Guide to Atheism UNDER CONSTRUCTION

[Kimihiro_Watanuki]

Introduction

Welcome to the Atheism subforum and to this topic on Atheism. Through both outlets, I and the members of this guild hope to shed some light on Atheism, Agnosticism, skepticism, and what it means to be an Atheist.

Also, considering Atheism is treated like a brand new fad (Atheism is as old as humanity itself.) in some social circles, I will include a section where we debunk some common misconceptions related to Atheism.  

[Kimihiro_Watanuki]

What is Atheism?

An understandable question. Anyone wishing to learn about Atheism would certainly want to define what Atheism is first. Let's look at some dictionary definitions.

wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

1. the doctrine or belief that there is no God.
2. a lack of belief in the existence of God or gods.

Now, before we continue, I must stop everyone here so they can pay attention. What I'm about to say will be covered in a later section, but I want to take care of it now: Atheism is NOT the doctrine that there is definitely no God or gods.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

Atheism is the position that deities do not exist, or the rejection of theism.

www.creationkid.org/dictionary.html

Atheism is a religion that believes that God does not exist in any form.

Again, I must halt everyone for a brief moment and point something out. This will also be covered in a later section. Atheism is NOT a religion any more than it is a doctrine. Atheism does not fit the criteria for religion or doctrine, nor does it suggest that there is absolutely no God or gods. Please note that the source for this definition is biased.

www.theosociety.org/pasadena/etgloss/a**-atm.htm

Atheists In modern times, those who do not accept the monotheistic Christian God or any god. It formerly signified those who did not believe in the accepted divinity or divinities of the State or populace.

www.thezenofsouthpark.com/Glossary_of_Terms.html

From Greek a- meaning without and theos, meaning God, atheists are those without a belief in God.

So now that we've gone over the definitions, let's synthesize (combine sources) and see what we come up with.

As stated before, Atheism is not the religion or doctrine of "there is definitely no God." Atheism is, in it's simplest form, the lack of belief in deities, higher powers, the divine, gods and goddesses, or whatever you wish to call them. "There is no God" makes you as much an Atheist as saying "I do not believe in a God, but one/many could exist."

All definitions used in this post can be found here: Definitions of Atheism  

[Kimihiro_Watanuki]

What is Agnosticism?

Seeing how Atheists and Agnostics often get lumped together as some kind of community of un-believers, I felt it appropriate to define both terms, so that we might see both the similarities and also the differences between the two. As with Atheism, we'll start with a few definitions, and synthesize at the end.

wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

S: (n) agnosticism (a religious orientation of doubt; a denial of ultimate knowledge of the existence of God)

S: (n) agnosticism, skepticism, scepticism (the disbelief in any claims of ultimate knowledge)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism

Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable.

en.wiktionary.org/wiki/agnosticism

1. The view that absolute truth or ultimate certainty is unattainable, especially regarding knowledge not based on experience or perceivable phenomena.

2. The view that the existence of God or of all deities is unknown, unknowable, unproven, or unprovable.

3.Doubt, uncertainty, or scepticism regarding the existence of a God or of all deities.

www.theosociety.org/pasadena/etgloss/adi-ag.htm

[from Greek a not + gnostos known] The mental attitude denying the possibility of the real knowledge of truth and hence of the ultimate or fundamental nature of the universe.

www.thezenofsouthpark.com/Glossary_of_Terms.html

From Greek, a- meaning without and gnosis, meaning knowledge, agnosticism is the contention that we cannot know whether or not there is a God.

Synthesis: Agnosticism is a knowledge based claims that states, in relation to deities and/or the supernatural, that the existence of said entities is unkown or entirely unknowable.

All definitions used in this post can be found here: Definitions of Agnosticism