When people hear the word “Atheist” they already think of Atheism as an entire worldview, as an entire package of beliefs and ideas you sibscribe to. Atheism though, is something completely different, as it is merely the lack of belief and/or disbelief in God or gods. Its nothing more or less.
But since everybody has certain beliefs nad not just lack of beliefs in certain propositions I want to lay out the positions and beliefs I subscribe to and why:
Probably the first one, that comes to the mind of believers when you identify as an Atheist is naturalism. I specifically adhere to methodological Naturalism. I don’t believe in the Supernatural, though I recognize that it might exist but we’re currently blocked from identifying Supernatural causes with the tools that we have at our disposal. The reason for this position is pretty easily explained: I have yet to be presented with anything Supernatural and even if I was I couldn’t possibly know if it was Supernatural.
I’m also what you might call a skeptic. Skepticism as far as I’m concerned is the best tool we have to hold true beliefs instead of arriving at error.
I am also an Apistevist/evidentialist which means I reject faith wholesale and only hold beliefs based on evidence. Evidence of course can come in different forms: In some mundane cases, like what my friend had for dinner yesterday personal testimony is sufficient for belief. In other cases, scientific evidence and concrete data needs to be provided for me to see belief as warranted. In the case of God of course, tha bar is set rather high for me since a timeless, spaceless, immaterial, personal universe Creator who intervenes in nature and makes miracles happen is an outragious claim to say the least. But I’m to believe that as well if evidence is provided.
When it comes to morality I base my morality on human well being. Whatever promotes human well being (and to a certain extend, that of other animals) I define as moral, whatever diminishes it, I define as immoral. I am in that sense leaning to secular humanism and consequentialism.
The last label I want to address is Antitheism. I’m not just an Atheist as I lack belief in all deities proposed to me so far, I’m also an Antitheist because I think that religion is positively harmful for society as a whole. Now as I said many many times before, I have no problems with progressive Christians. If you accept modern science, keep your belief in your church, support gay rights and don’t indoctrinate children with known lies, if you essentially say “Yeah that’s my faith and it’s my personal private thing” then I have no problem with you. You’re a nice human and though I don’t hold your beliefs you can have them if you want to. If your name is Ken Ham however and you do none of those things then being wrong turns into being harmful. And at that point you better believe that I’m going to speak out.
In the end “Atheist” is just one label of many but it’s the most commonly understood which is why I continue to use it until it’s no longer necessary.
Goodbye from yours truly,
Rene von Boenninghausen @Renevelation
Tarsier Renevelations 