Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Atheist

God does not exist. The word atheist should not exist.

There is no need for the word. The word nothing already suffices.

I have read quite a bit about atheism. I have just read On Defining Atheism and it has motivated me to write some things I have been contemplating for some time.

I must credit Greg Graffin for these thoughts from his book Anarchy Evolution:

"But I have problems with the word "atheism." It defines what someone is not rather than what someone is. It would be like calling me an a-instrumentalist for Bad Religion rather than the band's singer. Defining yourself as against something says very little about what you are for.
Greg Graffin prefers to call himself a naturalist for this reason. I now prefer the word naturalist to describe myself.

Another problem I see with the word atheist is that many of its definitions have the word God in them. Some use the word deity, or supreme being, or god. Some, however, use the word God as in Christian God.

Simply put, many describe an atheist as a person who does not believe in God. This is problematic. The mindset of a believer is different than that of a non-believer. I believe that deists and theists do not formulate the same meaning of the word atheist that atheists do. To them, God is a truism. There is a God, atheists simply do not believe in Him. To them, atheists do not believe in something that is real.

There is a problem with the construction of the definition. Having the word God in the definition of atheism implies that God exists, and is real. Atheists simply choose to not believe in something that the dictionary defines and has a word for.

The existence of the word atheist elevates the word God and gives it more importance than it deserves. Greg Graffin is a singer, not an ainstrumentalist. People who do not believe in Bigfoot are not called abigfoot. People who do not believe in ghosts are not called aghosts. This is another case of religion being special. It has a special word for those who do not believe.

The word atheist gives an unfair advantage to the religious believer. It is similar to a runner being given a head start or a golfer a handicap. I prefer to think of it as special dispensation.

In nothing we trust.

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