Atheism - The Religion of Unbelief
Except for a brief period in college which was really an expansion of my faith to include intellectual concerns, I have always had a belief in a divine being, a creator of all if you will. Even then I would have never identified myself as an atheist. So the concept of atheism is really foreign to me and perhaps more out of curiosity than anything else I have tried to understand what makes one become an atheist.
In the history of mankind, god worship has been the norm with the worship of many gods more wide spread than a single god (theism) which originated with the Hebrews. The people viewed all things in life as being gifts from a variety of gods e.g. children from fertility gods, victory in battle from war gods, successful crops from rain and sun gods, etc.
What causes people to become atheists. There probably are some who call themselves atheist who are merely don’t like organized religion. I’ve been down that road even to the point of exploring other beliefs while never totally abandoning the concept of spirituality. For as long as you believe that each human has a spiritual soul, you aren’t really an atheist.
So what really defines an atheistic belief. One dictionary definition is: One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods. But that definition says something about what an atheist doesn’t believe and nothing about what they do believe for virtually everybody believes in something.
Some atheists may believe in the supremacy of man, that man can evolve into an omnipotential being if he will give up his religious ‘superstitions’ for personal development. What confounds this concept is the history of our best and brightest people indicates a propensity of belief in a god. So much for religious superstition impeding intellectual development.
Others who call themselves atheists may give homage to the natural order like the Gaians and environmentalists. However, what they have done is create their own version of a god(s) or godess(es).
I supposed that there are atheists that truly believe that man is no more than an being with animal cravings and that they will simple perish into nothingness when their life is complete. This belief gives little reason to do anything but ‘live for the day’ taking any available pleasure and damning the tomorrow.
So the question is: if you consider yourself an aetheist, what is the basis for your belief?
