I hate the word atheist/atheism.

I just find it's too vague and doesn't really tell people anything about us and our views except for the fact that we don't believe in deities. Also the title acknowledges something we don't believe in. For example many Buddhists are atheists but aren't seen as so because of their way of life. Being atheist in general has nothing to do with being a freethinker but freethinkers tend to be atheists in most cases. What do some of you atheists on dp think of the title atheist?

 

I think it's an accurate description regarding out position on the existence of god(s).

 

It is accurate but we don't carry a title for everything we don't believe in.

 

I think we would if the things we disbelieved in were believed by a large number of people. if a billion people believed in fairies i don't doubt there would be a word to identify those who don't.

 

Interesting question. Its the only word we have at the moment, I normally say something along the lines of 'I dont believe in a god' and then let the other people in the conversation label me as they choose.

 

I consider myself an apatheist. I do not consider the question of the existence of a god as meaningful, or relevant to my life. No one can prove beyond a doubt that the magical man lives up in the sky, and no one can prove that he/it does not exist.

 

Do you have a better term in mind?

I'm working up a fork of Atheism where we would, in a sense, "worship" evolution, but I can't think of a good one-word descriptor for it.

 

Good point.
"atheist" literally means: "not - theist". Namely, a form of negation, indirectly implying that the norm is to be a theist.
In many cases (esp' physics and mathematics), the nomenclature is a consequence of history - not something that necessarily makes sense or a consequence of thinking in advance.... - and this is just another example.

In a perfect world, we are "xxx" , and the theists are: "axxx".
replace xxx with rational, logical, sensible, knowledgeable, progressive, whatever

 

we should just start calling the religious aatheists.

 

I don't use the word atheist. I use believer and non believer when it comes to Jesus. You can be muslim, believer in voodoo or whatever and fall into the same category of non believer.

 

As Richard Carrier wrote in Sense and Goodness Without God:

But if the idea of a god is inherently illogical (if the very idea is self-contradictory or meaningless), or if it is contradicted by the evidence, then there are strong positive reasons to take a harder stance as an atheist – with respect to that particular god. For in this sense, even believers are strong atheists – they deny the existence of hundreds of gods. Atheists like me merely deny one more god than everyone else already does – in fact, I deny the existence of the same god already denied by believers in other gods, so I am not doing anything that billions of people don’t do already.​

 

Anyone know why st0x is banned

 

Yes, I agree. It is impossible for another person to prove to another the reality of God.

You must find out on your own. And once you do, you will have no doubt.

 

I think he annoyed the mods and the DP guy on the last thread he posted and they just turned the lights off on him. But I really believed that someone had offered DP 3 barrels of oil to have him ban because he talks no nice to the religion of peace.

 

I use the term non-theist. Another one is humanist.. This is not to say that all atheists are humanists, but this description is a fit for my particular outlook.

 

Well, as an atheist, I never thought the term inadequate insofar as it points out I don't believe in deities. Of course, revealing to someone that I'm an atheist may unload a lot in terms of perception that I may feel needs a lot of time to rebut, but I don't think the issue is with the term. If I need to explain myself, I explain myself; if someone wants to know more, I'll tell him more. When it comes down to it, everyone interprets things different ways, and that includes terms. You're never going to satisfactorily express yourself with labels; you'll always have to spend a lot of time discussing when it comes to your viewpoints.

 

It's democrat

 

Democrats worship devolution.

Welfare is an enemy of evolution, because it encourages the weak and the stupid to procreate.

 

True, but does Christian, Muslim, or any other nomenclature regarding belief tell people about views those being described hold except for the fact that they DO believe in a specific deity?

 

It should, because belief in a specific deity usually also means at least public adherence to the values of that deity. You'll have better luck selling Bacon Double Cheeseburgers to Christians than to Muslims or Hindu's.