American Atheists describe atheism this way:
Atheism is one thing: A lack of belief in gods.It is simply a rejection of the assertion that there are gods. Atheism is too often defined incorrectly as a belief system. To be clear: atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods.
An atheist, then, lacks belief in gods. That’s atheism in a nutshell.
I self describe as an agnostic atheist. Since I don’t possess all knowledge about the existence of one or more deities, I am agnostic on the God question. It is possible that at some point in the future, a god may make itself known to us. Unlikely, but possible.
As far as the extant deities are concerned, I am an atheist. I am convinced that the Abrahamic God is a myth. The same goes for the other gods humans created and worship. I have exhaustively studied the claims of Christianity. I am convinced these claims are false. I can’t imagine any evidence will be presented in the future to move me off the conclusion that the central claims of Christianity are false. (Please see The Michael Mock Rule: It Just Doesn’t Make Sense.)
Last week, I purchased a New Oxford NRSVue Study Bible. What an awesome, beautiful Bible. Don’t worry, I don’t plan on returning to Christianity. I haven’t read the Bible from cover to cover for seventeen years. I thought I would reread it and do some writing about what I learn. One series I want to write will detail the violent God of the Bible. Fun times ahead, Loki-willing. 🙂
Antitheism, also spelled anti-theism, is the philosophical position that theism should be opposed. The term has had a range of applications. In secular contexts, it typically refers to direct opposition to the belief in any deity.
Antitheists are actively opposed to gods and religions.
I am not an antitheist. I am indifferent towards religions that keep to themselves and don’t stick their noses in my life and the lives of other unbelievers. I have Christian friends, mainly liberal believers. I also have acquaintances who are Unitarians or practice earth-based religions. Their religious practices don’t bother me in the least. I am, however, opposed to religions that try to evangelize people, control the government, and force people to live according to their peculiar interpretations of a religious text. Technically, then, I am anti-Evangelical, anti-IFB, anti-Mormon, anti-Jehovah’s Witnesses, and anti- other fundamentalist religions. Such religions are psychologically harmful and can cause physical harm, especially to women and children. Fundamentalism is the problem.
Sadly, some hardcore antitheists consider me a fake atheist or a closeted Christian. If I don’t hate who and what they hate, I am a fraud or a fake. They are, in my opinion, fundamentalist atheists, every bit as repugnant as hardcore Independent Baptist preachers.
How do you self-describe yourself? Please share your thoughts in the comment section.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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I don’t know where I stand on this. On Sunday I attended a christening at a local church I’ve passed by a million times but never been in. Most churches I visit are in Europe, especially Spain, which I do because they are places of interest when we are touring. In Spain and Italy most churches are Catholic and certainly its cathedrals. They are usually fabulous buildings externally but I almost always cringe when I enter upon seeing the plethora of statues, icons, artwork, and hideous gold altars that litter the place. I’m invariably in two minds; the artistic talent and workmanship is incredible (though it’s as though artists compete to see who can give the Virgin Mary the most miserable face!), but I see the whole thing as a vulgar display of wealth that could be put to far better use. Then I compare it with the Mezquita in Cordoba, the mosque, one of the most magnificent buildings in Europe where the architecture and the colours and the use of natural light has produced a stunning effect, unspoilt by the horrible Catholic artwork. Anyhow, that’s what struck me when I entered our local church on Sunday. It’s Church of England and it was wonderfully finished with carved oak, tasteful lighting, unadorned walls, and generally a feeling that the building was doing the speaking and not the indulgent artwork of Catholic Churches.
But I’m not sure this makes me an anti theist. I deplore the money and the corruption and the greed and the self indulgence of the Catholic Church, but I don’t feel any antipathy for the worshippers who go and are clearly fervent in their beliefs. Perhaps I hate the way in which religion is used to manipulate the masses, and especially those clearly money making enterprises such as Mormonism and Scientology, but that’s still not the same as being fundamentally against the concept of a god.
When I was on Twitter, I got quickly repulsed by the anti-theists. Most of them were trying to cover their racism with criticism of religion. Many were much more harsh with Islam than they were with Christianity, or with any other religion in a nation of people of color. And, many of them ignored the danger of Christian Nationalism in the US because they supported Republicans.
For myself, I am an agnostic atheist. For reasons I won’t go into here, I’m not totally disingaged from the supernatural. If religion stays out of government, I don’t care what they believe. What makes me angry is the fools who want to turn the US into a Fascist Christian Theocracy. That, and the billionaire fools who use Christians for their agenda. I am anti-Christian Nationalism. I won’t be ashamed to say it.
Good article Bruce. As a Catholic who is politically left of center, I struggle with this a lot. I think any ideology, no matter how noble in the beginning, taken to an extreme usually results in atrocity.
A review of comments on any particular news stories now show that folks are very entrenched in their beliefs, and thanks to the History Channel now can throw enough “what-abouts” at any point of view.
I usually put it this way. From what I’ve read, George Orwell, who wrote the books “Animal Farm” and “1984” was an atheist. These books didn’t spare the feelings of those on the far left or far right. His fictional government in “1984” was an ugly synthesis of both. Conversely, Joseph Stain, Mao Tse Tung, Pol Pot and Adolph Hitler (to a degree) were anti-theist. They actively oppressed populations based on their religion, burned down places of worship, killed or imprisoned religious people (the Nazis imprisoned not only Jews but Catholic religious in Poland and Germany). Like Missimontana said, anti-theism isn’t just confined to the far-left, although that is the usual association.
I find it hypocritical when any group who should be dedicated to fighting MAGA and Trump begins to act the same way. I do not care for violence unless it is truly used in self defense. Advocating oppression towards a person just because you’re repulsed by what they believe is no better for the anti-theist than it is for the Christian Nationalist. And then you get to what you’re describing- purity tests, absolutist rhetoric, etc. which is exactly the same tools used by fundamentalist religions to control people.
When those various folks knock on my door or, worse, approach me on the street, my response is “I am a happy non-believer in any god and I don’t wish to waste your time. Good luck on your journey.” Then I quietly walk away or close my door.
My Dad, who never openly claimed to be atheist, had a different tactic. When a person on their mission interrupted him with, “Good morning, sir, I am concerned about your salvation,” my Dad would interrupt them right back, quietly, with “I’m glad you’re here because I’m worried about your salvation as well. You know the bible says ‘I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no other Gods before me’ and then this Jesus guy comes along and you run away from god and toward Jesus as fast as you can and then try to justify it with trinities and such. I think you might wanna make your peace with that.”
As the startled missionaries retreated, my Dad would go back to raking the yard and living his life. 🤩 That was my life coach!! 🫶🥰
I consider myself an agnostic atheist as well, one who happens to have a fair knowledge of Fundamentalist evangelical USA white right-wing Christianity. I put in all those descriptors because I believe there are many Christianities, but I’m most versed in that particular type. I was taught it from within, and I have studied it from without (reading scholars and historians who are much more educated on the subject than I am).
I don’t consider myself to be anti-theist. If someone likes their religion and isn’t bothering anyone, I’m OK with that. Live and let live. I do, however, have a problem with religious people who want to push – or worse, legislate – their particular religious beliefs onto others. I am anti-theist toward those particular people or groups. I prefer to say “opposed to” rather than “anti-theist” because I feel the former better describes my attitude than the latter. I’m not against a deity – I am against the people who want to force their peculiar ideas onto others.
This atheist – antitheist argument sounds like many groups who think the individual must share all the ideas of the group. Lots of human social and political groups are like this unfortunately. I agree with you. It is none of my business what someone else believes until they cross the line into trying to force their beliefs on others.
I do not “believe” in any philosophy, political group, or religion. I spent enough of my life trying to learn science to know the physical universe is not dependent on our beliefs. I do not know what to do about the human social groups who require people to agree with the group about almost everything.
i describe myself as a living, breathing, contradiction in terms: i do not “believe”, i KNOW that God both exists, and does not exist, at the same time, creating no contradictions.
a “theistic atheist”?
if what we are talking about DOESN’T have the capability both to exist, and not to exist, at the same time, then what we are talking about ISN’T God… and there are bible scriptures to back that up! 😉
that being said, i still think that, particularly in our part of the world, people who claim to believe in “god” probably haven’t given it enough thought, reliably, to come down on one side (theism) or the other (atheism) regarding their beliefs or lack thereof. i’m talking, specifically, about the people who go to church every sunday, pay their tithes, pray, evangelise, and are outwardly “christian”, but do things like speeding on the freeway, cheating on their taxes, hating people solely because they are muslim, or counting four products as three in the self-serve checkout line at the grocery store.
Like OC and others commenters, I am an agnostic atheist. When I first left Christianity and, later, any belief in a deity behind, I was an anti-theist. Perhaps I was trying to “prove” myself to–well, myself. When I became more confident in myself, I no longer felt the need to dismiss what others believed, as long as they weren’t trying to force it on me or anyone else.