Top Ten Myths About Atheism
From FreeThoughtPedia
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Latest revision as of 16:18, 26 November 2008
- Atheism is a belief - No. Atheism is a lack of belief. It does not dictate any specific world view or rules or regulations.
- Without God there is no reason to be moral - Many religious people think that the only thing that keeps them from acting immoral is fear of God and his rules. The reality is all creatures follow a most basic form of morality that centers around the idea of avoiding unnecessary harm. This simple, moral, ethical activity is a core component of staying safe, avoiding conflict and living longer and more comfortably.
- An Agnostic is not an atheist - Wrong. An agnostic is a type/subset of atheism. Agnostics are those that admit they do not know if God exists. You cannot believe in something you're not sure exists, so by definition, agnostics are a type of atheist.
- It takes just as much faith (if not more) to be atheist - Religious people love to suggest that being an atheist is even more illogical than being a theist. They are speaking of what is called "strong atheism" which is the belief that god doesn't exist, whereas most people are what are called "weak atheists" which do not claim they know for sure god doesn't exist; they just don't believe. In any case, even a strong atheist who claims there absolutely is no god, is a position that requires much less faith than theism. The reality we live in which is filled with moral uncertainty and chaos makes a lot more sense to an atheist than to a theist.
- Atheists worship satan - we reject all dogmatic stuff like heaven, hell, god and the devil so that's just ridiculous
- Atheists are unhappy or have no meaning in their life - Theists seem to think that believing in a magical sky fairy is the epitomy of what can give life meaning, and that people without god are unhappy, sad, self-destructive creatures. Atheism itself is not a world view, but there are atheistic philosophies, such as secular humanism and naturalism that propose many useful ideas on one's life and purpose.
- Atheists "hate God" - again, you can't hate what you don't believe in.
- There are no atheists in fox holes - Actually yes there are.. quite a few.
- There are not very many atheists in the world - Au contraire. The problem is atheists are the last great minority to be discriminated against. In Australia, 25% of the population are atheist, Mexico: 7%, England: 39%, France: 44%, Sweeden: 64%, Denmark: 48%, Norway: 31%, Netherlands: 42%, Czech Republic: 61%, Russia: 24%, India: 6%, Japan: 65%, etc. [1]
- Atheists are dogmatic and closed minded - Theists claim that "science is the atheists' god" or that they're totally closed minded to theological ideas. This is not true. Atheists just want to see actual evidence of extraordinary claims, otherwise there is no reason to believe.
- Atheists don't really know God or the Bible - Au contraire. Ask a typical atheist about dogma and doctrine and you're likely to find that they know more about scripture, ancient history and philosophy than most theists. This is one reason why they are atheist: upon in-depth examination, they recognize that the historicity of scripture lends itself to mythology more than reality.
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