Atheism
Atheism describes the position of being without belief
in any
deity, commonly referred to as "gods"
or "God."
Etymology
The term atheism (French athéisme, from
athée, meaning atheist, from Greek 'Αθεος, atheos, meaning
godless : a-, without; + Θεός, theos, meaning god; it has
Indo-European Roots) is formed of the Greek prefix α- (a-),
meaning "without" or "not," and the Greek-derived
theism (from Θεϊσμός, theismos), meaning a belief in a
god. The literal meaning of the term is therefore "without belief
in a god."
Definition and scope
Atheism is generally defined by most
dictionaries and
encyclopedias as the "disbelief in, or denial of, the
existence of God or gods and of any supernatural existence."
(http://encyclopedia.com/html/a1/atheism.asp)
Some atheists (http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/intro.html) (http://kenneth.moyle.com/aa/atheism1.htm)
distinguish between two variants:
- (1)
Weak atheism aka negative atheism is the
standpoint that there is no reason to believe that God
exists/there are any gods. (One may hold that there is not
enough evidence to support a decision, or one may simply not
have a position). This is related but not equivalent to
agnosticism, which affirms that a person cannot
have firm knowledge of the existence or the inexistence of any
deity. Nonetheless, the two terms are often used
interchangeably.
- (2)
Strong atheism aka positive atheism is the
standpoint that there is reason to believe that God doesn't
exist/there are no gods. This may include the view that the
existence of God or gods is even logically impossible.
Such a position usually commits one to having, or at least
allowing for, positive assertions about and explanations of the
natural world which do not require a deity.
"Weak atheism" as defined above is also referred to in some
circles as "weak
agnosticism" while "agnosticism" as defined above is specified
as "strong
agnosticism." Moreover, in the
freethought tradition, strong and weak atheism are also called
positive and negative atheism.
Strong atheism extends the viewpoints of weak atheism, but weak
atheism doesn't entail the strong form. The strongest form of
positive atheism, which holds that it is impossible that God
exists/there are any gods, is based on logical
a
priori arguments that indicate the monotheistic conception of
God is self-contradictory or internally inconsistent, and, hence,
cannot describe anything real.
Atheism is not necessarily synonymous with
irreligion. There are religious belief systems, including much
of
Buddhism,
Unitarian Universalism, and
Universism, which do not require belief in a deity, and
Jainism, which requires strong atheism. Additionally, a number
of atheistic "churches" have sprung up, as have religious
organizations which allow atheists as members. The "pan-atheists"
who call themselves
Naturalistic Pantheists are one example, while
Brianism is another.
Atheism, morality, and philosophy
Atheism does not prescribe any specific
moral outlook; it is simply absence of any belief in deities.
Many atheists however are also involved in other categories of
thought including
Secular humanism,
Universism,
Rationalism, and
Objectivist philosophy.
For most religious people, religion is an important part of
their morality; therefore, it is possible to think that without
religion, there is no morality. Most atheists vehemently deny the
charge that they are amoral and point to the moral code of
Secular humanism. Others see this as an inaccurate assessment,
pointing out the number of charitable religious organizations such
as the
Salvation Army. Atheists and other secularists would point to
useful secular charities like
Oxfam
and
Médicins Sans Frontières[4]
(http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/)
(Doctors Without Borders). Since atheists very rarely contribute
to charities "in the name of atheism" but may contribute just as
much as theists for other reasons, it may be inaccurate to measure
overall charitableness in this manner.
Many atheists and indeed some theists consider that morality
does not require a religion.
Francis Bacon explains: "Atheism leaves a man to sense, to
philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all of which
may be guides to an outward moral virtue, even if religion
vanished; but religious superstition dismounts all these and
erects an absolute monarchy in the minds of men."
Atheism and persecution
Atheism has also been used to describe the position of someone
who does not believe in some particular deity, even if they do
believe in another. An example would be its use as an accusation
of the pagan
Romans against the early
Christians, and vice versa. It was also used against
Socrates (http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/A/atheism.html) (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02040a.htm)
for attacking established beliefs.
In
Europe's
Middle Ages and even up to the
18th century, atheism was regarded as immoral, often
criminal; atheists could be sentenced to death by burning,
especially in countries where the
Inquisition was active. While
Protestants and many others suffered from
discrimination and
persecution by the then dominant
Roman Catholic Church,
Calvin was also in favor of burning atheists and
heretics
[8] It must be noted that the
witch hunters as well as the Inquisition were quite eager to
practise profoundly cruel and shocking
tortures and
deaths upon those whom they found imperfect, atheist,
witches,
or otherwise. (See for instance the fate of
Jean-François de la Barre.)
In some cultures, promoting atheism has been criminalized, and
even many western European countries such as
Germany and
Spain
still have (rarely enforced) anti-blasphemy
laws on the books. Those who hold theistic views often consider
those without a belief in a deity to be
immoral,
amoral or untrustworthy—unfit as members of society. The
scriptures of most religions contain denunciations of
non-believers; see, for example,
2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 in the Christian
Bible.
Every military buildup in the United States since
World War II has been accompanied by frequent use of the
saying "There are no
atheists in foxholes." During the Cold War, the fact that the
communist enemies of the
United States were officially atheists ("Godless
Communists
added to the view that atheists were unreliable and unpatriotic.
As recently as the
1988
presidential campaign in the (officially secular) United States,
George H. W. Bush said "I don't know that atheists should be
regarded as citizens, nor should they be regarded as patriotic.
This is one nation under God."
[10]
Similar statements were made during the controversy surrounding
the inclusion of the phrase "under God" in the American
Pledge of Allegiance, words which were added to the pledge
early in the Cold War period.
Atheism, Marxism and the Cold War
Atheism has been the official stance of most
communist countries, including the
People's Republic of China and the former
Soviet Union . Karl Marx, an atheist, wrote that religion is the "opium
of the people," which is often interpreted to mean that it
exists in order to blind people to the true state of affairs in a
society, and thus make them more amenable to
social control and exploitation. Others suggest that
communism itself can be seen as religion.
In the Soviet Union and in the People's Republic of China, some
churches that submitted to strict state control were tolerated.
Because of the communists' goal to eradicate traditional religion
as what they perceived to be an irrational belief system, powerful
religious groups such as the
Catholic Church were among the strongest enemies of communism
since its very inception. See also
China mounts 'atheist propaganda' drive in Tibet .
Communist doctrine aside, many dictatorships have regulated or
forbidden religious groups which were viewed as possible centers
of opposition against their totalitarian rule. On the other hand,
western intelligence agencies have often cooperated with local
religious groups in order to build up opposition in hostile
countries (an extreme example being the training and funding of
the radical fundamentalist
Mujaheddin in Afghanistan by the
CIA in
the 1980s).
Atheism today
Atheism is more common in the secular countries of
Western Europe and in former or present
communist nations than in the United States, and more common
among scientists, particularly natural scientists, than among the
general population (see
the relationship between religion and science).
Notwithstanding Cold War attitudes, atheists are legally
protected from discrimination in the United States and they have
been among the strongest advocates of the legal
separation of church and state. American courts have
regularly, if controversially, interpreted the constitutional
requirement for separation of church and state as protecting the
freedoms of non-believers, as well as prohibiting the
establishment of any state religion. Atheists often sum up the
legal situation with the phrase: "Freedom of religion also means
freedom from religion."
(http://www.au.org/)
In early
2004,
it was announced that atheism would be taught during religious
education classes in
Britain.A spokesman of the 'Qualifications and Curriculum Authority'
stated the following about the decision: "There are many children
in England who have no religious affiliation and their beliefs and
ideas, whatever they are, should be taken very seriously." There
is also considerable debate in the UK on the status of
faith-based schools, which use religious, as well as academic,
selection criteria
Statistics
Due to some societies strongly promoting atheism, and some
strongly condemning it, atheism may both be over reported and
underreported in different countries. There is a great deal of
room for debate as to the accuracy of any method of measurement,
as the opportunity for misreporting (intentional and otherwise) a
belief system without an organized structure is high.
The following surveys are in chronological order, but as they
are different studies with different methodologies it would be
inaccurate to infer trends on the prevalence of atheism from them:
A 1995
survey (http://www.zpub.com/un/pope/relig.html)
attributed to the Encyclopedia Britannica indicates that
non-religious are about 14.7% of the world's population, and
atheists around 3.8%.
A 2004
survey by the CIA in the World Factbook
estimates about 12.5% non-religious and about 2.4% for atheists.
In the
2001 Australian Census
15.5% of respondents ticked 'no religion' and a further 11.7%
either did not state their religion or were deemed to have
described it inadequately (there was a popular campaign at the
time to have people describe themselves as
Jedi).
A 2002
survey by Adherents.com (http://adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html)
estimates the number of "secular, non-religious, agnostics and
atheists" as about 14%.
A 2004
survey by the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/wtwtgod/3518375.stm)
in 10 countries showed the proportion of "people who don't believe
in God nor in a higher power" varying between 0% and 30%, with an
average close to 10% in the countries surveyed. About 8% of the
respondents stated specifically that they consider themselves
atheists.
See also
- Ideas that are related to secular atheism:
