Atheism, Nihilism, And Nihilism

What is atheism? Why would someone be an atheist? Why do people fear and dislike atheism? Simply stated, atheism is the lack of belief in a god or gods. Granted, atheists are each individuals and undoubtedly each of them prescribe [to] many different philosophies on life, politics and morality as do Christians. However, though atheists may choose to gather collectively for whatever purpose, unlike Christianity, atheism is not a belief system. An individual who identifies himself as an atheist is merely stating that he does not believe in [the existence of] god or gods. Atheism, as indicated by its name, is the opposite of theism which is belief in at least one god; to include polytheism (belief in many or more than one god) and monotheism

Atheist religions include Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Scientology. Atheism is the non-belief in god, so Atheists have no belief in god (Crabtree). Atheism is not so much a religion, but a belief. “Atheism isn 't, therefore, ‘a religion’ and nor should it be capitalized, any more than ‘monotheist’ or ‘polytheist’ should be” (Crabtree). Christians do not identify themselves as monotheist. They identify themselves as Christians or their specific denominations. For this reason, Atheists should not be radicalized as an extreme religion or rather extreme lack of religion. About 13 million (nearly 6 percent of Americans) describe themselves as atheist or agnostic (Smith). It is unrealistic that any person out of this 13 million will become a future President.

Agnostics, on the other hand, are neither, believers or non-believers. An agnostic believes that truth is synonymous with science. In Making Sense of Your World, a Biblical Worldview, Huxley termed the coin agnosticism to describe a tentative, uncertain attitude toward any question about God and the meaning of life. (Phillips, Brown, Stonestreet, 2008). Whether agnostic or atheistic, naturalism sets forth a worldview in which God is not necessary. My belief is that humanity cannot be scientifically explained. We are not mere products of DNA. I believe and will always believe in the existence of a higher being.

Naturalism or atheism is based on the belief that there is no God or any supreme being, and the world just evolved from nothingness. The ultimate reality of Naturalism is that the eternal existence and everything that exists was created from nothing. Carl Sagan said, “Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and that religion is either a mistake or a fraud. Atheism is an attitude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively, fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of nature, c 1985.” With this train of thought the realty is looked at from a scientific point of view. Naturalism teaches that the world came about by chance, and life evolved from a simple organism to man’s life today. The theory has been debated from the Darwinism era to today. This is a theory that is presented as a fact, the science of Man.

In some ways, it is refreshing to read H.J. McCloskey's article, "On Being an Atheist". Most people assume atheists are simple nihilists who do not subscribe to any sort of convictions or beliefs. The author's text, however, refutes this conventional viewpoint by producing several reasons for embracing atheism, many of which are studied and labored counterarguments to typical claims of theists. The most important part of this essay is found in its opening paragraphs, in which the author makes a very prudent point in explaining the fact that most theists do not require elaborate proofs or empirical evidence to substantiate their beliefs in a divinity. Those who do have not completely subscribed to faith, but to testaments of man's deductive prowess, which should not be confused with faith. However, the author makes a number of points that he believes alludes to fallacies in theism that those well versed in theism can handily refute.

Naturalism or atheism is based on the belief that there is no God or any supreme being, and the world just evolved from nothingness. The ultimate reality of Naturalism is that the eternal existence and everything that exists was created from nothing. Carl Sagan said, “Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and that religion is either a mistake or a fraud. Atheism is an attitude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively, fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of nature, c 1985.” With this train of thought the reality is looked at from a scientific point of view. Naturalism teaches that the world came about by chance, and life evolved from a simple organism to man’s life today. The theory has been debated from the Darwinism era to today. This is a theory that is presented as a fact, the science of Man.

When it comes to religion a theist should be an individual who after being presented with all the facts for and against the existence of a God,subtracts these opposing groups of evidence and comes to the conclusion that their is a God. An atheist should be an individual whom after conducting the same process comes to the conclusion that their is not a

There are many types of atheistic beliefs, but overall Atheism is the disbelief in the existence of a god or gods (Merriam-webster.com). In Jesse Smith’s journal, “The Scientific Study of Religion” he investigates the roots of American Atheism and how it is rising in today’s society. In his journal he states, “There have been atheists in this country since its inception, but an expressed atheist presence in U.S. society has never been anything other than a very small minority” (Smith 80). He further states, “Within the last decade explicitly atheist groups all across the country proliferated and became conspicuous. These groups have become increasingly interconnected, and an expanding network-an American atheist community- is developing a more recognizable place in American culture” (Smith 80). Atheism is at the peak of its existence and is growing every day. In 2012 this atheist group even made the newspaper for its rally to be held at the National Mall in Washington D.C. The article written by John Watts states, “The National Mall will play host to a rally for atheists on Saturday, March 24, that is being referred to as the “Woodstock for nonbelievers”, and this event is intended to be celebratory” (Watts). This event turned out to be the largest ever gathering of nonbelievers in one place (huffingtonpost.com). This growing movement is called New Atheism.

I would argue that without purpose or meaning in our lives, we are essentially robots/machines who have minimal value and this is a profoundly depressing and dark reality of atheism. Phillips, Brown and Stonestreet (2008) tell of this grim reality by saying, “the desire to find purpose in life in a purposeless universe is noble, but it is small comfort in light of a meaningless existence” (p.31). Man is certainly conscious of God and out of pride and arrogance, choose to suppress the power of God. Fools are not satisfied with God’s rules and subsequently make their own. Take for example the assumption made by the naturalist, “science gives us our best shot at knowing how things really are” (Phillips, Brown and Stonestreet, 2008, p.25). Out of skepticism in God as the Creator, man ignores His law. The rich historical biblical evidence and witness accounts are also ignored leaving the question. Which worldview is right? So then I have on final question to my atheist friend. What if your wrong and there is a God, who has established the rules for His universe, then

Atheism has a disbelief in the existence of god or gods. This means that you may be judge by others for your decision but not god (Hiles & Smith 2014). Which is related to Naturalism this means that an embryo is nothing more than a mass of tissue with no inherent value and one can say that a woman who choose abortion over life is considered selfish in the Christian stand point.

Firstly, one can define a theist in a simply sense as someone who believes in the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, eternal, totally good being who formed the world. In comprehensive sense theist can be defined as someone who believes in the reality of some sort of godly being or heavenly reality. However, atheist can be defined in a simply sense as someone that rejects the presence of any sort of marvellous being or great being and in easy they sense they also deny that there exists a divine being that is omniscient, all influential and flawlessly good. It is a person who does not believe that God or divine creature

Fact 4) Atheism: a lack of belief in gods. It makes no difference, if a person has a lack of belief. But it is bigotry to try to put down others beliefs.

The number of atheist and agnostic has been expanding there have long been predictions that religion would fade from relevance as the world modernizes, but all the recent surveys are finding that it’s happening startlingly fast. An atheist is a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings along with an agnostic, an agnostic person is a person who holds that the existence of an ultimate cause, as God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human

Atheism is not yet acceptable in the religious system because they are judged by the stereotypes included in religious books. The Qur'an is the religious book for Islam's. It is full of stories and beliefs that have been passed down for centuries. A message from the Qur'an quotes that we should feel sorry for Atheists and the decisions they made about their lifestyle. "He is not but a man who has invented a lie about Allah, and we will not believe him." He said, "My Lord, support me because they have denied me". Allah said, "After a little, they will surely become regretful"(Qur'an 23). The being referred to is Satan; an Atheistic devil that does not believe in any Gods or God. In the Qur'an it states that a man has asked God to help him because Atheistic people have said there is no God, Allah replies back to the man by saying that if later when the Atheistic people are in need they will be regretful that they do not believe in God. There are many quotes throughout the Qur’an that explain how Atheists are a disgrace and they will/should be

People in our society today who have the atheist point of view on religion, which is the belief that there is no god, are going against the so-called norms of society, and therefor are seen as deviant. Deviance is just an idea. Society determines what is deviant by the ideas they hold of what should be the norm. Atheism is seen as a negative deviance, or below the norm. They have a status that is placed on them in society. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they believe in evil, although that is how it is sometimes viewed from people in society who have a specific religion or faith. Atheism, which is not a new idea, has been evolving in our society, and is the reason for problems leading to debate and court cases, and for