith think they're right. They think they've got the correct answer. Logically, they can't all be right. However, logically they can all be wrong.

If you the reader are a believer, why are you a believer? Very likely, you were raised in the religion, or at the very least it is the religion of the area of the world into which you were born. You just happened to be born into the correct area of the world, to the correct parents, that indoctrinated you into the "right" religion, so that your soul won't be tortured for eternity. That's incredibly fucking lucky, right?!? Oh, those poor people who weren't lucky enough to be born where I was.

OR

You believe in your religion because you were born in your particular area of the world, and if you had been born in another area of the world, you would have been indoctrinated into that religion. Occam's razor is a principle of philosophy that states, if there are two explanations for any given occurence, the one that requires the least speculation is usually correct. Which of these two scenarios requires the least speculation? If you said the second one, you're correct. If you said the first, you're indoctrinated.

Why People Think I'm an Atheist

In case you missed the correct answer above, it is because I have not been presented with sufficient evidence to support their existence. That doesn't stop others from trying to put their own reasons for my lack of belief into something that makes them feel better or superior.

You Just Want to Sin

Christians often tell atheists, that they really do believe in God, but that they want to sin, so they pretend they don't believe.

First of all, I don't believe in the concept of sin. It is a religious construct, used to keep the sheep in line. If you break one of these rules God is going to get very cross, and put the smackdown on you. Also, we the church leaders, might make you do penance or burn you at the stake! Original Sin in Christianity is a way to make sure that no one, no matter how good a person they are, must ask for forgiveness from God. It is a tool to keep the sheep in line.

Second of all, I do all the sinning I want, if you want to call it that. I think that Penn Jillette sums it up quite nicely.

"The question I get asked by religious people all the time is, without God, what's to stop me from raping all I want? And my answer is: I do rape all I want. And the amount I want is zero. And I do murder all I want. And the amount I want is zero. The fact that these people think that if they didn't have this person watching over them that they would go on killing, raping rampages is the most self-damning thing I can imagine. I don't want to do that. Right now, without any god, I don't want to jump across this table and strangle you. I have no desire to strangle you. I have no desire to flip you over and rape you. You know what I mean?"

You're Just Angry at God

Nope. I've had plenty of hardships, disappointments, and losses in my life, just like everyone else. My parents getting divorced didn't make me angry at God. My own divorce didn't make me angry at God. Not being wealthy didn't make me angry at God, and neither did anything else. Why? Because, how can I be angry at an entity I'm not convinced exists? For example, Christian reader, are you angry at Odin? Did Kali piss you off? Nope. And your imaginary friend didn't upset me either. Now, the people who believe in these gods, and the things they do in their names? Yes that pisses me off greatly, but that's for another time.

In conclusion, if you're reading this, you might know me. If you don't, you probably know an atheist even if you don't know you know an atheist. It's still one of the groups of people that can be discriminated against in this country. Yet another topic for another post. As for how you treat an atheist? As a human being. I'm also a Humanist, but I'll leave that for later as well. Have fun in the comments, everyone!