I’ve always held the position that the best term to describe myself is “Atheist”, arguing that there is no ambiguity in the term. I’ve stated that using terms like Secular Humanist or Freethinker just muddies the waters and allows the ignorant masses to say “well, at least he’s not an Atheist”.After the Dole commercial, I’m considering going GODLESS.Godless also has no ambiguity, and leaves no room for debate as to what I mean or how I think. It also, perhaps, has an even more negative meaning than Atheist — thereby allowing me to do more damage to other people’s thought processes by showing how nice a godless guy can be.And, while we can debate the definitions of Atheist and Agnostic all night, Godless seems a broader term, encompassing more people who don’t like the A-word, but cannot deny the G-word.Perhaps we should take our cue from the bigoted former senator. Should we take back Godless?
I am an atheist but I will never be Dogless! (3 resident and 1 foster)
Call me what you want. I think religion is stupid.
If their side is “Hate the sin ,not the sinner” would that make our side “Ignore the groundless belief and defend yourself from the well organized believer”?
My problem with the word ‘atheist’ is only that some very ordinary dictionaries found in many homes outrageously have ‘wickedness’ and/or ‘immorality’ as definitions of ‘atheism’. I got the feeling that someone nearby who almost hissed out the word ‘atheist’ in disgust had possibly read that definition and took it to heart. What a bunch of bigotted bastards those dictionary writers were (are) who put those definitions in TWO dictionaries I have at home, Webster’s New Collegiate and Random House. Maybe there is a good practical reason to find another term for ourselves given this situation? Strangely, for some reason these definitons were missing from the unabridged editions I found at my library. What could that mean?
It’s atheist ’til somebody comes up with the a tiny amount of evidence otherwise.
tomath
Right. Most dictionary editors are religious, and their bigotry shows.
Ignore the definitions. Look at the etymology. The “a-” in front of “atheist” and “agnostic” means “not”.
It does not mean “against”, “opposed”, “rejecting”, “denying”, or any of those things. It just means “not”.
ANYBODY who is not a theist is an atheist, whether they know it or not. “Atheist” is the most general and most precise term for all people who are not convinced that there is any meaningful “god”.
“Agnostic” means “not knowing”, and that sure fits me! I certainly don’t know that there is any god. And the term is doubly appropriate to people who say “I’m an agnostic, not an atheist.” That’s like saying “This is an apple, not a fruit.”