Atheism

a⋅the⋅ism [ey-thee-iz-uhm]
–noun

1. the doctrine or belief that there is no God.
2. disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings.
dictionary.com

1.	atheism
	Atheism is simply the opposite of theism. The prefix A means "without" or "not", so Atheism is simply a lack of belief in god(s). It is not a religion, just like theism is not a religion. Atheists are usually quite fond of life, since it is the only one we have.Theists if you think about it, need a god to make their existance make sense and to make them respect life. "That dog is an atheist. A new-born baby is an atheist. Most of the smartest people in the world are atheists. Coincidence?"

urbandictionary.com


I'm sick of people thinking that atheism equals cynicism. An atheist is someone who does not follow/believe in a god/gods. Being an atheist does not need to mean being non-spiritual. An atheist does not need to be sure of everything involving life, death, and spirituality.
To be sure, there are those among the ranks of non-believers who use their title as a justification for their anger at life and religion. They have no belief at all in the possibility of something more than us - more than we can see. They scoff at those who see the world differently.
"We live, we die, we're fertilizer, that's it. If you can't see it, measure it, or feel it, it isn't real. And anyone who doesn't see that is an idiot," they seem to say.

My boyfriend is one of these atheists. I am not. I'm the minimal, literal atheist. I don't believe in God. I don't subscribe to any of the mainstream religions, nor any of the lesser known ones. That is all it means to be an atheist. The rest of my opinions about why religion is wrong or what happens to us when we die are not part of atheism, they're part of a personal log of ideas that I'm still forming. (Yes, I will be adding more of my opinions about religion to this blog in the future.)

I find fault in all the creation myths I've been exposed to. At this point in my life, I'm pretty positive that heaven and hell do not exist, and that being 'good' or 'bad' while you are alive does not effect what happens to your spirit/soul/inner self/whatever when your body is gone. I don't pretend to know what happens to the nonphysical aspects of a human when it dies, though I don't completely disregard the theories spouted by those who do. I am unsure of much involving the afterlife and even how we got here. I believe in evolution vs. creation, individualism vs. religion, and the need to own up to and fix your own mistakes vs. praying to something outside of yourself to fix them for you. But none of this is what makes me an atheist.

Atheism is not a religion or a way of life. All it is is a word describing and defining -one- thought and belief: There is no God.

The same is true for theists. Believing in God, or several gods, makes you a theist - not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim. It's the ideas -surrounding- your belief in God that make you a member of a specific religion, not just your belief.

Having independent thought does not exclude feeling spiritual and having a connection to something outside of yourself. Being an atheist does not make me, my boyfriend, or any other person who lacks this specific belief, evil or bad in any way. So shut the fuck up about it, and just deal.

And that's my opinion.