We don’t need atheism, just like we don’t need people to not collect stamps. But some people have no interest in stamp collecting and others have no belief in gods. It’s not a necessity, it’s just the getting-rid of something that is unnecessary.

Posted: September 20th 2010

See all questions answered by Reed Braden

Your phrase, there are no deities, is a negative, and in general can’t be proven. Atheism is simply a lack of god belief because there is not any evidence to support such a belief. It is up to the theists to provide such evidence which they have not yet produced, hence their cleaving to faith. If god belief goes completely away, atheism will only have an historical significance, similar to the one geocentrism enjoys.

The real existence of theistic god belief necessitates a word describing those who do not have theistic god belief. God belief with all its dangerous implications exists, while actual gods are highly improbable and not worth bothering about. Believers in god often get confused about this point, thinking it odd that atheists discuss god, but it is just the god(s) in which the believers believe in which we discuss. The god hypothesis in itself is a failed one.

Posted: September 19th 2010

See all questions answered by logicel

Atheism isn’t really an “ism”. It’s not a dogma, it’s not a philosophy, it’s not a worldview, and it’s not a claim. Rather, it’s a response to the claims of religious believers. When religious people claim fantastic things on the basis of no evidence, and we respond “no, I don’t believe that” – that’s atheism.

If there were no religions, the atheist label would disappear. We don’t have a word for people who disbelieve in the Loch Ness Monster, for example. But imagine a world where most people did believe in Nessie, and based many of their life decisions on their beliefs about Nessie. Those of us who didn’t believe in Nessie might well use a special label for ourselves to identify as nonbelievers.

We need “atheism” – the label – because we identify as nonbelievers in concepts that so many people believe in.

Posted: September 19th 2010

See all questions answered by Mike the Infidel

The definition of atheism is often a cause of confusion. The way I try to describe it, atheism is a description, not a prescription. In other words, it’s a word that describes a philosophical status: the absence of religious belief. It’s the natural state that existed before there was a word for it. It doesn’t tells us what to do, or not, so it’s fair to say that we don’t need it, but it’s useful to have a word for it.

Posted: September 19th 2010

See all questions answered by brian thomson

We don’t need it. If there are no deities, then atheism is simply correct, and alternatives are misguided.

Posted: September 19th 2010

See all questions answered by SmartLX