Atheism is one of those terms everyone thinks
he or she can define, but which is misused
by nearly everybody. Few have thought to
ask leading atheist thinkers what the word
means to them, but rather have been content
to use dictionary definitions, seemingly
derived from the way in which clergymen use
the term. Unfortunately, the clergy do not
seem to realize that they are not using the
term the same way in which atheists use it.
The result of this confusion is that clergymen
find it easy to demonstrate that no one could
possibly be an atheist, while millions of
atheists are left to wonder-if they even
care-how they can exist when the "authorities"
say that they cannot.
The definitions used here are not original
or new; they have been around for more than
200 years in the works of notable atheists
but haven't been read and absorbed by traditional
Christians. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
(1980) defines atheism as "a disbelief
in the existence of deity" and "the
doctrine that there is no deity." Atheist
is defined as "one who denies the existence
of God."
If theism is a belief in the existence of
God, then a-theism ought to mean not theism"
or "without theism." Actually,
there is no notion of denial" in the
origin of the word, and the atheist who denies
the existence of God is by far the rarest
type of atheist-if he exists at all. Rather,
the word atheism means to an atheist "lack
of belief in the existence of a God or gods."
An atheist is one who does not have a belief
in God, or who is without a belief in God.
The importance of these distinctions is that
one cannot understand what one cannot define
accurately. An atheist cannot deny the existence
of that which he finds to be without meaning,
namely the term God. In order to deny the
existence of something, one must know what
the term one is denying means.
Most atheists would agree with the statement
of Charles Bradlaugh (England's leading 19th-century
atheist), who said, in The Freethinkers Text
Book (1876): "Atheism is without God.
It does not assert no God. The atheist does
not say that there is no God, but he says
"I know not what you mean by God. I
am without the idea of God. The word God
to me is a sound conveying no clear or distinct
affirmation. I do not deny God, because I
cannot deny that of which I have no conception,
and the conception of which by its affirmer
is so imperfect that he is unable to define
it for me."
Bradlaugh was not the first or the only atheist
to use the term this way. In 1772, Paul Henri
Holbach, author of the first openly atheistic
book ever published, The System of Nature,
said in another book, Good Sense: "
All children are atheists, they have no idea
of God." The idea that a child not yet
exposed to theism would be an atheist can
only be true if atheism means "without
a belief in God," as opposed to "denial
of the existence of God".
Basis for Lack of Belief
Annie Besant, England's best-known woman
atheist (before she became a Theosophist),
said in The Gospel of Atheism ( 1877): "The
position of the atheist is a clear and reasonable
one. I know nothing about God and therefore
I do not believe in Him or it. What you tell
me about your God is self contradictory ,
and is therefore incredible. I do not deny
'God,' which is an unknown tongue to me.
I do deny your God, who is an impossibility.
I am without God."
Lest it be thought that only European atheists
have taken this position, or that it is an
old and outmoded one, the American atheist,
George H. Smith, in a masterful book, Atheism:
The Case Against God (1974), says: "Atheism
in its basic form is not a belief: it is
the absence of belief. An atheist is not
primarily a person who believes that god
does not exist; rather, he does not believe
in the existence of a god."
Some theologians of the past century, especially
those who actually read the literature written
by atheists, have grasped these distinctions.
Perhaps the best example is Robert Flint,
who, in Anti-Theistic Theories (1885) noted:
"The atheist is not necessarily a man
who says there is no God. What is called
positive or dogmatic atheism, so far from
being the only kind of atheism, is the rarest
of all kinds. . . . every man is an atheist
who does not believe that there is a God,
although his want of belief may not be rested
on any allegation of positive knowledge that
there is no God, but simply on one of want
of knowledge that there is a God." Thomas
Chalmers wrote in Natural Theology: "Judging
from the tendency and effect of his arguments,
an atheist does not appear positively to
refuse that a God may be. "His verdict
on the doctrine of God is only that it is
not proven. It is not that it is disproven.
He is but an atheist. He is not an anti-theist."
Idea of God Not Logical
The atheist bases his lack of belief in God
upon his perception that all "proofs"
for the existence of God have failed logically.
It might be added that even though many theologians
admit that all of the proofs fail logically,
many hold that faith is the real ground for
believing in God. Smith pointed out that
"faith" is a way of accepting whatever
one wishes to be true, without adequate proof.
It is not a way of testing whether something
is true or not, as in Reason, but rather
a way of willing to be true what one wishes
to be true.
Morality of Atheists
In past centuries many theists savagely attacked
atheists on the ground that someone without
a belief in God must be a moral monster,"
who would permit any action. This argument
is rarely heard today, as the number of people
who are openly atheists has become so large
that its falsity is self-evident. Atheists do have a moral code to guide them.
It is usually based upon the Golden Rule,
plus a variety of utilitarian reasons, although
there are a number of other possible systems.
Rather than being immoral, most atheists
are extremely moral. There are almost no
atheists in prison, although there are many
in the outside world.
The atheist claims that his lack of God-belief
has cleared his mind, increased his ability
to reason, and given back to him responsibility
for his own actions. There is no God in his
life to whom to pray, or to blame for what
goes wrong. Man is left to his own resources
and rewards.
Such an approach to life, involving man as
the sole problem solver, may be too difficult
for the average person to employ as a guide
to his or her life. That, however, is more
or less irrelevant, as there are a large
number of people who can and do manage to
lead decent upright lives with no use for
a belief in God as a guide. Atheists do not
care whether others believe as they do. They
do ask, however, for the right to believe
as they wish, and perhaps also for the right
to have their views aired publicly, on radio,
television, and in print, on an equal basis
with the views of traditional religions.
Most of all, they ask that the federal, state,
and local governments not discriminate against
atheists and in favor of the traditional
Western religions, Christianity and Judaism.
Famous Atheists
There are many famous atheists and agnostics
(living and deceased). Here is a small sample:
Deceased: Mark Twain, Thomas Alva Edison, Carl Sagan,
Robert Frost, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, George
Elliot, Charles Darwin, Thomas Henry Huxley,
Frederick Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Clarence
Darrow, George Bernard Shaw, John Dewey,
Bertrand Russell, Robert Green Ingersoll,
Albert Einstein, H. L. Mencken, Isaac Asimov,
Gene Roddenberry.
Living: Woody Allen, Bjork, Marlon Brando, Stephen
Hawking, Ted Turner, Dean Cameron, George
Carlin, Asia Carrera, Adam Corolla, Steve
Allen, Dick Cavett, Phil Donahue, Dick Cavett,
Noam Chomsky, Francis Crick & James Watson,
Richard Dawkins, Patrick Duffy, Jodie Foster,
Bill Gates, Sir John Gielgud, Janeane Garofalo,
Katharine Hepburn, Richard Leaky, Jack Nicholson,
Roman Polanski, Paula Poundstone, Christoper
Reeve, Mira Sorvino, Michael Stipe, Donald
Sutherland, Linus Torvalds, Eddie Vedder,
Gore Vidal, Kurt Vonnegut, Penn & Teller,
Stephen J. Gould, Larry King, Uma Thurman,
Matt Groening, Sean Penn, Andy Rooney, Carrie
Fisher, Alan Dershowitz, Rod Steiger.
