What are atheists? [View All]

This is actually quite simple, an atheist is anyone who answers this question; Do you believe God(or insert deity here) exists? with a no then no belief exists, hence they are an atheist, if yes, then a theist. Other than that, any other values or implications, outside of lack of worshiping said deity, don't exist.

Oh, and just to be clear, everyone is, to some extent, an atheist about some god or another, those who call themselves atheists just take it further and include all gods.

Its very hard, or very easy, to articulate what it means to be an atheist, because it is just a lack of belief in god(s). Frankly I don't see why people have difficulty with the concept, all Christians are atheists about the Roman, Greek, Hindu, Taoist and Shinto Gods. Does this atheism define Christians? No of course not, atheism cannot, by definition, encompass anything more than one position on a very narrow topic.

This means that just because someone is an atheist doesn't mean anything really. Knowing someone is an atheist informs you of nothing about their other beliefs, because while those beliefs may inform their atheism, the reverse isn't necessarily true. As said above, everyone is an atheist about some type of deity or another, as such, everyone seeks out their own beliefs in whatever they think is right, whether its in Christianity, or any of the various other religions out there(mostly they are raised in these), or in one of many different philosophies, and these end up informing and influencing the others, pigeonholing anyone's various beliefs is an exercise in futility, its a muddled mess. I'm a Secular Humanist, a Socialist, an animal right's activist, and studying to become a scientist. Look at what's missing, my mention of my atheism, that's because it doesn't define me, hell it would be like a Christian stating they are a theist too, it makes no sense, one can be implied by the other, however, more importantly, being a theist doesn't mean anything either, not by itself at least.

It doesn't matter what one website says from one advocacy group, because the simple fact is that you can't take the word of one advocacy organization about a group as diverse as atheists, or use their own, unique, definition of what it means to be an atheist. Frankly I wonder what they call the many Buddhists out there that don't believe in any gods.